RAMP alumnus awarded NIH Grant

Congratulations to RAMP alumnus Dr. Robert Gourdie who has received a prestigious National Institute of Health NHLBI R35 Outstanding Investigator grant award!

The grant will provide up to seven years of continuous support and up to $700,000 a year for Dr. Gourdie and his lab at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC. From this lab, Dr. Gourdie and Spencer Marsh spun out Tiny Cargo, which extracts exosomes from milk to serve as drug-delivery devices for people with heart disease. Tiny Cargo participated in RAMP’s Health & Life Sciences Cohort in Spring 2021.

The intent of the R35 program is to free up NHLBI-funded scientists to pursue their research interests without being encumbered with continuous grant writing and narrow project-based goals, Gourdie writes.

“I feel very fortunate to receive this award. I wish to offer my thanks to my wife and family, my lab, my colleagues at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion, my scientific collaborators and NHBLI program staff for their support and help. I also wish to express my profound gratitude to U.S. taxpayers for their support of the NIH and its important mission to improve the health and well being of Americans.”