The Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (KY-BRIN) program at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is an initiative intended to increase and strengthen biomedical research at NKU and promote awareness of biomedical research among faculty, students, and the surrounding community. This program is part of a larger initiative funded through the University of Louisville by the National Center for Research Resources, a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Besides NKU and the University of Louisville, the statewide KY-BRIN program supports biomedical research among faculty and students at the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, Morehead State University, and Western Kentucky University. In 2004, the program received a five-year, $12.5 million, Idea Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) award from the NIH to continue its support of biomedical research and training in Kentucky. Research projects and activities at NKU will receive approximately $2.4 million dollars of support from this grant over the next five years. At present, this funding supports three research projects and administrative activities at NKU. These research projects are highly interdisciplinary and involve faculty and students from the departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Psychology.

The specific goals of the KY-BRIN program at NKU are: 

• Enhance the quality and capacity of biomedical research at NKU to better assure its competitiveness for funding from federal and non-federal sources
• Promote undergraduate training and research in areas related to biomedicine and better prepare students for graduate study or medical school.
• Increase awareness and understanding of biomedical issues among faculty, students and the surrounding community.
• Provide research and educational resources to NKU faculty and students interested in biomedical research

Support of the   National Institutes of Health and the   National Center for Research Resources Grant P20 RR16481 is gratefully acknowledged.