Request for proposals aims to identify promising research projects involving precious samples.

The University of Chicago’s research accelerator, Arete, is running its own experiment—how to bolster promising and novel research ideas before their merit has been recognized. Arete has created the Big Ideas Generator to help get those early stage ideas into motion. 

Elite and well-endowed universities with highly regarded medical schools use many tools to attract the
 best and brightest faculty and students. Among those tools are state-of-the-art laboratories. However, any strong university—even one without an endowment—can still build state-of-the-art facilities by earning grant awards that include funding for labs and other science facilities.

The federal government has asked University of South Florida (USF) officials to return $6.5 million in federal grant money the university improperly used for salaries and equipment purchases, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

We’ve already seen less-than-savory practices from a few scientists recently due to the tough funding environment in research these days, whether that’s altering research findings or faking them altogether for more impressive results. In the latest example of such unethical behavior, two professors from the University of Houston have been charged with wire fraud and making false statements in order to get $1.3 million in research grants from the U.S. government, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Dr. Christopher Newgard's Team at Duke University Using Agilent Platforms to Better Understand Disease Mechanisms.

$500,000 Department of Energy Grant Advances Biochemical Solar Research at Rensselaer.

So far, nearly 5,000 grants totalling over $1 billion have been awarded by NIH. Most have been awarded to research labs at large universities and small colleges, while some have been awarded to small, privately owned research and product development companies.