Group items tagged

he goal of the Interfacial Processes and Thermodynamics (IPT) program is to advance fundamental molecular engineering at interfaces, especially as applied to the nano-processing of soft materials.  The program views fundamental interfacial interactions, molecular transport at interfaces, and molecular thermodynamics as integral to developing new approaches for solving critical engineering needs that face society. Molecules at interfaces, with functional interfacial properties, are of special interest, as these molecules have potential use in important research areas, such as adhesion and advanced manufacturing/fabrication.  These interfacial molecules may also have biomolecular functions at the micro- and nano-scale, where the biomolecular functionalities may be re-directed toward engineering solutions. One new area of interest is the adhesion between unlike materials, or adhesion in adverse environments, with particular emphasis on applying strategies arising from nature.  Research supported in these fundamental areas should lead to more economical and environmentally benign processing, improved water quality, and novel functional materials for sensors, in industrial, environmental, and biomedical settings.  Nanotechnology plays a critical role in most of these new areas.

The Maximizing Investigators' Research Award (MIRA) is a grant to provide support for all of the research in an investigator's laboratory that falls within the mission of NIGMS.  The goal of MIRA is to increase the efficiency and efficacy of NIGMS funding.  It is anticipated that the new program will: Increase the stability of funding for NIGMS-supported investigators, which could enhance their ability to take on ambitious scientific projects and approach problems more creatively. Increase flexibility for investigators to follow important new research directions as opportunities arise, rather than being bound to specific aims proposed in advance of the studies. More widely distribute funding among the nation's highly talented and promising investigators to increase overall scientific productivity and the chances for important breakthroughs. Reduce the time spent by researchers writing and reviewing grant applications, allowing them to spend more time conducting research. Enable principal investigators to devote more time and energy to mentoring junior scientists in a more stable research environment. The purpose of this FOA is to test the feasibility of this grant mechanism through a pilot program with restricted eligibility.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites grant applications from institutions/organizations that propose to build research infrastructure to promote external collaboration with the medical rehabilitation community. The aim of this FOA is to create a national network of research cores that provide access to collateral expertise in biomedical, behavioral, engineering, and/or psychosocial fields that is particularly relevant to medical rehabilitation research. We are particularly interested in supporting infrastructure programs in clinical trial design, engineering and the environment, individualized medical rehabilitation and dynamic reassessment, and applied behavioral supports for rehabilitation research and healthy outcomes. However, other areas of expertise may be proposed provided they offer unique research opportunities and have potential for promoting medical rehabilitation research and improving outcomes for people with disabilities. In response to this FOA, applicants should propose a program of research resources and collaborative opportunities in a specific research domain. This may be accomplished through a workshops, written material, and websites, consultations, collaborations, and pilot funding. In addition, the research core may support activities within the grantee institution related to technique development, adaptation, and validation. To accomplish the aims of the FOA, applicants may propose collaborations to other institutional sites, provided that they cover the appropriate administrative and logistical issues.

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) supports research aimed at understanding why organisms are structured the way they are and function as they do. Proposals should focus on organisms as a fundamental unit of biological organization. Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to apply systems approaches that will lead to conceptual and theoretical insights and predictions about emergent organismal properties. Areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to, developmental biology and the evolution of developmental processes, nervous system development, structure, and function, physiological processes, functional morphology, symbioses, interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic environments, and animal behavior.

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 (including fungi, bacteria, and viruses), arthropods, fish, birds, mammals and other animals excluding humans.

The National Eye Institute (NEI) supports large-scale clinical vision research projects, including randomized clinical trials and epidemiologic studies. At the time of submission, applications requesting support for these activities are expected to provide detailed information regarding the study rationale, design, analytic techniques, protocols and procedures, facilities and environment, organizational structure, and collaborative arrangements.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the innovative biomedical and proof-of-concept research needed to understand how reproductive maturation or injury alters the mucosal environments at HIV susceptible sites. This information is essential to provide the safest and most efficacious biomedical prevention strategies (e.g., topical microbicides and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), etc.) to those populations at heightened risk of HIV infection.  

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications for the Consortium on Targeting and Regeneration (CTAR) that supports the development of innovative strategies to increase or protect functional human beta cell mass in patients with Type-1 Diabetes (T1D) through the controlled manipulation of beta cell replication, islet cell plasticity, and the reprogramming of pancreatic non-beta cells into beta-like cells, or through shielding the residual beta cell mass from the autoimmune environment. CTAR is part of the Human Islet Research Network (HIRN).

