Group items tagged

This purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to provide a mechanism of support to research organizations interested in clinically translating already optimized quantitative imaging software tools capable of measuring or predicting the response of cancer to clinical therapies, or in translating imaging software tools for planning and validating radiation therapy treatment strategies in clinical trials. The quantitative software tools must have been developed and optimized during a performance period in the Quantitative Imaging Network (QIN) or under other separate funding. The proposed research effort should be an extension of the research that successfully completed the tasks of developing and optimizing the chosen software tools or data collection methods intended to facilitate clinical decision making during clinical trials. This FOA is intended to support the efforts of validating those software tools in prospective multisite clinical trials to test software tool performance and to demonstrate that the software tool can be integrated into clinical workflow with a minimum of disruption.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative funding opportunity announcement is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis and manipulation of complex circuits in large brains. Critical advances in the treatment of brain disorders in human populations are hindered by our lack of ability to monitor and manipulate circuitry in safe, minimally-invasive ways. Clinical intervention with novel cell and circuit specific tools will require extensive focused research designed to remove barriers to delivery of gene therapies. In addition to identification and removal of barriers, the need to specifically target dysfunctional circuitry poses additional challenges. Neuroscience has experienced an impressive influx of exciting new research tools in the past decade, especially since the launch of the BRAIN Initiative. However, the majority of these cutting-edge tools have been developed for use in model organisms, primarily rodents, fish and flies. These cutting-edge tools, such as viral delivery of genetic constructs, are increasingly adaptable to larger mammalian brains and more importantly are emerging as potential human therapeutic strategies for brain disorders. A pressing need to develop tools for use in large brains or those that are more directly relevant to the human brain is the focus of this initiative. The initiative will support initial proof of principle studies aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of this approach in humans and other mammalian species (non-human primate [NHP]/sheep/pigs).

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 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 Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. The new tools and technologies should inform and/or exploit cell-type and/or circuit-level specificity. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology will be an essential feature of a successful application. The development of new genetic and non-genetic tools for delivering genes, proteins and chemicals to cells of interest or approaches that are expected to target specific cell types and/or circuits in the nervous system with greater precision and sensitivity than currently established methods are encouraged. Tools that can be used in a number of species/model organisms rather than those restricted to a single species are highly desired. Applications that provide approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged.   

: The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) continues to support the Enabling Discovery through GEnomic Tools (EDGE) program, previously a component of the IOS Core Programs solicitation (NSF 16-505). EDGE is designed to provide support for research addressing current impediments to research progress in organismal biology. In particular, the ability to directly test gene function is essential to improve understanding of the genomes-to-phenomes relationship, an area relevant to Understanding the Rules of Life, one of 10 Big Ideas for future NSF investment (www.nsf.gov/about/congress/reports/nsf_big_ideas.pdf). EDGE projects should focus on development of functional genomic tools, approaches, and associated infrastructure to enable direct tests of hypotheses about gene function in diverse organisms for which such tools and infrastructure are presently unavailable. EDGE proposals must include training and rapid dissemination plans enabling larger communities of investigators to utilize the newly-developed tools, 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 functionality of the NeuroImaging Tools and Resources Collaboratory (NITRC) has enabled three distinct components to flourish: Resources Registry (NITRC-R): a collaboratory enabling the distribution, enhancement, and adoption of neuroimaging tools and resources. Image Repository (NITRC-IR): a curated repository of free neuroimaging datasets meeting global standards. Computational Environment (NITRC-CE): a freely downloadable or pay-as-you-go virtual computing cloud-based platform that is pre-configured with popular neuroimaging tools. NITRC-R has become the major web-based collaborative environment enabling the distribution, enhancement, and adoption of neuroinformatics resources. It currently hosts more than 1,000 tools and resources in areas such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), optical imaging, positron emission tomography/single-photon emission computed tomography (PET/SPECT), electroencephalography/magnetoencephalography/electrocorticography (EEG/MEG/ECoG), computational neuroscience, and imaging genomics. Since NITRC's inception, there have been more than 10 million total downloads of tools from NITRC-R.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement [FOA] submitted through the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to stimulate the development and validation of novel tools and analytical methods to target, identify and characterize non-neuronal cells in the brain. This FOA complements previous and ongoing cell-census and tool development efforts initiated under BRAIN, RFA-MH-14-215 and RFA-MH-14-216, that have focused almost exclusively on neuronal cells. The cutting-edge tools and methods developed under this opportunity should focus specifically on providing improved points of entry into non-neuronal cell-types (glial and vascular) to enable their inventory and characterization within the CNS and help define how these cells interact among each other and with neuronal cells to impact functional circuitries. Plans for validating the utility of the tool/technology/method and demonstrating its advantage over currently available approaches will be an essential feature of a successful application. Tools that can be used in several species or model organisms rather than in a single species are especially desirable.

