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Attention veterinarians, lab technicians, animal technicians, and all who work with laboratory animals: The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) now is accepting proposals for the 2014 Science-based Refinement Awards (formerly the Animal Welfare Enhancement Awards). The focus of these awards is to elicit scientific evidence to support the enhancement of the housing, handling and/or experimental situations for laboratory animals. Studies may, for example, examine: how physiological and behavioral stress responses to common husbandry (e.g., capture) and traditional treatment procedures (e.g., gavage, injection, blood collection) can be reduced or eliminated (e.g., by training the subjects to cooperate rather than resist); whether animals caged at different tier levels show different physiological and behavioral stress responses when being approached by personnel, and how these responses can be minimized or avoided; whether the presence of a compatible companion buffers physiological and behavioral stress responses to experimental situations (e.g., enforced restraint); whether animals kept in legally minimum-sized cages benefit from a moderate increase in space that is (a) empty versus (b) structured in species-appropriate ways (e.g., shelter, visual blind, perch, platform, PVC tube).

The purpose of this FOA is to establish a center to coordinate and analyze single cell and other molecular data sets generated by SCORCH and other NIDA-funded HIV and substance use disorder projects and to make the data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) to enable secondary analyses by the scientific community. The SCORCH Data Center will coordinate, curate, analyze, and provide public access to single cell SCORCH datasets and other NIDA-generated molecular HIV/SUD data. The SCORCH Data Center will also be responsible for integrating the efforts of all funded components of the NIDA SCORCH program and serve as a community-wide nexus for single cell protocols, data, assay and data standards, and other resources generated by the program. The SCORCH Data Center and NIH staff will need to work closely together to accomplish these goals. Applications that are not responsive to this FOA will not be reviewed.  To be responsive to this FOA, projects should be framed to answer one or more vexing questions about persistent HIV infection in the brain.  In addition, the major thrust of the proposed project MUST: propose to coordinate and analyze single cell and other molecular data sets generated by SCORCH and other NIDA-funded HIV and substance use disorder projects. propose to make this data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) to enable secondary analyses by the scientific community.

Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) funds research projects that identify (1) factors that are effective in the formation of ethical STEM researchers and (2) approaches to developing those factors in all STEM fields that NSF supports. ER2 solicits proposals for research that explores the following: "What constitutes responsible conduct for research (RCR), and which cultural and institutional contexts promote ethical STEM research and practice and why?" Do certain labs have a "culture of academic integrity?" What practices contribute to the establishment and maintenance of ethical cultures and how can these practices be transferred, extended to, and integrated into other research and learning settings?" Factors one might consider include: honor codes, professional ethics codes and licensing requirements, an ethic of service and/or service learning, life-long learning requirements, curricula or memberships in organizations (e.g. Engineers without Borders) that stress responsible conduct for research, institutions that serve under-represented groups, institutions where academic and research integrity are cultivated at multiple levels, institutions that cultivate ethics across the curriculum, or programs that promote group work, or do not grade. Successful proposals typically have a comparative dimension, either between or within institutional settings that differ along these or among other factors, and they specify plans for developing interventions that promote the effectiveness of identified factors.

This single-source funding opportunity announcement (FOA) Enhancing Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Capacities in the Americas in Collaboration with the National Center for Prevention Programs and Disease Control (CENAPRECE) in Mexico invites an application for a five-year cooperative agreement between the Department of Health and Human Services(HHS) Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science (FUMEC) to support CENAPRECE (an agency within Mexico Secretariat of Health [SALUD]). The envisioned ASPR-FUMEC-CENAPRECE collaboration sustains and advances the long-standing relationship between the United States and Mexico aimed at safeguarding each country from public health threats and fulfilling the goals of multiple international frameworks and agreements, including the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) (http://www.who.int/ihr/publications/9789241580496/en/). Projects and activities proposed by CENAPRECE for this agreement will combine strategic coordination of public health preparedness and emergency response programs as well as technical collaborations to strengthen the capacities of both countries and the region to prevent, detect, report, and respond to public health emergencies of all types, focusing on pandemic influenza, other emerging infectious diseases, and chemical, biological, and radiological (terrorism) hazards.

This announcement encourages exploratory research applications aimed at investigating the role environmental exposures play in the development and/or the exacerbation of autoimmune disease. Applicants may propose to use in vitro studies or animal models to explore possible mechanisms in which environmental exposures associated with human autoimmune endpoints are involved in the induction of an autoimmune response or an autoimmune disease. Of particular interest are projects that will identify and characterize critical windows of exposure susceptibility, projects that explore mechanisms responsible for gender differences in response and development of autoimmune disease, and studies that can produce potential biomarkers for use in subsequent human surveillance studies.

