Group items tagged

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to provide opportunities for eligible small business concerns (SBCs) to submit STTR grant applications to develop interactive digital media science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) resources that address student career choice and health and medicine topics for: (1) pre-kindergarten to grade 12 (P-12) students and pre- and in-service teachers ("Teachers") or (2) Informal science education (ISE), i.e., outside the classroom, audiences. Interactive digital media (IDM) are defined as products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video, audio, and video games. There is a large body of evidence that IDM technology has the potential to support learning in a variety of contexts from primary and secondary schools, to universities, adult education and workplace training. IDM is widely used to train, educate, and encourage behavioral changes in a virtual world format where progressive learning, feedback on success and user control are combined into an interactive and engaging experience. It is anticipated that this STTR FOA will facilitate the translation of new or existing health and medicine-based, P-12 STEM curricula and museum exhibits into educational Interactive Digital Media STEM (IDM STEM) resources that will provide a hands-on, inquiry-based and learning-by-doing experience for students, teachers and the community.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications that focus on clarifying the relationship between delirium and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Specifically sought is research focusing on understanding why persons with ADRD are at increased risk to develop delirium, often with a worse prognosis compared to those without antecedent ADRD, and why patients who experience delirium are at higher risk to develop subsequent short- and/or long-term mild cognitive impairment or ADRD, often with an accelerated rate of cognitive decline compared to those without preceding delirium. Relevant research projects may focus on, but are not limited to, those that A) provide insight into possible common, sequential, causative, contributory and/or synergistic pathways underlying both ADRD and delirium, B) elucidate mechanisms that lead to the development of delirium against the background of aging and/or neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on use of appropriate animal models, C) identify risk factors for the onset and/or progression of delirium in those with ADRD and vice versa, D) diagnose and assess one condition in the setting of the other, E) identify putative phenotypes of patients with co-existing ADRD and delirium, or F) test pharmacologic and/or non-pharmacologic strategies to prevent, treat, or reduce the impact of delirium in patients with ADRD and vice versa. Research supported by this FOA is intended to provide mechanistic insight to improve risk assessment, diagnosis, phenotyping, prevention, and management approaches for both delirium and ADRD.

The Clinical Translational Research Award supports studies that will move promising, well-founded preclinical and/or clinical research findings closer to clinical application, including diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment of TSC. Projects supported by this award mechanism may include studies moving from preclinical to clinical research (including a pilot clinical trial) and/or the reverse, analyzing human anatomical substances and/or data associated with clinical trials (such as correlative studies). Studies advancing clinical trial readiness through development of biomarkers, clinical endpoints, and validation of PK/PD are of particular interest to the FY19 TSCRP. Preference will be given to studies that involve human samples, patients, or leverage existing clinical data and/or ongoing clinical studies. Preclinical studies may be appropriate but must include a clinical component. Projects that are exploratory and/or strictly animal research will not be considered for funding. Developmental pathways for translational research that may be useful for designing translational research studies for support under this mechanism can be found in the report of the National Cancer Institute Translational Research Working Group (http://clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/ content/14/18/5664.full). These pathways are comprehensive and span the entire translational research continuum from bench to bedside to bench.

The objective of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support the development of new and innovative on-demand, event -driven and long-acting systemic and non-systemic multipurpose prevention technologies (MPT). It supports development of MPTs that prevent HIV infection and pregnancy (hormonal and non-hormonal methods); sexually transmitted infections (STI) and pregnancy, and (HIV/STI) and non-HIV STI MPTs in cis and trans males and females of all ages. Applications for MPT development may involve pharmacokinetic (PK), pharmacodynamic (PD), safety and, drug-drug interactions (DDI) studies using drug development and formulation science supported by animal model testing. Also supported are biobehavioral and behavioral/social studies to identify MPT user-desired rheological and biophysical factors (look, feel, effectiveness, safety and duration of action) and other behavioral/social factors that could promote increased MPT adoption and use.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is twofold: (1) to stimulate basic and mechanistic science that facilitates the development of effective probiotics or pre-/probiotic combinations of relevance to human health and disease; and (2) determine biological outcomes for the evaluation of efficacy of pre/probiotics in appropriate test systems and animal models. This FOA encourages basic and mechanistic studies using in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo, and in silico models that focus on prebiotic/probiotic strain selectivity, interaction, and function. It will also encourage inter and multidisciplinary collaborations among scientists in a wide range of disciplines including nutritional science, immunology, microbiomics, genomics, other '-omic' sciences, biotechnology, and bioinformatics.

