US: Research growth comes at a steep price, study finds

A study released this month confirms and quantifies what many medical school deans and financial administrators have long understood: basic science research can be an expensive business, reports ScienceDaily. The study, conducted by the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, found that the institution had to add 40 cents to every dollar of external grant support received by newly recruited scientists in order to achieve financial equilibrium. Support required for established scientists is considerably less.

"The benefit of research, both to an institution and society, is greater than the sum of the parts," said Dr David Guzick, dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and a co-author of the study. "However, grant revenue never comes close to paying for the total cost of research. This is especially true in the start-up phase of newly hired investigators."

The study, which appears in the January edition of Academic Medicine, followed 25 basic biomedical science faculty members who were recruited to the University of Rochester between 1999 and 2004. Of that number, 23 were hired from outside the university.
Full report on the Science Daily site