Hopkins research activity expanded again in 1994 after a slowdown in growth in the early '90s. The expansion took place against a backdrop of vigorous federal efforts at cost-cutting. Young investigators faced stiff competition to secure initial funding, while established researchers sometimes found funds for ongoing work curtailed at critical stages of development. Experimentation with the peer-review system, testing and evaluation of new funding mechanisms, and strong moves toward electronic commerce signified the changing times that mark the post-Cold War era. As investigators are simultaneously encouraged to strengthen ties with business, particularly for defense conversion and technology transfer, and cautioned against the appearance of conflict of interest, science policy has become as engaging an issue as science funding.
These and similar concerns created both practical and philosophical challenges for research universities. Each division of Johns Hopkins, through the ability and adaptability of its faculty, met these challenges in its own unique way. Incredibly, the University's research revenues grew 8 percent in 1994, expanding to more than $900 million, divided nearly evenly between the academic divisions and the Applied Physics Laboratory. For the third year in a row, the School of Medicine received more federal grants than any other organization in the nation, at a level representing 5 percent of the external awards of the National Institutes of Health. The School of Hygiene and Public Health again topped its peers in receipt of research funding. In these leanest of times, all divisions of the University enjoyed increased research revenues.
The Medical Institutions moved ahead this year in the design of new clinical therapies, biotechnology development, and matters of healthcare policy. A $5 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences for the Kennedy Krieger Institute to study an experimental treatment for lead poisoning stands out among funding for new therapies. Several of the successes in the School of Medicine were made possible through government-industry-university cooperation. For example, researchers in the School, working with Targeted Genetics Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company, developed a gene therapy delivery system and subsequently won a $2.5 million grant from NIH to start a center for gene therapy in cystic fibrosis that is one of only six national sites. Sponsored by Smith and Nephew Richards, Inc., Hopkins otolaryn- gologists designed a customizable surgical implant that will improve the speaking and swallowing abilities of patients with paralyzed vocal cords. The device is the first of its kind to receive FDA approval for clinical trials. Vionics Corporation will manufacture the Low Vision Enhancement System, developed by scientists at the Wilmer Eye Institute in collaboration with NASA and the Veterans Administration. The device, used initially in military applications, is a unique transition of military technology to peaceful use.
Rising costs of healthcare have resulted in new research opportunities for Johns Hopkins. The School of Medicine and the Institute of Systems Science at the National University of Singapore are collaborating on the development of advanced computerized imaging technology that will dramatically reduce the time for diagnosing many medical conditions. Operating through a new Center for Information-Enhanced Medicine, the investigators will license new technologies to existing companies, or help establish new companies to market them. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research made possible a parallel project by awarding two grants totaling more than $15 million to learn what works best in the treatment of common diseases and conditions, including the determination of the benefits of pre-surgery tests, which cost billions annually.
Hopkins is the only institution in the country to receive multiple SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) awards. This year, researchers in the Oncology Center received $4.4 million from the National Cancer Institute to study gastrointestinal cancers, bringing the total active SPOREs to three. A five-year cooperative agreement with USAID will broaden the global influence of the Medical Institutions. The agreement is the first phase of a major new 10-year training project with first-year funding of $15 million to $20 million for specialized training of health professionals in developing nations.
Several renewal grants in areas of particular strength, including AIDS, consolidated the leadership position of the School of Hygiene and Public Health. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute provided $5.3 million to renew the Cardiovascular Health Study. These funds extend the study to the year 2000.
Center-based research at Public Health fared particularly well in 1994, with the Center for Human Nutrition enjoying an exceptional year. Projects in the center include $1.5 million from the NIH to study nutrition strategies in Native American children and an unrestricted research grant of $500,000 from the Bristol-Myers Squibb/Mead Johnson Nutritional Grants and Awards Program. This latter grant is the first to a center within a school of public health. Because of proven leadership, exemplified by its landmark studies on the relationship between vitamin A deficiencies and child mortality, the center is heading a consortium that received a $25 million Opportunities for Micronutrient Interventions contract from USAID. The Injury Prevention Center received $4 million from The California Wellness Foundation to evaluate the foundation's Violence Prevention Initiative, which is attempting to reduce violence among California youth. A new endeavor, the Adolescent Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Center, was established with $3 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The School of Public Health is participating in a project that combines the efforts of the state of Maryland, Baltimore City, and the Medical Institutions. The Department of Health and Human Services provided $15 million for the East Baltimore Mental Health Partnership, which also involves the Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Schools of Medicine and Continuing Studies, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute.
