HMS Junior Faculty Receive 'Funds for Discovery'

Five junior faculty members at Harvard Medical School have been awarded $50,000 each as part of a new program designed to assist young researchers.

The Funds for Discovery program, endowed last spring by inventor and philanthropist John F. Taplin, will support 10 projects involving an issue of biological importance in human biology or medicine each year.

The projects must also have the potential to create new products or devices to attract industrial resources.

Michael E. Greenberg, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and John Blenis, associate professor of cellular and molecular physiology, won awards for projects which lacked direct applications, but which could eventually lead to beneficial products.

Blenis, who studies immune response processes, praised the Funds for Discovery program for its ability to get grants to scientists quickly.

"It provides a rapid source of funding to support ideas that might otherwise take a year or more to get funding," Blenis said.

Roberto G. Kolter, associate professor of microbiology and molecular genetics, Frank D. McKeon, associate professor cellular and molecular physiology and Bruce J. Schnapp, associate professor of cellular and molecular physiology, have all received awards based on potential for practical benefits.

Kolter received his grant for research which could lead to improved antibiotics and even cancer-fighting drugs.

"Seldom do we venture out to this kind of interface between the basic science project and the applications," Kolter said. "The aims tend to be very basic research. This just provides a little bit of extra cash that one needs for potential development."

This year's remaining five awards are expected to be distributed in the next few months.

Valve-Clearing Procedure Found to Be Safe

Balloons aren't just for a party decorations anymore, according to a team of cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Hospital.

A study published in last week's New England Journal of Medicine proves that balloons are the key to a non-surgical procedure which can alleviate often fatal blockages of a valve between chambers of the heart. Blockages, often cause a shortness of breath and fatigue with exertion.

The technique, called balloon mitral valvuloplasty, is performed by introducing a deflated balloon into the heart. The balloon is attached to the end of a catheter inserted into a leg vein. Once guided into a place by X-rays, the balloon is inflated, expanding the valve and clearing the blockage.