Tom Harkin, U.S. senator from Iowa, visited the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building at the University of Iowa Tuesday, Oct. 28, to meet with UI Carver College of Medicine faculty and administrators and discuss ongoing research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Learn more about the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building and the programs it houses.
Harkin received a tour of the new $126 million facility dedicated this month as the university’s hub for “high-risk, high-reward” research on heart and lung diseases, diabetes, deafness, and brain science.
During the visit, the senator learned about current UI research efforts aimed at improving treatment for disease, including:
- Use of high-dose vitamin C as a therapy in lung and pancreatic cancer
- Identifying gene mutations associated with mental illness
- In vivo screening of drugs that may help prevent neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
- Cultivating neurons to help people with cochlear implants hear more clearly
Francois Abboud, professor of internal medicine and founding director of the Francois M. Abboud Cardiovascular Research Center, which has received funding from the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute since 1971, voiced concern about financial barriers facing experienced and new investigators alike.
Harkin responded to the research updates with enthusiasm and emphasized his commitment to finding more money for the NIH.
“From a small investment, the economic activity that bubbles up from biomedical research has huge economic impacts as well as health impacts,” he said.
He added that he hopes to fuel a bipartisan effort to lift the cap on the funding of federal research projects.