The national response to the HIV epidemic in Swaziland has undergone dramatic changes and achieved major milestones up to date. As the epidemic matures in Swaziland and the country shifts from emergency response to scale-up of prevention interventions and universal access to care and treatment, the technical needs of the country are also evolving. Monitoring trends, identifying and addressing knowledge gaps, and strengthening the country's long-term capacity to use epidemiological tools to produce strategic information are now recognized as important priorities moving forward. Currently, Swaziland lacks coordinated infrastructure and capacity to formulate and address research questions that will inform programmatic and policy decisions. In addition, the country needs a robust epidemiological surveillance system for communicable and non-communicable disease to enable the detection of and efficient response to disease outbreaks. The overall goal of this FOA is to strengthen the capacity of Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MoEPD) to produce and effectively use epidemiological, surveillance, and research data in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (hereinafter, "NMFS") is responsible for the stewardship, conservation, and management of pinniped species in Alaska, including the Steller sea lion, Northern fur seal, ringed seal, bearded seal, spotted seal, ribbon seal, and harbor seal. Two of these pinnipeds are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act: the endangered western Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Steller sea lions and the threatened Arctic subspecies of ringed seals (a third species, the Beringia DPS of bearded seals, was also listed as threatened but the listing was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska). NMFS has the responsibility to foster the recovery of these ESA-listed species and research is necessary to support our recovery programs for these species. Non-ESA-listed pinniped species or populations in Alaska are listed as strategic stocks under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and/or are important as a subsistence resource to Alaska Natives and co-managed by NMFS and Alaska Native co-management partners. Research is also an important component to co-management of these animals. Beginning in fiscal year (hereinafter, "FY") 2015, certain priority pinniped research in Alaska will be administered through a competitively-funded, merit-based grants program. This program concerns only Alaskan pinnipeds for which NMFS bears responsibility; proposals focusing on marine mammals under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not be considered for funding under this grant program. This document describes how to prepare and submit proposals for funding in FY 2015 and how NMFS will determine which proposals will be funded.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications that will advance understanding of vaccine regimens and immune responses that sustainably suppress viral loads in HIV-infected individuals. Applications should propose small, multi-arm, comparative clinical trials designed to identify correlations between levels of induced immune response and HIV virologic control. Vaccines may be combined with adjuvants and/or other modifiers of the immune response to HIV.

The goal of this reissued Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to expand understanding of age-related changes that occur in immune function during the aging process that influence responses to pathogens and/or vaccines, as well as oral and craniofacial health. Human studies are required, and inclusion of relevant animal studies is permitted for mechanistic understanding. This FOA solicits applications that will determine the mechanisms required for induction and maintenance of protective immunity in the elderly in response to infections and/or vaccinations, including the effects of chronic inflammation on those responses, and applications that will assess changes in immune processes in dental, oral and craniofacial tissues in the elderly.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications that will advance understanding of vaccine regimens and immune responses that sustainably suppress virus in HIV-infected individuals. The FOA will support small, multi-arm, comparative clinical trials designed to identify correlations between levels of induced immune response and HIV virologic control. Vaccines may be combined with adjuvants and/or other modifiers of the immune response to HIV.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications that will advance understanding of vaccine regimens and immune responses that sustainably suppress virus in HIV-infected individuals. The FOA will support small, multi-arm, comparative clinical trials designed to identify correlations between levels of induced immune response and HIV virologic control. Vaccines may be combined with adjuvants and/or other modifiers of the immune response to HIV.

This FOA aims to elucidate basic sleep and circadian mechanisms contributing to the risk of opiate use disorder (OUD), the pathobiology of opiate withdrawal, and that influence the response to medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Studies are needed to apply advances in understanding sleep and circadian biology to improving our understanding of OUD, the directionality of sleep and OUD interactions, and the opportunities to improve therapy and outcome. Multi-disciplinary, multiple-investigator teams combining expertise in sleep and circadian neurobiology with the neurobiology OUD and pharmacology of MAT are strongly encouraged. This FOA is only open to the study of OUD relevant mechanisms and pathobiology. The study of other drugs of abuse will not be responsive.

