Obama's healing touch: $5bn for health research

WASHINGTON: US president Barack Obama announced a plan on Wednesday to spend $5 billion to create new jobs for medical and scientific research,

medical supplies and improved laboratory capacity.

The funds, to come from the $787 billion economic stimulus package, will pay for "cutting-edge medical research in every state across the US," the White House said.

"The more than 12,000 grant awards are expected to create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two years and are part of an overall $100 billion Recovery Act investment in science and technology to lay the foundation for the innovation economy of the future," the statement said. The awards will take the form of grants, meaning that institutions and researchers will have to apply for them.

More than $1 billion of the money will go to genomic research - studying the DNA map to find causes of diseases and potential new treatments for them, especially cancer.