In March 2024, the University of Idaho received (award number P20GM152304) a $11 million, five-year grant to establish a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) program focused on nutrition and women’s health. This grant is funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH’s Office of Women’s Health and Office of Nutrition Research are also partners.

The NIH’s overarching goal with this and all COBRE grants is to “support the establishment and development of innovative, state-of-the-art biomedical and behavioral research centers at institutions in Institutional Development Award (IDeA)-eligible states through awards for three sequential five-year phases.” IDeA-eligible states are those with the least NIH funding, and Idaho ranks nearly at the bottom of all states in this regard.

The first five years (phase 1) of this award will focus on building capacity in the area of nutrition and women’s health at the University of Idaho, including (1) attracting, mentoring and supporting a critical mass of both emerging and established world-class investigators who are able to compete effectively for independent, federal research funding and (2) improving infrastructure in the area of nutrition and women’s health at the University of Idaho.

Research will be broad, interdisciplinary, collaborative and innovative in the areas of nutrition and women’s health. It will span the entire lifespan and be inclusive of all nutrients and food bioactives important for health. Both undernutrition and obesity will be considered, as will a broad range of health outcomes, such as fertility, eating disorders, nutrient deficiencies, chronic disease and mental health.

Leading the COBRE are Shelley McGuire (COBRE principal investigator/project director, professor of nutrition and director of the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences), Mark McGuire (COBRE associate director, university distinguished professor, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ associate dean of research and director of the Idaho Agriculture Experiment Station) and Janet Williams (COBRE director of the Nutrition Analytics Core Laboratory, senior research scientist).