The goal of this FOA is to develop new hypotheses and common experimental framework(s) between human - animal model studies to better understand the genetic, genomic, and epigenetic factors contributing to and underlying biological bases for the development of tolerance and the progression to alcohol dependence.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) requests applications to explore human pancreatic tissues for the discovery of early biomarkers of T1D pathogenesis, the description of specific signaling or processing pathways that may contribute to the asymptomatic phase of T1D, the development of clinical diagnostic tools for the detection and staging of early T1D in at-risk or recently-diagnosed individuals, and/or the identification of therapeutic targets for the development of preventative or early treatment strategies. Successful applicants will join the Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival (CBDS), whose mission is to better define and detect the mechanisms of beta cell stress and destruction central to the development of T1D in humans, with the long-term goal of detecting beta cell destruction and protecting the residual beta cell mass in T1D patients as early as possible in the disease process, and of preventing the progression to autoimmunity. The CBDS is part of a collaborative research framework, the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN, https://hirnetwork.org), whose overall mission is to support innovative and collaborative translational research to understand how human beta cells are lost in T1D, and to find innovative strategies to protect and replace functional beta cell mass in humans. This FOA will only support studies with a primary focus on increasing our understanding of human disease biology (as opposed to rodent or other animal models).

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites cooperative agreement applications that will contribute to a higher resolution understanding of the physical and functional organization of the human islet tissue environment by describing the composition (cellular and molecular) and function of important components of the pancreatic islet and peri-islet tissue architecture, the cell-cell relationships and means of communications used by cell types and cell subtypes within the pancreatic tissue ecosystem, and/or the contribution of adjacent (including acinar, ductal, lymphatic) and neighboring (intestinal, mesenteric and adipose) tissues to islet cell function and dysfunction. Successful projects will integrate the Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC), that will consist of the research teams funded in response to this FOA with the Human Pancreas Analysis Program (HPAP), a resource-generation program that was funded in 2016 in response to RFA-DK-15-027. HPAC will become the fifth consortium of the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN, https://hirnetwork.org/ ). HIRN's overall mission is to support innovative and collaborative translational research to understand how human beta cells are lost in T1D, and to find innovative strategies to protect and replace functional beta cell mass in humans. This FOA will only support studies with a primary focus on increasing our understanding of human tissue structure and function, and human disease biology (as opposed to rodent or other animal models). This FOA is not intended to support the conduct of a clinical trial.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) requests applications to explore human pancreatic tissues for the discovery of early biomarkers of T1D pathogenesis, the description of specific signaling or processing pathways that may contribute to the asymptomatic phase of T1D, the development of clinical diagnostic tools for the detection and staging of early T1D in at-risk or recently-diagnosed individuals, and/or the identification of therapeutic targets for the development of preventative or early treatment strategies. Successful applicants will join the Consortium on Beta Cell Death and Survival (CBDS), whose mission is to better define and detect the mechanisms of beta cell stress and destruction central to the development of T1D in humans, with the long-term goal of detecting beta cell destruction and protecting the residual beta cell mass in T1D patients as early as possible in the disease process, and of preventing the progression to autoimmunity. The CBDS is part of a collaborative research framework, the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN, https://hirnetwork.org), whose overall mission is to support innovative and collaborative translational research to understand how human beta cells are lost in T1D, and to find innovative strategies to protect and replace functional beta cell mass in humans. This FOA will only support studies with a primary focus on increasing our understanding of human disease biology (as opposed to rodent or other animal models). This FOA will not accept applications proposing a clinical trial.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites cooperative agreement applications that will contribute to a higher resolution understanding of the physical and functional organization of the human islet tissue environment by describing the composition (cellular and molecular) and function of important components of the pancreatic islet and peri-islet tissue architecture, the cell-cell relationships and means of communications used by cell types and cell subtypes within the pancreatic tissue ecosystem, and/or the contribution of adjacent (including acinar, ductal, lymphatic) and neighboring (intestinal, mesenteric and adipose) tissues to islet cell function and dysfunction. Successful projects will integrate the Human Pancreas Analysis Consortium (HPAC), that will consist of the research teams funded in response to this FOA with the Human Pancreas Analysis Program (HPAP), a resource-generation program that was funded in 2016 in response to RFA-DK-15-027. HPAC will become the fifth consortium of the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN, https://hirnetwork.org/ ). HIRN's overall mission is to support innovative and collaborative translational research to understand how human beta cells are lost in T1D, and to find innovative strategies to protect and replace functional beta cell mass in humans. This FOA will only support studies with a primary focus on increasing our understanding of human tissue structure and function, and human disease biology (as opposed to rodent or other animal models). This FOA will not accept applications proposing a clinical trial.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to provide continuing support for specific pathogen free (SPF) macaque colonies previously funded under the auspices of PAR-14-066. Breeding colonies are essential to sustain Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) research. Pedigree SPF macaques are free of certain viruses, which can confound the results of AIDS-related investigations or present a risk to the personnel who care for the animals. The SPF macaques are genetically characterized for major histocompatibility (MHC) class I types as defined MHC classes are critical in determining immune responses to HIV/AIDS infections.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research projects focused on adducts to cellular macromolecules as indicators of exposures to cancer risk factors relevant to human populations. The priority is on projects that will focus on adductomic approaches, i.e., address some aspects of the totality of adducts. These projects should explore the basic aspects of adducts/adductomics that may have a potential utility in cancer detection, cancer prevention, and/or assessing cancer risks. The projects should be relevant to adducts in humans and human populations but may be conducted using various model systems (e.g., cultured cells, animals, etc.). The use of human biospecimens is encouraged and expected if appropriate but not required. In well-justified cases, innovative studies using the adductomic approaches in the context of cancer etiology and/or gene-environment interaction research may also be appropriate. For projects intended for NIEHS support, the focus may be on innovative technology and method development.

