20:1 Return on Investment
COBRE research cluster faculty supported by ND EPSCoR and matching funds from the state of ND have generated federal grant income over 20 times the initial investment.

Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE)

These Centers build infrastructure to enhance research capacity and competitiveness for NIH grants. Multidisciplinary teams to develop faculty biomedical research expertise and competitiveness within a thematic research focus of their choosing.

Center for Visual Neuroscience NDSU
COBRE Award $8.9M; 2004-2009
Visual Neuroscientists in the Department of Psychology study how visual processes work in healthy humans so that disorders can be more easily detected, diagnosed, and eventually treated.

Mark McCourt, PI*
Chris Friesen, Co-PI
Mark Nawrot, Co-PI
Robert Gordon, Co-PI**
Linda Langley, Co-PI**

Center of Excellence in Neurosciences UND
COBRE Award $10.25M; 2003-2008
Neuroscientists in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences study how the brain works, diagnose neurodegenerative diseases, and discover novel treatments.

Jonathan Geiger, PI
Patrick Carr, Co-PI**
Van Doze, Co-PI**
Eric Murphy, Co-PI**
Matthew Picklo, Co-PI**
James Porter, Co-PI

Center for Protease Research NDSU
COBRE Award $8.75M; 2001-2006
The Center for Protease Research is a multidisciplinary research center whose aim is to help combat diseases including arthritis, diabetes, and cancer.

Mukund Sibi, PI
Stefan Balaz, Co-PI**
Gregory Cook, Co-PI**
Sanku Mallik, Co-PI**
Kenton Rodgers, Co-PI
Inder Sehgal, Co-PI**

** Indicates the researcher was brought to the university with ND EPSCoR New Faculty Start-Up funds. New Faculty Start-Up is a premiere ND EPSCoR grant program that attracts and develops core groups of researchers capable of conducting nationally competitive research.

Investing

Increasing investments that support additional research clusters will build North Dakota's competitive research infrastructure.