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5. Institute-Initiated Programs Starting in FY
2007
More than two-thirds of the research supported by the
NHLBI is initiated by individual investigators; the remainder is initiated by
the Institute. Institute-initiated programs are developed in response to
evolving national needs, congressional mandates, and advances in scientific
knowledge. Each initiative represents the outcome of extensive discussions and
thorough reviews by representatives of the scientific community, Institute
advisory committees, the Board of Extramural Experts (BEE), and the National
Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council (NHLBAC). The advisory committees and
the BEE, together with professional societies and NHLBI staff, continually
review the progress of research within the NHLBI program areas, assess newly
acquired knowledge, and identify research topics that offer the best
opportunities or constitute the greatest needs. This planning process
contributes to policy development at the national level by setting priorities
among programs and establishing budgets for individual programs and projects.
Initiatives generally emanate as Requests for
Applications (RFAs) for grants, including cooperative agreements, or Requests
for Proposals (RFPs) for contracts. A smaller number of initiatives take the
form of Program Announcements (PAs). Applications and proposals submitted in
response to RFAs and RFPs compete among themselves for specific "set-aside"
funds. Applications submitted in response to PAs generally compete with other
investigator-initiated applications for funding.
RFA, RFP, and PA concepts prepared by the Institute
are presented to the BEE, which reviews and prioritizes them. The concepts,
along with the comments from the BEE, are then sent to the NHLBAC for review,
comment, and concurrence. Initiatives that receive the concurrence of the
NHLBAC are considered further by the NHLBI Director in the context of the
Institute's budget, program priorities, review workload, and proposed
mechanisms. These considerations guide the Director's subsequent decisions to
approve initiatives for release. RFAs, RFPs, and PAs are announced in the
NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts.
Applications and proposals submitted in response to
RFAs and RFPs are reviewed by the NHLBI. Applications submitted in response to
PAs are reviewed by the NIH Center for Scientific Review.
Descriptions of the Institute-initiated programs that
began or were renewed (i.e., were funded) in FY 2007 are presented below
according to NHLBI scientific programs. Also described are trans-NIH and
inter-Agency initiatives in which the NHLBI participates.
Heart and Vascular Diseases
Program
Initiative Being Renewed
Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics
The purpose of this renewal is to develop, conduct,
and evaluate a 6-week summer course in basic principles, methodologies, and
applications of biostatistics in clinical research with relevant examples from
heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders.
New Initiatives
Cardiovascular Cell Therapy Research Network
The purpose of this RFA is to establish a network to
develop, conduct, and evaluate multiple, collaborative, cell-based therapies
for the management of CVD.
Cardiovascular Research Network in Community-Based
Care
The purpose of this RFA is to establish a
cardiovascular research network to increase scientific knowledge of
CVD—including epidemiology, risk and risk factors, prevention, detection
and diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis—in the context of community-based
health care delivery. The program will facilitate the conduct of CVD research
across multiple heath care organizations; conduct multisite, collaborative
research using integrated data systems; and perform short-term investigation of
emerging public health issues.
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Lung Diseases Program
New Initiatives
Career Development Program in the Genetics and
Genomics of Lung Diseases
The purpose of this RFA is to create multidisciplinary
career development programs in genetics and genomics of lung diseases that will
equip new investigators with the knowledge and skills to become independent
investigators and assume academic leadership roles in this rapidly evolving
field.
Collaborative Studies on Lung Stem Cell Biology and
Cell-Based Therapy
The purpose of this RFA is to foster collaborative
research between basic scientists and clinical investigators that will lead to
cell-based therapies for lung diseases.
Longitudinal Studies of HIV-Associated Lung
Infections and Complications
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct longitudinal
studies to characterize HIV-associated lung infections and their complications
and consequences in existing HIV-infected cohorts and other established
HIV-infected patients groups.
Long-Term Oxygen Treatment Trial
The purpose of this RFP is to determine the efficacy
of long-term oxygen treatment for improving survival in patients with COPD and
less-than-severe hypoxemia at rest.
Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research
in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
The purpose of this SCCOR is to establish centers that
will conduct multidisciplinary research on COPD and promote rapid translation
of basic scientific findings into clinical applications for its diagnosis,
treatment, and prevention. The initiative will emphasize research that answers
clinically relevant questions that enable basic science findings to be applied
more rapidly to clinical problems.
Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research
in Pulmonary Vascular Disease
The purpose of this SCCOR is to conduct
multidisciplinary research to answer clinically relevant questions related to
the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of pulmonary vascular disease. The
initiative will address research on primary (idiopathic) and secondary
pulmonary arterial hypertension, acute and chronic pulmonary thromboembolism,
right ventricular dysfunction, and pulmonary vascular disorders in infants and
children.
