WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue University has announced it has received double-digit increases in research funding and the number of new patents issued for Purdue technologies.

            Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Purdue Research Foundation, and Richard O. Buckius, vice president for research, reported a record $438 million in research for fiscal 2009-10. That is up 28 percent from the previous fiscal year.

            Hornett said very $1 million in research funding support employment for seven full-time employees.

            At the same time, Purdue received 48 patents for 2009, up from 24 in 2008.

            “The substantial increase in issued patents is a strong indication of the exemplary research that Purdue faculty conducts and the expedience with which these important discoveries are moving to the public,” said Hornett.

            At the same time, he reported that Purdue Research Park now has four incubators in Indiana where more than 200 companies employ 4,000 people.

            “Sixty-four of our park-based companies are a direct result of discoveries from Purdue and another 25 companies in our park network work with Purdue faculty to advance new technologies,” said Hornett. “Many of these companies were formed from research that faculty advanced through federal and state grants that Purdue received.”

            Buckius said that as part of a 10-year plan Purdue is proposing a “life sciences quadrangle” that would be anchored by a drug discovery building and a health and human science facility. “The live sciences quadrangle will focus on interdisciplinary research among Purdue faculty and includes an addition to the Bindley Biosciences Center and a new ag and life sciences building and an animal care facility.”