Early-stage funding from the Brigham Research Institute (BRI) has enabled 21 projects to flourish, according to recent feedback from award recipients.

For the past five years, the BRI and the BWH Health & Technology Subcommittee, which comprises BWH donors, have supported basic, clinical and translational research that is too early in its development to receive other types of funding.

Formerly called Research Day seed grants, the BRI’s Health & Technology Innovation Awards are $50,000 grants that have funded projects exploring everything from new therapies for heart failure and chronic kidney disease to a rapid breath test for community-acquired pneumonia.

“We recently circled back to the 21 awardees to check on their progress, and the results are remarkable,” said Jacqueline Slavik, PhD, BRI executive director. “The BRI has awarded $1 million over the grant program’s five-year history. Awardees report collectively receiving an additional $82.4 million in total funding for research based on the seed grants.”

Additionally, nearly 60 percent of awardees established research collaborations, resulting in 19 new partnerships, and 47 percent of awardees hired new personnel, resulting in 21 jobs.

“A BWH seed grant was vital in propelling forward our work using stem cells to investigate mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, of the Department of Neurology. “This seed funding allowed us to acquire data that was essential for getting additional funding from the NIH.”

Letters of intent for the next round of applications are due Tuesday, Jan. 17. To learn more or apply, click here.