The purpose of this FOA is to support generation of single cell RNA-sequencing datasets for at least one brain region relevant to persistent HIV infection and opioid use disorder. Applications that are not responsive to this FOA will be returned without review. To be responsive to this FOA, proposed projects should be framed to answer one or more vexing questions about persistent HIV infection in the CNS. The major thrust of the proposed project also MUST: exploit single nucleus or single cell transcriptomic assays with the goal of identifying the types of cells within at least one NIDA-relevant brain region (e.g. PFC, NAc, VTA, striatum, insula, or other appropriately justified region) and how the cell types and individual cells within that region differ from one another in terms of gene expression. focus on human post-mortem brain tissue from controls, individuals with chronic opioid exposure, HIV-infected individuals, and HIV-infected individuals with chronic opioid exposure. propose to detect HIV proteins or RNA or DNA within the single cells or nuclei to be assayed.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support research which can elucidate mechanism(s) of action by which gut microbes inhibit or enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Thus, research projects should be focused on delineating how specific microbes or their metabolites target host immune responses to prevent colitis-associated or sporadic tumor formation.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support research which can elucidate mechanism(s) of action by which gut microbes inhibit or enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Thus, research projects should be focused on delineating how specific microbes or their metabolites target host immune responses to prevent colitis-associated or sporadic tumor formation.

This notice of funding opportunity supplemental expansion will support foreign governments through their ministries of health or other responsible entities for human health or public-health emergency preparedness in Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, the Maldives, Mali, Mozambique, Republic of Tunisia, and South East Europe (a multi-country proposal from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro). The principal purpose is this additional year of funding is to extend support of routine influenza surveillance and build capacity to respond to and contain a highly pathogenic virus transmissible among humans in the above-referenced countries. A second intent is to support the development of epidemiologic, virologic, and related capacity to detect, respond to, and monitor changes in influenza viruses, as well as identify outbreaks of severe respiratory illness syndromes. A third intent is to increase participation in the World Health Organization Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) and capacity to share specimens and clinical/epidemiologic data on the circulation of influenza in the identified countries.

During the last nine years, the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has worked with nations around the world to build capacity to prepare, detect, and respond to pandemics. Through previous funding opportunity announcements (FOA) and subsequent cooperative agreements, CDC and its international partners and national ministries of health focused on three pillars: 1) preparedness and communication; 2) surveillance and detection; 3) response and containment. The success of this developed capacity is evident across the globe. Through these cooperative agreements, CDC and partners have: Developed national government public-health pandemic preparedness plans Developed pandemic communication plans Improved laboratory capacity and infrastructure for influenza virologic surveillance Enhanced epidemiology capacity and infrastructure for disease surveillance Developed sentinel, hospital-based surveillance for severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) Enhanced integration of laboratory and epidemiologic surveillance for influenza Developed surveillance for cases and clusters of respiratory and febrile illnesses that could represent emerging new pandemics. Trained local rapid-response and containment teams. Developed infection control guidelines in public health-care settings for the prevention of avian and pandemic flu. It is critical that these new capacities be sustained and strengthened over time to ensure global capacity to detect and respond to pandemic influenza effectively.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research project applications under the cooperative agreement (UG3/UH3) mechanism to address the development, optimization and validation of quantitative imaging (QI) software tools and methods for prediction and/or measurement of response to cancer therapies or for planning and validating radiation therapy treatment strategies in clinical trials. The scientific scope of this FOA includes: · Development and optimization of QI tools and/or methods for treatment planning, predicting or measuring response to therapy as open source tools that will translate into clinical trial decision support; · Validation of the optimized tools in clinical settings to demonstrate their value for decision support in ongoing single-site or multi-site clinical trials. A phased approach that emphasizes each of these activities must be proposed. Investigators must apply for both the UG3 and UH3 phases together in the single application. The UG3 effort is to be used for the development and optimization of QI tools and methods chosen for study by the investigating team, while the UH3 phase is for the validation of the tools/methods developed in the UG3 phase. The UG3 phase can be no more than 2 years in duration, and the total project cannot exceed 5 years. At completion, UG3 projects will be reviewed by program staff. Those that have met their milestones may be administratively considered by NCI program staff for transition to the UH3 validation phase.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) supports research related to the basic understanding of microbiology and immunology leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and medical diagnostics for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. Through this solicitation, the NIAID Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation plans to support the early stage discovery and initial characterization of novel adjuvant candidates. Thus, research solicited under this acquisition will contribute to the pipeline of new adjuvant leads that either (a) exploit the natural capacity of the innate immune system to initiate and sustain effective T and B cell responses and to induce long term immune memory or (b) act directly on lymphocytes to enhance their response to pathogen-derived antigens.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research to study life stage and/or genetic susceptibility in order to better characterize the sources of human variability in response to chemical exposure. The adverse outcome pathways (AOP) concept has the potential to serve as a framework for using susceptibility indicators, biomonitoring, and high throughput screening (HTS) data in an integrated manner to predict population responses to novel, potentially harmful, chemicals. While much emphasis has been placed on improved biomonitoring and HTS approaches, research is needed to understand the underlying factors that influence human susceptibility and to develop tools and methods for the identification and use of susceptibility indicators in this context. This solicitation provides the opportunity for the submission of applications for projects that may involve human subjects research.