Four Harvard Docs Get $3M for Research

Four members of the Harvard medical community will each receive $3 million under a new seven-year grant program administered by the National Cancer Institute.

The 21 grants awarded nationwide are intended to revolutionize medical research funding, said Harold Amos, Presley Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genectics at the Medical School, who chaired the grant committee at the National Institute of Health.

Research grants are ordinarily given for a period of two or three years, and the grant process involves extensive work for both the applicant and the members of the reviewing committee who decide whether to award the grants.

These short term grants limit medical researchers, Amos said. "When an investigator has established a record, why tie them up writing complex grant requests all the time?" he said.

Amos also said that two and three year grants encourage researchers to tackle easier subjects. "Tough problems can't be solved in three years."

Expand Horizons

"The grant will allow me to take bigger risks, develop new approaches and look at the larger issues," said grant recipient Martin E. Dorf, Med School professor of Pathology.

Dorf said he plans to use the $86,000 portion of the grant he received this year to explore the immune system's response to specific chemicals. The immune system may turn out to be crucial for understanding cancer and organ transplants, he said.

Myron E. Essex, who chairs the department of Cancer Biology at the School of Public Health, plans to use his grant to study the role viruses play in naturally occurring cancers. Essex's research includes work on viruses which have been linked to AIDS.

Ruth Sager, Med School professor of Cellular Genetics, said getting such an important award "will help us recruit highly talented individuals to join our laboratory."

She said that her grant--which escalates from $230,000 this year to $550,000 in 1992--will "give me the peace of mind to concentrate fully on my research." Sager will use the award for her study of tumor cells. Her research focuses on identifying genes that prevent the growth of carcinogenic tumors.

Howard Green, the Higgins Professor of Physiology, will receive $97,000 this year and should get $420,000 in 1992. His area of research involves studying why cells grow or fail to grow