Space research continued as a major focus in the School of Arts and Sciences, but the humanities were also recognized. The French government chose Hopkins for funding as a Center of Excellence in French Studies, to be known as the Louis Marin Center for the Study of French Classical and Contemporary Culture and Science.
The University and the Space Telescope Science Institute jointly celebrated the success of the Hubble Telescope repair. Scientists in the Department of Physics and Astronomy are engaged in a number of projects using Hubble's wide field planetary camera to study how the universe was created and to obtain a more accurate estimate of its age. With cumulative funding of nearly $3 million from the National Science Foundation, investigators in the department, in collaboration with Italian scientists, have announced new evidence confirming the existence of top quarks, one of the theoretical building blocks of matter, which will help in understanding matter and the forces of nature.
Investigators in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences supported by Goddard Space Flight Center are using Clementine, a small 500-pound spacecraft, for research on the moon and on the origin of the solar system. Discoveries from these projects prove the value of "small" university-based science, as an alternative to more expensive approaches that have probed similar problems.
The School of Engineering has forged productive alliances with several other divisions of the University. The Whiting School is very closely allied with the Applied Physics Laboratory in promoting projects of mutual benefit. The APL/Whiting Collaborative Research and Development Initiative provides internal funding incentives for researchers to devise, by working together, comprehensive approaches to complex problems. The award criteria include the potential for attracting other funding. Scientists in the Electrical Engineering Department are also involved with the APL by developing instrumentation for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission, which is the first NASA planetary mission to be conducted by a non-NASA space center.
Researchers in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering received $500,000 from the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory to study a promising new technology for converting sunlight to electricity. This is one of only five proposals funded by the NREL out of more than 50 submitted. Also, in Materials Science and Engineering, investigators supported by NASA and the McDonnell Douglas Corporation are studying lasers as sources of generation of ultrasound and the optimization of laser ultrasonic detection methods.
The Applied Physics Laboratory is becoming a model for the efficacy of continued space exploration by emphasizing the development of lighter, low cost, highly efficient research instrumentation. With $66.2 million appropriated to NASA for the NEAR mission, APL has moved from advanced design to spacecraft fabrication. The Laboratory attracted other NASA funding for development of a 50-pound computer processor that will extract and transmit exceptionally precise ocean wave data to Mission Control in Houston at vastly improved speeds. It will be an integral part of NASA's Space Radar Laboratory, which will be used by more than 50 investigators from 13 nations to conduct land and ocean-related experiments during shuttle flights.
Supported by a $380,000 grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the APL is moving automotive travel into the 21st century. Researchers are working on a sensor system that would automatically activate upon sudden impact to a vehicle. The unit would send a special signal to emergency medical service dispatchers with information that would describe the vehicle, the location of the accident, and even indicate the severity of the crash.
In a far-reaching interdivisional initiative, the Applied Physics Laboratory and the Schools of Medicine and Nursing have joined with several Maryland defense companies and medical institutions to form the statewide Health Care Product Alliance. As part of the federal government's Technology Reinvestment Project, this $3.3 million grant to the state of Maryland from the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency will help to profitably introduce innovative healthcare products into the civilian marketplace and can lead to the creation of new companies. Within this regional partnership, seven of the 10 products with marketing potential are a result of interdivisional collaboration between the School of Nursing and APL and the School of Medicine and APL.
The accomplishments of the Hopkins faculty always include prestigious national awards and fellowships. This year Daniel Nathans, University Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, received a National Medal of Science, the nation's highest science award. Our young faculty had an exceptional year in competition for national recognition. Both Hopkins candidates received Presidential Faculty Fellowships, which are funded through the National Science Foundation, and for the first time since 1990, Hopkins faculty received awards from the Biomedical Scholars programs of both the Pew and Searle Foundations.
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