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), solicits cooperative agreement (U10) applications focusing on studies that (i) identify genetic variants that affect the susceptibility to develop alcohol dependence in adult and adolescent populations, (ii) determine molecular and functional mechanisms of these variants, (iii) identify and characterize gene x gene and gene x environment interactions leading to alcoholism, (iv) develop and refine phenotypes that will facilitate genetic analysis. (v) perform prospective studies of COGA probands.

The Division of Environmental Biology (DEB) Core Tracksupports research and training on evolutionary and ecological processes acting at the level of populations, species, communities, and ecosystems. DEB encourages research that elucidates fundamental principles that identify and explain the unity and diversity of life and its interactions with the environment over space and time. Research may incorporate field, laboratory, or collection-based approaches; observational or manipulative studies; synthesis activities; phylogenetic discovery projects; or theoretical approaches involving analytical, statistical, or computational modeling. Proposals should be submitted to the core clusters (Ecosystem Sciences, Evolutionary Processes, Population and Community Ecology, and Systematics and Biodiversity Sciences). DEB also encourages interdisciplinary proposals that cross conceptual boundaries and integrate over levels of biological organization or across multiple spatial and temporal scales.Research addressing ecology and ecosystem science in the marine biome should be directed to the Biological Oceanography Program in the Division of Ocean Sciences; research addressing evolution and systematics in the marine biome should be directed to the Evolutionary Processes or Systematics and Biodiversity Science programs in DEB. All DEB programs also encourage proposals that leverage NSF-supported data networks, databases, centers, and other forms of scientific infrastructure, including but not limited to the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), Environmental Data Initiative (EDI), and Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio).

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) supports research aimed at understanding why organisms are structured the way they are and function as they do. Proposals are welcomed in all of the core scientific program areas supported by the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS). Areas of inquiry include, but are not limited to, developmental biology and the evolution of developmental processes, nervous system development, structure, modification, function, and evolution; biomechanics and functional morphology, physiological processes, symbioses and microbial interactions, interactions of organisms with biotic and abiotic environments,plant and animal genomics, and animal behavior. Proposals should focus on organisms as a fundamental unit of biological organization. Principal Investigators (PIs) are encouraged to apply systems approaches that will lead to conceptual and theoretical insights and predictions about emergent organismal properties.

A reliable and low-cost solution is required for measuring the temperature of components within a: Gaseous and liquid environment within a cryogenic helium vessel Vacuum vessel between the temperature range of 300-3K Magnetic fields up to 8T It may be acceptable for a solution to be proposed that can cover all the ranges of temperature however different solutions may also be considered for individual ranges if optimised solutions can be offered for some or all of the ranges.

The purpose of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program is to expand the national capacity for research in the health sciences by providing cooperative agreement support to institutions that offer doctorate degrees in the health professions or in a health-related science and have a historical and current commitment to educating underrepresented students, and for institutions that deliver health care services, providing clinical services to medically underserved communities. The primary goals of the RCMI specialized centers are to: (1) enhance institutional research capacity within the areas of basic biomedical, behavioral, and/or clinical research; (2) enable all levels of investigators to become more successful in obtaining competitive extramural support, especially from NIH, particularly on diseases that disproportionately impact minority and other health disparity populations; (3) foster environments conducive to career enhancement with a special emphasis on development of new and early career investigators; (4) enhance the quality of all scientific inquiry and promote research on minority health and health disparities; and (5) establish sustainable relationships with community-based organizations that will partner with the RCMI Institution.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages grant applications to strengthen the developmental biology research environment at educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. In addition, this FOA attempts to foster the development of novel or underutilized experimental model systems, and to motivate students through exposure to and participation in research projects designed to study fundamental processes underlying normal development.

This is a Task Agreement under a Youth Master Cooperative Agreement P15AC00031. The Recipient with recruit 2 interns. The purpose of this project is to provide youth hands-on experience in natural and cultural restoration and toenhance the scientific communities knowledge adding to the study/ monitoring of bats. This is in regards to the White Nose Syndrome (WNS),a deadly disease that affects North American bats. The work done by the interns will help the management and provide for public awareness. The primary goal is to continue with a landscape project involving 22 acres that was started in 2017.The objectives are to re-seed with native grasses and forbs. This project incorporates these public purposes: The information, products and/or services identified or developed by this project will be shared through a variety of strategies to increase public awareness, knowledge and support for historic preservation and stewardship of the nation's cultural and historical heritage. The principal purpose of the project is to support the Government's objective to provide opportunities for youth to learn about the environment by spending time working on projects in National Parks. The NPS receives the indirect benefit of completing conservation projects.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) invites applications for the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Training (MHRT) awards. The Program supports research training activities in minority health and health disparities research for individuals from diverse backgrounds, including groups underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, clinical and social sciences research, at domestic institutions and/or at specified foreign low and middle income (LMIC) locations. This program is intended to promote both domestic and international training opportunities in a diverse and inclusive environment for eligible undergraduate, post-baccalaureate and graduate students, as well as for eligible residents, fellows and postdoctoral students.

