NSF Plan to Fund Center Surprises Two 'Partners'

WASHINGTON—National Science Foundation officials are hoping that an arranged marriage between Duke University and the National Institutes of Health will extend NSF's engineering research centers into the life sciences and provide a model for other joint ventures by federal research agencies. But progress has been slow because, as with most such marriages, the couple was the last to know. This spring the National Science Board agreed to spend up to $32 million over the next five years to create engineering centers at the University of Colorado and UCLA, bringing the total to 13 since the program was begun in 1985. It announced that Duke University's proposal for a center on emerging cardiovascular technologies would be next—if NIH agreed to put up at least one-third of the $14 million in federal funds being requested. "President Reagan's 'Quest for Excellence' program calls on all federal agencies to become involved in various types of science and technology centers," said Mary Clutter, senior science adviser at NSF, in explaining why the board solicited NIH participation. "In addition, our charter says that we won't support clinically related, or disease-related, research. Although the Duke proposal is really about biomedical engineering," she said, "their application acknowledges that the impact of the research will be felt on diagnosis and treatment of heart disease." The unusual decision stunned officials at NIH and Duke. Scientists at Duke and its medical school already receive millions of dollars in NIH funds for a variety of projects. Officials in the school's engineering program, which submitted the proposal, said they were seeking NSF support to pursue the engineering component of an ambitious plan to expand the technology in such biomedical areas as implant defibrillation, angioplasty, magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonic devices. The knowledge gained through the proposed center could mean up to $10 billion over the next five years in new business for American industry, said Earl Dowell, dean of Duke's school of engineering, as well as saving lives and lowering the cost of health care for thousands. NIH officials were also caught off guard by the NSF decision. Although the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute funds some $40 million worth of research on devices and technology, the Duke proposal had not passed through NIH's own peer review process. Although it is not uncommon for investigators to send identical proposals to both agencies, officials typically decide ahead of time which agency will proceed with funding. Co-funding arrangements on such a scale suggested by the science board are rare, if not unprecedented. 'Not That Easy' NHLBI Director Claude L'Enfant recalled how he first learned of the proposed center at Duke. "Someone at NSF called me and said, 'We have this proposal and we'd like you to pick up part of the cost.' I said, 'It's not quite that easy.' L'Enfant planned to discuss this situation this week with Duke officials. "We were not entirely assured that the biomedical portion of the proposal had received sufficient review," L'Enfant said. Asked if joint funding were possible, he said that "Duke is a good school. If their project can cut the mustard, then the answer is yes." Clutter acknowledged that there had been no formal discussions between the two agencies about the Duke center before the science board's action, and she said she was not surprised that NIH would want to conduct its own review. "I can understand NIH's reaction," Clutter said. "I know it sounds pretty high-handed of NSF to suggest to NIH that it fund something. But they do have a substantial budget, and it's clearly related to their mission." Despite the institute's late start, L'Enfant said he was "committed to speeding-up the process." Clutter said the science board did not set a deadline for a decision. NSF officials have said they hoped the Duke center would be the first of many basic research projects to benefit from co-funding by federal agencies. By the same token, a decision not to fund the center is likely to be felt far beyond the Raleigh-Durham area. "We're hoping to be the first biomedical engineering center in the NSF program," said one scientist associated with the project, who requested anonymity. "We hoped that [applying for funding] would be a positive experience, but we figured it would be no big deal if we didn't get it. "But NSF's decision to involve NIH changes everything. If this doesn't work out, it'll be a setback for the entire biomedical community, not just for Duke. The stakes are definitely much higher now." Merivs is on the staff of The Scientist.

NSF Plan to Fund Center Surprises Two 'Partners'

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