OKLAHOMA IDeA NETWORK OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH EXCELLENCE (OK-INBRE)
The Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) is a grant program funded by the National Institutes of Health Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program awarded to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. OK-INBRE began in 2001 with a goal to establish inclusive statewide multidisciplinary research networks with scientific foci to promote the development, coordination, and sharing of research expertise and resources that will expand research opportunities and increase the number of competitive investigators in the state. The OK-INBRE program augments and strengthens the biomedical research capacity and statewide research infrastructure in Oklahoma by providing significant research support to faculty at Oklahoma higher education institutions, institutional infrastructure through major research instrumentation, as well as training and hands-on research experiences and career enhancement activities for undergraduate and graduate students throughout Oklahoma.
The program represents a collaborative effort to sponsor biomedical research between research intensive institutions and primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities. The OK-INBRE scientific themes are multi-disciplinary and span the areas of Cancer, Developmental Biology, and Infectious Diseases. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education provide additional funding to support the goals of the program to improve the quality of the educational and research environment to enhance the science and technology knowledge of Oklahoma's workforce and grow the pipeline of students entering biomedical research and health care professional careers. The OK-INBRE Network is comprised of two research intensive institutions (the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation) six primarily undergraduate institutions (University of Central Oklahoma, Northeastern State University, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Cameron University and Langston University) and four community colleges (Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Redlands Community Colleges, and College of the Muscogee Nation). State Regents’ funding expands the OK-INBRE network by supporting five additional institutions to participate in OK-INBRE program initiatives (East Central University, Rogers State University, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Panhandle State University).