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New approach needed for translational science
To the Editor:
The federal government provides grant funds to small businesses to encourage collaboration with academia to develop commercial products under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. In practice, UB discourages such collaboration. Let me explain.
STTR grants run in two phases, Phase I and Phase II. Phase I lasts one year at an average funding of $100,000. Phase II lasts two years and can be funded in the range of $750,000, but Phase I must have been completed successfully before one can apply for Phase II funding. The grants are split between the company and the academic collaborators at about 50-50. Managing that budget is where the problem arises.
If the company gets $100,000, UB gets $50,000. Of this, the UB administration takes out overhead expenses, leaving $31,000 for the project. For the grant to be funded, the faculty member(s) must commit a significant amount of time to the project—let’s say 10 percent. With a faculty salary of $150,000, the project would be charged $15,000 plus fringe benefits at 43 percent, or $21,000, leaving $10,000 to do the project. If a graduate student works on the project, his or her salary, plus fringe, adds about $22,000. With tuition costs, there is a deficit of about $20,000 to do the science.
UB allows us to apply for a waiver of the overhead costs and faculty salary, so the financial policy appears adjustable. So, if I come up with an idea, and if I take the time to find an industry collaborator, and if I take the time to write the grant to do the work, I then have to apply to UB to get the waiver so I have enough funds to carry out the project. Is this the meaning of UB 2020?
The alternative is simple: Don’t charge overhead and faculty salary on Phase I grants, or don’t charge overhead and salary on the first $50,000 of a grant. This would be a good investment. If you have faith in UB faculty, some fraction of Phase I grants will return as Phase II grants for much more money. STTR grants are only awarded for ideas that have been peer-reviewed by the federal government and judged to have a reasonable chance of success. Do UB’s endowment funds return at a better rate?
Research grants improve UB’s creativity, visibility and the economy of Western New York. Let’s try a new approach.
Frederick Sachs
SUNY Distinguished
Professor
Center for Single Molecule Biophysics
Department of
Physiology and Biophysical Sciences