This program is a continuation of the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) that began in FY 1998 as part of the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI). Since the inception of the NPGI and the PGRP, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of functional genomics tools and sequence resources for use in the study of key crop plants and their models. Proposals are welcomed that build on these resources to develop conceptually new and different ideas and strategies to address grand challenge questions in plants of economic importance on a genome-wide scale. There is also a critical need for the development of novel and creative tools to facilitate new experimental approaches or new ways of analyzing genomic data. Especially encouraged are proposals that provide strong and novel training opportunities integral to the research plan and particularly across disciplines that include, but are not limited to, plant physiology, plant breeding, quantitative genetics, biochemistry, bioinformatics and engineering. Activities in four focus areas will be supported in FY 2015: (1) Genomics-empowered plant research (RESEARCH-PGR)to tackle fundamental questions in plant sciences on a genome-wide scale; (2) Development of tools and resources for plant genome research (TOOLS-PGR) including novel technologies and analysis tools to enable discovery; (3) Mid-Career Investigator Awards in Plant Genome Research (MCA-PGR) to increase participation of investigators trained primarily in fields other than plant genomics; and, (4) Early CareerInvestigator Awards in Plant Genome Research (ECA-PGR) to increase the participation of early-career scientists in plant genome research. Proposals addressing these opportunities are welcomed at all scales, from single-investigator projects through multi-investigator, multiinstitution projects, commensurate with the scope and scale of the work proposed. The PGRP encourages proposals from investigators and institutions that have not participate

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institutes of Health, solicits early stage, high-risk/high-impact applications to develop next-generation tools that distinguish heterogeneous states among cells in situ. Applications should define the current state of technology as a benchmark against which the new tool(s) will be measured and should propose proof-of-concept testing of the tool(s) in a complex biological tissue or living organism. The new tools should provide substantially increased sensitivity, selectivity, spatiotemporal resolution, scalability of multiple global or functional measures of single cells. A particular emphasis for this FOA is on measures that minimize cell perturbation and permit viability of cells for repeated measures over time. These novel technologies will aid in obtaining a fine-grained, integrative and dynamic view of heterogeneous cellular states/classes and will provide innovative platforms to transform research into the cellular basis of diseases.

This FOA solicits development of innovative adaptations of existing technologies to enable their use for readily identifying, manipulating, or analyzing glycans and their biological binding partners. This may encompass the adaptation of commonly used laboratory-based or computational tools to enable their facile application to glycoscience for the first time, as well as the adaptation of tools presently used by specialists in glycoscience to make them significantly more straightforward and accessible for non-specialists. It is possible that a project might simplify a current specialized approach by migrating it to a more commonly used platform, developing automation for data acquisition and interpretation, or redesigning the present tool to make it easier to use. This announcement differs from the related FOA RFA- RM-16-022 which solicits new or more effective tools or technologies, thus representing an expansion of existing technologies.

This program is a continuation of the Plant Genome Research Program (PGRP) that began in FY 1998 as part of the National Plant Genome Initiative (NPGI). Since the inception of the NPGI and the PGRP, there has been a tremendous increase in the availability of functional genomics tools and sequence resources for use in the study of key crop plants and their models. Proposals are welcomed that build on these resources to develop conceptually new and different ideas and strategies to address grand challenge questions in plants of economic importance on a genome-wide scale. There is also a critical need for the development of novel and creative tools to facilitate new experimental approaches or new ways of analyzing genomic data. Especially encouraged are proposals that provide strong and novel training opportunities integral to the research plan and particularly across disciplines that include, but are not limited to, plant physiology, quantitative genetics, biochemistry, bioinformatics and engineering.Activities in four focus areas will be supported in FY 2014: (1) Genomics-empowered plant research to tackle fundamental questions in plant sciences on a genome-wide scale; (2) Development of tools and resources for plant genome research including novel technologies and analysis tools to enable discovery; (3) Mid-Career Investigator Awards in Plant Genome Research (MCA-PGR) to increase participation of investigators trained primarily in fields other than plant genomics; and, (4) Advancing Basic Research in Economically Important Crop Plants (ABR-PG) to develop sequence resources that are critically needed to enable basic research resources in crop plants.

This FOA solicits new theories, computational models, and statistical tools to derive understanding of brain function from complex neuroscience data. Proposed tools could include the creation of new theories, ideas, and conceptual frameworks to organize/unify data and infer general principles of brain function; new computational models to develop testable hypotheses and design/drive experiments; and new mathematical and statistical methods to support or refute a stated hypothesis about brain function, and/or assist in detecting dynamical features and patterns in complex brain data. It is expected that the tools developed under this FOA will be made widely available to the neuroscience research community for their use and modification. Investigative studies should be limited to validity testing of the tools being developed.

