By Kelsey Kendall
A $250,000 donation from the Pam and Rich Nuccitelli Foundation will help new hires and young scientists at the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics at Old Dominion University establish their labs and research, contributing to the work that has come from the center since its founding in 2002.
Andrei Pakhomov, director of the center, said the funding supports new research that leads to publication, external funding and awards that will serve as seed funding for select proposals.
“We really are looking to help young scientists and students to develop their careers,” Pakhomov said.
The projects selected to receive seed funding are expected to start early this year. Pakhomov said six of the 12 proposals have been chosen.
“The center is doing excellent, groundbreaking, innovative work, and we want to contribute to the ongoing research,” Pam Nuccitelli said.
Rich Nuccitelli said the Frank Reidy Center laid the foundation for the work he continues to do today.
He is a former researcher with the center who now serves as the Director of Research at Pulse Biosciences, a biomedical company specializing in nano-pulse technology. Before that, he and his wife Pam Nuccitelli had their own small company developing this new technology, working parallel to the research conducted at the center.
After leaving Old Dominion University, he and his wife continued to do nanoelectric research, leading to the formation of Pulse Biosciences 10 years ago. They received several shares of the company in exchange for licensing their patents for its use. This provided the couple with a “nice nest egg” that they wanted to use to fund “worthy causes.”
“The first one is the center, mainly because that’s where we learned about this fantastic technology,” Rich said.
The Frank Reidy Research Center conducts research with nanosecond electric pulses and plasma, which has interdisciplinary impacts in fields such as medicine, biology and engineering. It also serves as the lead organization for the International Bioelectrics Consortium, an association of 18 research institutions around the globe.
Since its founding, researchers with the center have secured more than 50 patents and published more than 600 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Their work has made an impact in cancer treatment and cardiac ablation, a procedure to treat irregular heartbeats, and continues to expand.
Jeffery Fergus, Ph.D., Dean of the Batten College of Engineering, under which the center falls, expressed gratitude to the Pam and Rich Foundation for the donation to support innovative research in the Frank Reidy Research Center.
“Gifts like this provide flexible funding that allows researchers to explore novel ideas and generate the preliminary data needed to compete for additional funding to fully develop the science and engineering, so that the resulting technology can be implemented to improve people's lives,” Dr. Fergus said.
Pakhomov noted the donation is particularly exciting because it comes from fellow scientists and former researchers with the center, saying that it comes from people who “believe in what we are doing and believe in this technology and this area of science.”