Dec. 30, 2014
Remo George, M.S., CNMT, is a textbook case of an R.T. leveraging a seed grant from the ASRT Foundation into full-blown research and publication in a peer-reviewed professional journal. Success!
An assistant professor in the nuclear medicine technology program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Remo said he used the seed grant to establish the validity of his proposal. The seed grant led to a $10,000 professional research grant from the Foundation to investigate using a short interfering RNA molecular beacon to detect and treat the pulmonary granulomas characteristic of latent tuberculosis.
The professional grant built on the seed-grant work, he said, resulting in “one published paper in the peer-reviewed Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials. These grants have enabled me to complete my work toward a research doctorate, thus advancing my career in imaging.”
Remo’s experience embodies the goals of the Foundation’s grant programs — to support research that ultimately will improve patient care — while building the career of the recipient and bolstering the profession.
Remo noted that a “poorly formulated research question and inadequate research design” often doom proposals. “Focus, focus, focus on the research question and why anybody should care about what you are proposing,” he advised. “The most difficult and crucial aspect for first-time applicants is to come up with that razor-sharp research question that no one has yet addressed but is important to answer.”
Landing a grant and conducting research take effort, but Remo finds it rewarding: “It shows that you care for your field, your profession and yourself. The satisfaction of contributing something original to the knowledge in the field is exhilarating!”
As a result of receiving the raw materials he needed for his research project, Remo stated, “My research experience has taught me that perseverance and critical observation are constantly needed to yield meaningful results in many endeavors. Only with the help of my professional organization was I able to develop my research capabilities and aspirations in order to contribute something original back to my field.”
This article is excerpted from “Research Grants Require Focused Topic” by Charles Poling, originally published in ASRT Scanner, Vol. 45, No. 3, Page 20.