NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Tulane University's School of Medicine is joining one of the latest trends in fund raising.
Researchers at the school have launched a partnership with the "crowdfunding" website Microryza, which lets scientists go directly to the public for seed money for early stage research. Thirteen projects proposed by Tulane researchers are being displayed on the Microryza site, each with a specific fundraising goal. The goals range from around $5,000 to as much as $15,000.
"It is a first shot at us trying this. This is very new," Mary Brown, vice dean and vice president of health sciences systems for Tulane, said in a Thursday interview.
It is also something new for Microryza, a firm launched last year by two University of Washington researchers. Co-founder Denny Luan said all Microryza crowdfunding efforts involve researchers at established institutions, such as universities. However, the Tulane projects mark the first time Microryza has partnered with a university itself.
With some government and private sources of funding not growing or even diminishing, Brown said the Microryza site appeared to be an innovative way to help young researchers get projects off the ground.
"We have a lot of young investigators and early career investigators who are always struggling to find that startup money, that seed money," Brown said. "Because it's hard to convince a bigger funding source to fund you if you don't have some evidence to show them, and they usually need some money to get started. It's not big money but it's hard to come by."
One of the listed projects seeks $10,000 for a project to see if kidney cancer can be successfully treated with nanotechnology - the engineering of molecules to direct treatment. Another, with an $8,000 goal, aims at slowing the spread of the virus that causes AIDS. It involves a proposed test program in New Orleans that would use a mobile web application and social media to encourage people to get tested for the virus, which often is spread by people who are unaware that they are infected.
Still another seeks $9,000 to fund a project aimed at determining the frequency of a newly discovered, treatable genetic disease that causes severe low blood sugar in young children.
The funding effort for each of the 13 projects began Tuesday, Brown said. Each project has an "all-or-nothing" funding target - meaning people who agree to provide backing are only charged for donations if scientists reach their funding goals. The deadline for raising the money is 45 days. Microryza collects a 5 percent fee, but only if the project meets its goal, Luan said.
Brown said the list of projects submitted was whittled down from 21 initial proposals. She said factors weighed included scientific research validity, but also whether the goal of the research is something understandable to the general public and "not so arcane that only three people would understand it."
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