Advances in the biological sciences are enabled by our capacity to acquire, manage, represent, and analyze biological information through the use of modern instrumentation and computational tools. Instrumentation Capacity for Biological Research (ICBR) invites proposals that specifically enable increased access to state of the art instrumentation in support of the biological sciences by (1) increasing access to a community of users through broadening of dissemination of such instrumentation, and (2) broadening access to state-of-the art instrumentation and facilities at a regional or national level. The "Rules of Life" is one of the NSF's ten big ideas for future investment. Understanding these basic "Rules" and how they operate across scales of time, space, and complexity to determine how genes function and interact with the environment will enable us to predict the phenotype, structure, function, and behavior of organisms. Providing scientists with the instrumentation and resources necessary to make these discoveries requires investments in new instrumentation capabilities and extending access to existing instrumentation and experimental facilities. Competitive proposals under ICBR will expand access to new or existing instrumentation that supports a significant segment of the biological research community conducting research in areas supported by the NSF Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO). The program will support activities that (1) enhance the access to and dissemination of innovative instrumentation, and (2) promote and enable access to existing instrumentation facilities (ie. imaging, genomics, proteomics, etc.) at the regional or national level.

The National Eye Institute (NEI) supports large-scale clinical vision research projects, including randomized clinical trials and epidemiologic studies. At the time of submission, applications requesting support for these activities are expected to provide detailed information regarding the study rationale, design, analytic techniques, protocols and procedures, facilities and environment, organizational structure, and collaborative arrangements. This information is best conveyed in a well-documented Manual of Procedures (MOP), the development of which represents a costly and time-consuming activity. This FOA is designed to facilitate activities central to the refinement of a study protocol and procedures and the development of a detailed MOP. The NEI Clinical Study Planning Grant may be used to support the development of a MOP, as well as to conduct preliminary studies to refine study procedures or document recruitment potential. The grant must not be used to generate data on the effects of a proposed intervention. This NEI FOA is applicable to both epidemiologic and clinical trial research studies.

Founded in 1972, the Tourette Association of America has emerged as the premier national nonprofit organization working to make life better for all people affected by Tourette and tic disorders. The association advances its work by raising public awareness and fostering social acceptance; working to advance scientific understanding, treatment options, and care; educating professionals to better serve the needs of children, adults, and families challenged by Tourette and tic disorders; advocating for public policies and services that promote positive school, work, and social environments; providing help, hope, and a supportive community across the nation; and empowering its community to deal with the complexities of this spectrum of disorders. To that end, grants of up to $150,000 over two years will be awarded for basic and clinical studies related to any aspect of Tourette syndrome. To be eligible, investigators are required to have an advanced degree such as a PhD, MD, or equivalent or be an allied professional with an advanced degree in a related field. Investigators from nonprofit and for-profit organizations are eligible to apply. Pre-proposals must be received no later than November 1, 2017. Upon review, selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by February 15, 2018.

Zimbabwe’s HIV epidemic is declining but remains generalized, with a national prevalence of 14%, incidence among adults 15-64 years of 0.45% (~32,000 new infections annually) and a mother to child transmission (MTCT) rate of 5.2%despite prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) coverage of 93%. There are approximately 1.4 million people living with HIV (PLHIV), steadily increasing as PLHIV live longer on treatment. However, testing, treatment, and viral suppression coverage lag behind the 90-90-90 targets; in particular, the“first 90” where 74% of PLHIV know their status. Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) has highlighted human resource challenges across the entire continuum of HIV service delivery. As Zimbabwe has adopted the UNAIDS Fast Track strategy for epidemic control, differentiated care becomes increasingly necessary to increase convenience and access and decongest clinical facilities. These strategies have been piloted in different settings, but require rapid scale-up. This NOFO aims to reach epidemic control in the challenging, resource-constrained environment of Zimbabwe. Through a comprehensive approach addressing facility and community-based services, the recipient will provide direct support and technical assistance (TA) to accelerate the HIV service delivery cascade and improve data quality and utilization for decision-making. The NOFO is also an opportunity to partner with the MOHCC to develop creative and sustainable solutions.