Seven research centers around the country are sharing a $12.2 million grant to create a kind of Facebook for scientists. The goal is to help scientists find potential research collaborators, speeding up the process of scientific discovery.
The two-year grant, from the National Center for Research Resources, goes to a consortium led by the University of Florida, It includes The Scripps Research Institute; Indiana University; Weill Cornell Medical College; Wahington University at St. Louis and the Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico.
The network is being named VIVO, after open-source search software that categorizes and organizes results to make them more usable for researchers. Eventually, the NIH wants to make VIVO a national network for scientists.