Understanding the dynamic activity of neural circuits is central to the NIH BRAIN Initiative. Although invention and proof-of-concept testing of new technologies are a key component of the BRAIN Initiative, to achieve their potential these technologies must also be optimized through feedback from end-users in the context of the intended experimental use. This FOA seeks applications for the optimization of existing and emerging technologies and approaches that have potential to address major challenges associated with recording and manipulating neural activity, at or near cellular resolution, at multiple spatial and temporal scales, in any region and throughout the entire depth of the brain. This FOA is intended for the iterative refinement of emergent technologies and approaches that have already demonstrated their transformative potential through initial proof-of-concept testing, and are appropriate for accelerated development of hardware and software while scaling manufacturing techniques towards sustainable, broad dissemination and user-friendly incorporation into regular neuroscience practice. Proposed technologies should be compatible with experiments in behaving animals, and should include advancements that enable or reduce major barriers to hypothesis-driven experiments. Technologies may engage diverse types of signaling beyond neuronal electrical activity for large-scale analysis, and may utilize any modality such as optical, electrical, magnetic, acoustic or genetic recording/manipulation. Applications that seek to integrate multiple approaches are encouraged. Applications are expected to integrate appropriate domains of expertise, including where appropriate biological, chemical and physical sciences, engineering, computational modeling and statistical analysis. Also listed under R01

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support high risk and high reward basic and translational studies aimed at understanding the etiology, and the cellular and molecular mechanisms, including the environmental, genetic, epigenetic, biologic, and immunologic factors causing and/or associated with Hidradenitis Suppurativa. The purpose is to accelerate discovery in this field of research and to apply new knowledge to improve patients' condition and ultimately better control disease. This FOA intends to support a broad range of mechanistic studies using animal and human models, with an emphasis on multidisciplinary collaboration for rapid bench-to-bedside exchange of information and therapy development. This FOA is not intended to support applications proposing epidemiology studies and/or clinical trials.

