Howard University Hospital, which is affiliated with the Howard University College of Medicine, has just been awarded nearly $11 million in grant money from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support HIV resistance in people with sickle cell disease and to develop a new Center for Hemoglobin Research in Minorities (CHaRM).
The NIH has granted the hospital $7 million to develop CHaRM, which will be the lead center for studying hemoglobinopathies, iron metabolism, and oxygen sensing. CHaRM will
also be a center that educates and trains students by providing research and laboratory experience, in addition to collaborating with the HBCU Research Scientist Program at the Center for Sickle Cell Disease.Aside from the $7 million grant for
CHaRM, the Center for Sickle Cell Disease received close to $2 million for research toward people with sickle cell disease living with the HIV virus, as well as nearly $2 million toward developing therapeutics for Ebola virus infection.“These grants put Howard in the forefront of advanced research,” Sergei Nekhai, Ph.D., virologist and professor in the College of Medicine said in a school news release. “Howard has strong expertise which allows us to expand HIV and sickle cell research.”