Dr. Karen Kerman, of Hasbro Children’s Hospital, talks to the state council about the collaborative project from last year, foreground, that she did with David A. Durfee, of Bay Computer Associates, creating toys for rehabilitation.

The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

PROVIDENCE — First, they admired the fruits of last year’s investment, gazing at bright yellow cars zipping around a tiny racetrack designed to rehabilitate children with cerebral palsy.

Only then, after David A. Durfee, chief scientist at Bay Computer Associates Inc., had parked the racecars, did the Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council announce the recipients of this year’s research grants, saying they hoped the financing would spur similar projects.

“It is one of the most important things that STAC does,” Clyde Briant, the vice president for research at Brown University and a cochairman of the council, said yesterday. “I’m really glad to see this taking shape.”

In all, the council selected 9 of 49 applications for this year’s Rhode Island Research Alliance Collaborative Grants. The projects involve 24 scientists at 14 organizations and include a range of topics, from improved methods for diagnosing anemia to techniques for police to analyze low-quality video images.

The two-year-old program is designed to strengthen the state’s research environment by coaxing cooperation among universities and between academic researchers and start-up companies. Recipients share $1.5 million that the council hopes will help them create jobs to replace the state’s disappearing manufacturing positions.

Last year, council members awarded grants to 32 researchers from 15 universities, hospitals and corporations, money they say yielded research advances and helped at least one recipient win a $1.4-million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

But the program, financed annually by the General Assembly, could come under new scrutiny as lawmakers struggle to avert a $450-million deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1. To help close a $150-million gap in the current-year budget, Governor Carcieri has asked the council to refund $40,000 of this year’s appropriation.

Members of the council, created in 2005, say they are aware of the budget crisis. Their legislative recommendations for this session include no new spending, asking only for the research grants to continue and for the council’s $100,000 administrative budget.

In announcing the 2007 grant recipients, at a meeting in the State House, they cautioned lawmakers not to undermine successful economic-development initiatives to solve short-term fiscal challenges.

“We are very sensitive to the financial state of Rhode Island,” said council member Jeffrey R. Seemann, dean of the College of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Rhode Island. “Even in these very difficult financial times,” he said, “investments for the long term have to be made if we’re to transform our economy.”

When they handed certificates to grant recipients, council members invited Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts, Rep. Eileen S. Naughton, D-Warwick, Sen. William A. Walaska, D-Warwick, and Rep. Raymond C. Church, D-North Smithfield, to pose for photographs with the winners.

Several of this year’s grant recipients have previously enjoyed state support. The biotechnology firm NABsys Inc., working to lower the cost of genome sequencing, has received $475,000 in investments from the Slater Technology Fund, a taxpayer-backed organization that supports start-up companies. Bionica Corp. has pocketed $250,000 in Slater investments in its hearing-aid research, and in November, the state Economic Development Corporation gave the company a $100,000 tax credit.

But the pool also includes companies that have not participated in the state programs. Celgen LLC, working with scientists at URI and Salve Regina University, received $107,000 for its research in treatment for congestive heart failure and asthma. Organomed Corp., partnering with Rhode Island College and URI researchers, won $102,000.

Here is the complete list of grant recipients:

•Researchers from ProThera Biologics and Women & Infants Hospital received $200,000 to find better methods of handling complicated pregnancies and premature births.

•Researchers from Brown and Rhode Island Hospital received $170,239 to create improved diagnostic techniques for identifying anemia.

•Researchers from Brown and URI received $200,000 to install a new isothermal titration calorimeter used to study proteins and their links to disease.

•Researchers from Salve and NABSys Inc. received $148,050 for research into lower cost genome-sequencing technology.

•Researchers from Brown and the state police received $118,773 for efforts to help police identify suspects in low-quality video recordings.

•Researchers from Roger Williams University and URI received $97,459 for researching “green tide” in Narragansett Bay.

•Researchers from Brown and Bionica received $200,000 for the development of a new type of hearing aid.

•Researchers from Rhode Island College, URI and Organomed received $102,186 to study new drugs for treating breast cancer.

•Researchers from URI, Salve and Celgen received $106,657 for the study of drugs to treat congestive heart failure.

bgedan@projo.com