Annapolis Wrap

Items of particular significance to Johns Hopkins in the state budget, passed in this year’s legislative session, include $15 million for the Pediatric Trauma Center and $12.5 million for the Cardiovascular and Critical Care Adult Tower, resulting in a total state commitment of $32.5 million for the new clinical buildings in the upcoming fiscal year.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Act of 2006, which takes effect on July 1, establishes a commission that will set parameters on the $15 million appropriated for stem cell research in the FY2007 budget. The bill stipulates that the funds may be granted for either adult and embryonic stem cell research and prohibits human cloning.

A Trauma Fund Bill expands the number of specialties that can tap into the Trauma Fund, from six in existing law, to 28. It will help adult trauma at JHH and Bayview, pediatric trauma, Wilmer and Bayview Regional Burn Center.

With more than $1.2 billion received each year in federal research funding, Johns Hopkins is the country’s leading research institution. So last year, when NIH announced that starting in early 2007 it would require its most common grant applications to be submitted electronically, a HopkinsOne component known as Coeus was moved ahead of schedule.

Developed by MIT and named after the Greek titan of knowledge, Coeus (pronounced KO-ee-us) will be the software system that faculty and research staff use to develop and electronically submit federal grant proposals, via a Web-based system called Grants.gov.

Some 90 colleges and universities already use Coeus; Hopkins is one of few among them represented on the Coeus consortium’s steering committee. “By having a seat at the table, we’re more than a customer,” said Cheryl Howard, the assistant provost for University Research Projects Administration who sits on the committee. “It means that the institution will have a voice in how the software is developed and enhanced over time.”

Coeus, originally planned for launch in July 2007, now is on schedule to debut this coming July.