The overarching goal of this FOA is to add informatics capabilities to the Common Fund program, Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG; https://commonfund.nih.gov/idg/index). The IDG consortium's purpose is to facilitate the unveiling of the functions of selected understudied proteins in the Druggable Genome using experimental and informatics approaches. Currently, this research consortium is composed of multiple Data and Resource Generation Centers (DRGCs), a Knowledge Management Center (KMC), and a Resource Dissemination and Outreach Center (RDOC). The purpose of this specific FOA is to solicit applications to build a set of Cutting Edge Informatics Tools (CEITs) that will augment the capability of the KMC as well as the broader IDG Consortium in two ways: (1) by deploying tools to enhance the communitys ability to process, analyze, visualize data, to prioritize new data resources and methods to be incorporated into Pharos that will strengthen predictions about physiological and disease associations around the understudied proteins and (2) to prioritize physiological and disease relevant cellular and animal models for further study of the understudied proteins (non-olfactory GPCRs, protein kinases, and ion channels) both within the IDG program and by the larger community.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites R21 applications for studies that address knowledge gaps in mechanisms of Fc-dependent, antibody-mediated killing of infected cells or aberrant cells, or antibody-mediated therapeutic ablation of cells implicated in immune pathologies, including autoimmune and allergic diseases. More specifically, the purpose of this FOA is to promote innovative and exploratory research to elucidate mechanisms of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) and antibody-dependent cell-mediated phagocytosis (ADCP), and to promote development of tools, technologies, and animal models to facilitate identification and evaluation of cytotoxic killing mechanisms mediated by human antibodies in vivo.

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) recognizes that a lack of methods for analysis of gene function represents an obstacle to progress in a range of diverse non-model organisms. These organisms are important for understanding numerous basic science questions in organismal biology as funded through the Division's core programs. Enabling Discovery through Genomic Tools (EDGE) is designed to provide support for development of tools, approaches and infrastructure necessary for direct tests of cause and effect hypotheses between gene function and phenotypes in diverse plants, animals, microbes, viruses and fungi for which these methods are presently unavailable. Such approaches are essential to advance understanding of the genomes-to-phenomes relationship, an area relevant to Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype, one of the 10 Big Ideas for future NSF investment. To meet the goal of catalyzing communities to enable direct tests of cause-and-effect hypotheses about genes and phenotypes in organisms for which such tools and infrastructure are presently lacking, EDGE proposals must include training and rapid dissemination plans enabling larger communities of investigators to utilize the newly-developed tools quickly, thereby catalyzing an increase in the capacity of research communities to test cause-and-effect hypotheses about genes and phenotypes in organisms for which such tools and infrastructure are presently lacking.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite cooperative agreement applications for research that advances promising compounds thorough the drug development pipeline for the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). NIAAA is seeking applications for medications development research projects from both for-profit and not-for-profit entities, including academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, private and public foundations, small businesses not eligible for the SBIR/STTR program and single entities able to demonstrate significant resource commitment to the proposed project. A resource commitment from a single entity could, for example, consist of salary support for key personnel or production and formulation of clinical trial material. The aim of this FOA is to move candidate compounds through Investigational New Drug (IND) requirements, Phase 1 human safety, tolerability, and dosing studies, and Phase 2 human laboratory and proof-of-concept trials. Within these phases of drug development, each proposed project should have a defined entry and exit point. Finally, this FOA will not support animal studies to prove efficacy of the candidate compound unless required by the Food and Drug Administration or peer review. Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the NIAAA Division of Medications Development Staff prior to submitting to this FOA.

The purpose of the BRAG program is to support the generation of new information that will assist Federal regulatory agencies in making science-based decisions about the effects of introducing into the environment genetically engineered organisms (GE), including plants, microorganisms - such as fungi, bacteria, and viruses - arthropods, fish, birds, mammals and other animals excluding humans. Investigations of effects on both managed and natural environments are relevant. The BRAG program accomplishes its purpose by providing federal regulatory agencies with scientific information relevant to regulatory issues

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is intended to foster research towards a better understanding of the biological mechanisms of gene-environment interplay in human diseases and conditions. Through this FOA, the NIDCR, NIEHS, and NICHD solicit applications that use animal models, in vitro systems, or ex vivo approaches to conduct mechanistic investigation of the interplay of genes/gene networks and environmental factors in dental, oral, craniofacial (DOC), and other diseases and conditions.