Windfall for brainpower

Even before the money is available, Utah's two largest universities are using the lure of a $200 million research initiative to recruit talent.

The first hires under the Utah Science, Technology and Research Economic Development Initiative (USTAR) will transplant their research teams to Utah State University and the University of Utah this summer.

Although the first hirings, two at each school, will be officially funded by an initial $7 million in USTAR money from 2005, the promise of the heftier $200 million package taking effect in July helped the school cinch contracts with top researchers. It's the kind of result the Utah Legislature hoped for when it funded the ambitious program.

"With the passage of the USTAR package, we can now say, 'Yes, the state is making a long-term investment,' " said Jack Brittain, vice president of technology venture development at the U. "You're joining something that's going to have continuity. It's not just a one-time thing."

USTAR provides funding for research personnel and facilities at both institutions in hopes that research will create new technologies, jobs and spin-off companies.

Although U. leaders are not announcing any names just yet, Brittain said the two new hires are in information technology fields. The U.'s top priorities for USTAR will be homeland security and diseases such as Alzheimer's and depression.

The U. is also still wooing the "elusive brain guys" from Harvard, Brittain added, who have been negotiating with the U. for several months. The neuroscience team specializes in brain imaging that could lend insights into addictive behavior.

At USU, David York and Krishna Shenai will join the ranks this summer, the first USTAR professors for the school.

York, a researcher at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana, will join the USU nutritional team to study how to manipulate the brain to foster weight loss and reduce fat intake.

In the past year, York worked on three patents for drugs that could inhibit fat intake by altering brain chemicals. York will bring a team of four with him to USU, along with potential grant money. Over his career, York has received more than $20 million in grants for his research.

At USU, York is expected to bring in $2 million to $3 million in grant money each year.

"There's a lot of expertise already up there at Utah State, and I think there's a lot of peripheral opportunity as well for developing technologies," he said.