The Common Fund Program - Accelerating Translation of Glycoscience: Integration and Accessibility - aims to develop accessible and affordable new tools and technologies for studying carbohydrates that will enable researchers in all biomedical fields to dramatically advance our understanding of the roles of these complex molecules in health and disease and to not abandon glycan discovery due to the difficulty or inability to study them. The program will invest in three areas: facile methods and technologies for carbohydrate synthesis, accessible tools for probing and analyzing carbohydrates, and carbohydrate data integration and analysis tools. This R34 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for preliminary research and formation of research teams that will lay the groundwork for the inclusive, community-driven development of accessible resources for integration and analysis of carbohydrate and glycoconjugate structural, analytical, and interaction data in the context of comparable gene, protein, and lipid data. A subsequent FOA will invite applications for full support of that effort.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate novel tools to facilitate the detailed analysis and manipulation of complex circuits and provide insights into cellular interactions that underlie brain function. Critical advances in the treatment of brain disorders in human populations are hindered by our lack of ability to monitor and manipulate circuitry in safe, minimally-invasive ways. Clinical intervention with novel cell and circuit specific tools will require extensive focused research designed to remove barriers to delivery of gene therapies. In addition to identification and removal of barriers, the need to specifically target dysfunctional circuitry poses additional challenges. Neuroscience has experienced an impressive influx of exciting new research tools in the past decade, especially since the launch of the BRAIN Initiative.

The goal of this cooperative agreement Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to address key challenges in analyzing and interpreting metabolomics data by developing novel tools to facilitate metabolomics data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, successful awardees will develop new or enhanced computational approaches or tools that facilitate metabolomics data analysis, interpretation, and integration. Generalizable, scalable, and portable solutions appropriate for scientists with limited expertise in informatics are particularly encouraged. Projects are not intended to supplement ongoing metabolomics analyses, but to provide tools for broader use by the biomedical research community.

The goal of this cooperative agreement Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to address key challenges in analyzing and interpreting metabolomics data by developing novel tools to facilitate metabolomics data analysis and interpretation. Specifically, successful awardees will develop new or enhanced computational approaches or tools that facilitate metabolomics data analysis, interpretation, and integration. Generalizable, scalable, and portable solutions appropriate for scientists with limited expertise in informatics are particularly encouraged. Projects are not intended to supplement ongoing metabolomics analyses, but to provide tools for broader use by the biomedical research community.

The Division of Integrative Organismal Systems (IOS) continues to support the Enabling Discovery through GEnomic Tools (EDGE) program, previously a component of the IOS Core Programs solicitation (NSF 16-505). EDGE is designed to provide support for research addressing current impediments to research progress in organismal biology. In particular, the ability to directly test gene function is essential to improve understanding of the genomes-to-phenomes relationship, an area relevant to Understanding the Rules of Life, one of 10 Big Ideas for future NSF investment (www.nsf.gov/about/congress/reports/nsf_big_ideas.pdf). EDGE projects should focus on development of functional genomic tools, approaches, and associated infrastructure to enable direct tests of hypotheses about gene function in diverse organisms for which such tools and infrastructure are presently unavailable

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is intended to facilitate the translation of prototype devices for characterization of personal exposures into field use by supporting a phased validation effort involving a partnership between tool developers and environmental epidemiologists. In the initial (R21) phase, the focus is on iterative refinement of the prototype based on evaluation in a pilot scale study. The goal of this phase is to demonstrate data quality, tool reliability, and usability in a real world and relevant setting. The second (R33) phase will involve larger scale application in a larger epidemiological study to demonstrate the added scientific value of the tool in terms of both improved exposure assessment and estimation of exposure-health outcome relationships.

The purpose of this FOA is to reduce the overall burden of neglected parasitic infections (NPIs) in the United States through evidence-based prevention and control activities including the development of new strategies, educational tools and materials, and guidelines. NPIs are a group of five parasitic diseases that have been targeted by the CDC as priorities for public health action based on the number of people infected, severity of the illnesses, and the ability to prevent and treat them. They are: Chagas disease, neurocysticercosis, toxocariasis, toxoplasmosis, and trichomoniasis. These educational tools and materials and guidelines developed will be used to improve NPI related preventive health knowledge and practices, improve recognition of signs and symptoms of NPIs, increase availability of best approaches and recommendations, improve availability of education training tools and materials, enhance capacity for public education on NPIs, and enhance capacity in the identification of NPIs. Successful strategies should have the potential to yield high impact public health outcomes, reach a high proportion of those at risk, and have the highest potential for significant impact on population health.