NIH awards $29M to Scripps Translational Science Institute

Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) in La Jolla, Calif., is yet again the recipient of a multimillion dollar National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to support research in genomics, wireless technology and bioinformatics toward individualizing medicine.

STSI received NIH’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), which translates to a five-year, $29 million grant, according to a news release. The institute received its first CTSA grant in 2008 for $20 million.

STSI, a collaborative program between Scripps Health and The Scripps Research Institute, was among 15 research centers to receive a renewal in CTSA funding. A partner of the San Diego Supercomputer Center, it’s the sole program among the 61 CTSA centers unaffiliated with a university

Using the grant, STSI will pursue a number of new initiatives, including efforts to harness the San Diego Supercomputer Center’s genetic sequencing and analysis expertise to reveal the mechanisms underlying drug resistance and understand the interworking of autoimmune disorders, according to the release.

During its first grant, STSI conducted a pilot study that enabled Scripps Health to become the first U.S. health system to routinely test patients undergoing a heart stent procedure for their genetic compatibility with the commonly prescribed blood thinner. It also conducted a genetic study of 1,350 people 80 years and older to examine secrets of longevity; results are forthcoming on that effort, according to STSI.

“By bringing Scripps Health, The Scripps Research Institute and the San Diego Supercomputer Center together, along with all of the remarkable brain trust assets in San Diego’s life sciences community, we are well positioned to have an important impact on making individualized medicine a reality,” said Eric Topol, MD, chief academic officer of Scripps Health and professor of genomics at The Scripps Research Institute, in a statement.