Abstract

The Minority Biomedical Research Support - Support of Continuous Research Excellence (MBRS-SCORE) Program and its sister MBRS RISE (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement) compose the MBRS Program on the Medical Sciences Campus. Both Programs are funded under the umbrella of the Minority Opportunities in Research Division (MORE) in the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). MBRS Programs were initiated in 1972 to provide awards to educational institutions with substantial minority enrollments and the program on the Medical Sciences Campus has been funded continuously since 1985. Beginning August 2000 the new MBRS SCORE and MBRS RISE Programs succeeded the traditional MBRS Program on the Medical Sciences Campus. MBRS SCORE Program awards support individual faculty members research endeavors and strengthens the institution's biomedical research capabilities thus providing opportunities for student research and training. The sister MBRS RISE Program supports student and training endeavors and together the two MBRS Programs enrich the biomedical research environment on the Medical Sciences Campus.

The long-range objective of the MBRS SCORE Program at the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus (UPR-MSC) is to develop productive health-related research programs among faculty, contribute to a supportive campus research environment, and stimulate under-represented minority students to enter careers in biomedical research. MBRS SCORE Program funding provides faculty an opportunity to generate sufficient data to present research results at national and international research forums, publish in peer-review journals, and apply for independent research support. The Program encourages the participation of developing investigators from throughout the Medical Sciences Campus with the expectation that this support will empower them to compete on a more equal basis with researchers from more gifted institutions.

The MBRS SCORE Program (2000-2004) on Medical Sciences Campus of the University of Puerto Rico currently supports twenty-two (22) individual faculty research projects of which four (4) are pilot projects and a central core laboratory facility. Current areas of research include clinical developmental studies, craniofacial development, molecular biology of genetic disorders, vaccine development, immunology, malaria, pediatric nephrology, and HIV as well as basic biomedical research in neurobiology, anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry.