KINGSTON – The National Institutes of Health has awarded the University of Rhode Island a five-year, $18 million grant to support biomedical research in the state.

The award, which is entitled the Rhode Island Network for Excellence in Biomedical and Behavioral Research, is the third biomedical grant that URI has received from the agency’s National Center for Research Resources since 2001. The center awarded URI $8 million that year and an additional $16.5 million three years later.

The initial awards were used to create a collaborative research network involving URI, Brown University, Rhode Island College, Providence College, Salve Regina University and Roger Williams University, the school said. They also provided money to buy lab equipment and train students at the Community College of Rhode Island.

“Collaborative, multidisciplinary learning is a hallmark of the research and education experience here at URI, and this biomedical research program is a prime example of how successful this approach to problem-solving can be,” outgoing URI president Robert L. Carothers said in a statement.

“The tremendous growth of this initiative and the exciting results it has already generated are a testament to the strength of our College of Pharmacy and the network it has built with other institutions around the state,” he said.

Zahir Shaikh, a professor of biomedical sciences at URI and the research program’s director and principal investigator since its inception, said the latest NIH award would support biomedical science and research projects for at least 22 faculty members from the various schools involved between now and 2014.

The grant, which will be administrated through URI’s Center for Molecular Toxicology, will support research efforts in the fields of molecular toxicology, cell biology and behavioral science. It will fund the purchase of equipment and bioinfomatics resources, as well as the training of undergraduate and graduate students.

URI also will expand its Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, which was created in 2001 with funding from the first NIH grant, to train an additional 65 undergraduate students who either attend Rhode Island schools or are Rhode Island residents.

Shaikh said the grant would allow more graduate students to attend URI, Brown and RIC, and fund a new outreach program to involve high school teachers and students in faculty research during summer breaks.

“These grants have accelerated research in the biomedical arena within Rhode Island,” Ron Jordan, dean of URI’s College of Pharmacy, said. “This sector of our economy will bear more fruit in the next several years as the state moves toward a knowledge-based economy that will leverage this great higher education research, our highly qualified Rhode Island health delivery institutions, and new information and biological technologies emanating from multiple colleges at URI and our partner institutions.”

All the grants have come through the U.S. IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program. Rhode Island is one of 23 states and Puerto Rico that have competed for funding.

Thus far, program organizers say it has supported 45 research projects, which have led to the awarding of an additional $15 million in grants from NIH and other government agencies.

Additional information is available at URI.edu.