Agencies urging scientists to translate research into practice

Special federal grants give small businesses the funds they need to bring a product to market.

By Beth Azar
Monitor staff

When psychologist Karlene Ball, PhD, was in graduate school 20 years ago, there was no expectation that research be conducted with real world applications in mind. Especially not for those in the field she chose, experimental psychology. But that?s beginning to change, partly because the science is mature enough to generate applications, and partly in response to a new insistence by federal funding agencies that it sees results from the basic research it funds.

Thus the National Institute on Aging (NIA) encouraged Ball and her colleagues at the University of Alabama at Birmingham to think about how their research on vision and cognition in the elderly might apply to improving driving skills in an aging population.

That encouragement has led them to a large line of applied research on techniques that may improve driving skills by improving the visual attention abilities required for safe driving. This new emphasis on applied research doesn?t mean basic research is dead. But there comes a time when certain lines of research become ripe for application, says Reid Lyon, PhD, chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

The federal government has set aside a special pot of money for projects that attempt to translate basic research into marketable products or services.

The federal government has even set aside a special pot of money for projects that attempt to translate basic research into marketable products or services, whether it be a computer game for teaching children how to read; a new testing chamber for rats; or a CD-ROM for improving memory. The money is part of the government?s small business initiative, which contains two funding mechanisms that provide grants to small businesses interested in bringing a product to market: the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program. Both programs provide grants to businesses with fewer than 500 employees. The biggest difference is that the STTR program requires businesses to team up with a university or other nonprofit research facility. Companies can apply for SBIR grants without collaborating with outside researchers, but many find they?re more successful if they have academic consultants.

Almost every funding agency administers a version of these grants. But behavioral researchers have largely ignored them as a source of funding, say funding officials. They receive only a handful of SBIR applications each year and even fewer STTR applications from behavioral researchers. And the quality of the applications tends to be lower, making competition for grants somewhat easier than for regular grants.

Behavioral researchers interested in moving their research toward application can also use standard grant mechanisms, say funding administrators. And, as NIA did with Ball and her colleagues, many funding agencies are beginning to push some researchers in that direction.

Finding a partner

Researchers interested in applying for the SBIR and STTR grants need to form partnerships with local companies or form their own companies.

In the case of psychologist Dana Plude, PhD, the Silver Spring, Md.?based company Compact Disc, Inc. approached him, seeking his expertise in gerontology to help them design computer-based products for the elderly. Together they have developed a fruitful working relationship funded by SBIR grants from NIA.

Plude, of the University of Maryland, and psychologist Doug Herrmann, PhD, of Indiana State University, provide a basic research base to the design of CD-ROMs that help older adults shore up declining cognitive skills, such as memory, through a series of cognitive exercises. Herrmann provides expertise in memory training and Plude is an expert on products that work for the elderly, he says.

The work provides Plude with a good source of additional research funding while allowing him to see real-world results from his research. The first product to come out of the collaboration is a two CD-ROM memory-raining set called 'The Memory Works.' The team has more products in development, says Plude.

Tackling problems

Psychologist Joseph Torgesen, PhD, found his own SBIR business partners in several small companies willing to help him design tests and programs for children with reading disabilities. He?d always been interested in applying research knowledge to practical problems, and the area of reading disabilities seemed a perfect place for him to use his background in cognitive development.

He?s kept one foot in the basic research camp, conducting studies on basic reading issues, and the other in the applied camp, helping to design products to help children learn to read.

His work is a perfect example of work NICHD likes to encourage through SBIR and regular research mechanisms, says Lyon. The institute seeks to ensure that the basic research it funds ultimately helps the general public. Once basic research findings begin to accumulate, the institute encourages applied research that builds on those findings.

Torgesen?s first collaboration, with Ontrack, Inc., in Orem, Utah, resulted in DaisyQuest and Daisy?s Castle, computer programs that teach children about the sound structure of language. He?s also developed several tests for diagnosing reading problems.

NIA has taken a similar approach by funding applied gerontology research that builds on basic research, says Jared Jobe, PhD, chief of the adult psychological development branch at NIA, including its six Edward R. Roybal Centers dedicated to applied behavioral research. Ball directs one of the most successful, the Center for Mobility Enhancement in the Elderly.

Once she and her colleagues began to apply their basic research on vision and attention to the question of driving, it led naturally toward more applied questions, she says. They discovered that the 'useful field of view'?a measure of visual attention and visual processing speed?is an important component of skilled driving.

Ball and her colleagues worked with Visual Resources, Inc.?a small Chicago research company?in patenting the useful field-of-view test and evaluating it through an NIA-funded SBIR grant. Visual Resources, Inc., in turn, has licensed the test to the Psychological Corp. in San Antonio, Texas, for distribution to psychologists, physicians and other medical professionals who wish to evaluate the elderly?s driving ability, says Ball.

One hand washes the other

The beauty of going the small business grant route is that it allows researchers to work alongside business professionals who know how to disseminate a product once it?s produced, says Torgesen. While he receives royalties for several products, he finds it less cumbersome to remain a consultant rather than a full business partner. For the small business, collaboration with academic researchers is often key to a successful proposal, admits Grady Watts of State of the Art, in Washington, D.C. Watts? company has used several SBIR grants from the National Institute of Mental Health to develop support videos on health care. Each grant requires a rigorous evaluation phase that many small businesses are not prepared to conduct on their own.

The biggest downside to small business grants for academic researchers is that most universities don?t reward them for the work because the money goes to the businesses, not to the universities, says Torgesen. To make the grants work for you professionally, you need to maintain basic research grants as well, he says.

For more information about SBIR and STTR grant mechanisms, visit the web sites of the funding agencies you normally work with and search for their small business initiatives.