Tulane University has just announced a partnership between Tulane’s School of Medicine and crowdfunding platform Microryza. Microryza is an industry leader in crowdfunding for medical research, and the platform will be used by Tulane researchers going forward in an effort to drive funding to medical research projects embedded within the school.
This is the first partnership between Microryza and a major university. The launch is accompanied by 13 new projects on the site. Each has 45 days to raise as much as $15,000 in all-or-nothing funding efforts.
Projects are mostly pitched in the form of questions – “What’s calcium’s role in heart and kidney disease?” or “Does too much Factor VIII predict severe stroke?” Thus far 22 contributors have pledged just over $1,300 to the 13 participating campaigns.
Microryza CEO Denny Luan cites cuts in federal funding as a primary indicator of the need for platforms like his in the crowdfunding space. “Federal research funding cuts have had a huge detrimental effect on scientific innovation and progress, resulting in years of research being cut short. We’re hoping that this partnership sheds some light on the very important and fascinating research happening at Tulane,” Luan said. “Science doesn’t have to be hidden behind locked doors, paywalls, and layers of bureaucracy. Microryza’s mission is to share the scientific discoveries that move us forward and to make them accessible to everyone.”
“These are 13 incredibly bright scientists with great ideas who just need the funding to make their innovations a reality,” said Mary Brown, vice dean and vice president of health sciences systems for Tulane. “This is an innovative way to try to get promising research funded in a new, extremely competitive environment for federal research dollars.”