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Blood Diseases and Resources
Program
Initiative Being Renewed
Transfusion Medicine/Hemostasis Clinical Trials
Network
The purpose of this renewal is to continue support for
the Network to evaluate promising new therapies for hemostatic disorders, such
as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura,
and to evaluate new blood products, especially platelets and platelet
substitutes and cytokines, such as thrombopoietin.
New Initiatives
Pediatric Transfusion Medicine Academic Career
Awards
The purpose of this RFA is to establish a training
program for curriculum development and implementation in pediatric transfusion
medicine and to attract young investigators into the field.
Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II: Refinement
and Manufacture of HIV EIA and Rapid Tests for Use in HIV Vaccine Trials
The purpose of this RFP is to support refinement and
manufacture of HIV-SELECTEST enzyme-linked immuno-absorbent assay (EIA) kits
and a Rapid HIV-1 Antibody Test for distribution to national and international
laboratories conducting Phase II/III HIV-1 vaccine trials. The diagnostic tests
should allow investigators to differentiate between participants recently
infected with HIV and HIV-negative vaccinated participants.
Trans-NHLBI
Initiatives Being Renewed
Ancillary Studies in Clinical Trials
The purpose of this renewal is to support
time-sensitive ancillary studies in conjunction with ongoing clinical trials of
cardiovascular, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders. Information
gained from the studies will permit better correlation of clinical course and
outcome and lead to improved prognostic assessments and patient care.
NHLBI Genelink
The purpose of this renewal is to support an
infrastructure established in 2003 to facilitate gene finding by (a) promoting
sharing of results of genetic analyses; (b) providing an open resource of
linked, searchable linkage, and association analysis results placed on a common
physical map; and (c) providing bioinformatics tools to assist researchers in
prioritizing and following up findings from linkage and genome-wide association
studies.
Programs in Gene by Environment Interaction
The purpose of this renewal is to support a unique
collaborative structure established in 2002 to search for genetic variants
influencing response to prescribed environmental changes using a family-based
approach.
Summer Institute Program To Increase Diversity in
Health-Related Research
The purpose of this renewal is to develop the research
skills of faculty and scientists who are from underrepresented racial and
ethnic groups or disadvantaged background or who have disabilities so that they
may successfully compete for funding for biomedical and behavioral research
relevant to heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders.
New Initiatives
Computational Modeling for Heart, Lung, Blood, and
Sleep Biologists: Introductory Courses
The purpose of this RFA is to develop, implement, and
evaluate short courses (optimally 1 to 2 weeks) in computational modeling for
biomedical researchers and clinical scientists. The goal of the courses is to
promote interdisciplinary research and training by increasing the number of
researchers with knowledge and skills to apply experimental and computational
approaches to heart, lung, blood, and sleep research.
Genome-Wide Association Studies To Identify Genetic
Components That Relate to Heart, Lung, and Blood Disorders
The purpose of this RFA is to support genome-wide
association studies by using existing population, family, and clinical studies
to identify genetic components related to heart, lung, and blood disorders and
their risk factors.
NHLBI Gene Therapy Resource Program
The purpose of this RFP is to promote the translation
of gene therapy from the bench to the bedside. The Program will comprise a
Clinical Coordinating Center, a preclinical grade vector production core
laboratory, two clinical grade vector production core laboratories, and a
pharmacology/toxicology core laboratory.
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Trans-NIH
Initiatives Being Renewed
Bioengineering Approaches to Energy Balance and
Obesity
The purpose of this renewal is to develop and evaluate
innovative engineering approaches to clinical problems related to energy
balance, intake, and expenditure. Engineers, physical scientists,
mathematicians, and scientists from relevant disciplines with expertise in
obesity and nutrition are encouraged to collaborate in research leading to the
development of new technologies and tools that will improve the ability of
scientists to address problems of weight control and obesity.
Bioengineering Research Grants
The purpose of this renewal is to encourage
multidisciplinary, integrative research that applies systems approaches to
prevent, detect, diagnose, or treat disease or to improve understanding of
health and behavior. These grants differ from Bioengineering Research
Partnerships in that the research is performed in a single laboratory, by a
single investigator, or by a small group of investigators.
Bioengineering Research Partnerships
The purpose of this renewal is to encourage
multidisciplinary, integrative research partnerships that apply systems
approaches to prevent, detect, diagnose, or treat disease or to improve
understanding of health and behavior.
Career Enhancement Award for Stem Cell Research
The purpose of this renewal is to support
investigators who seek training in the use of stem cells in research.
Candidates must have as a mentor a sponsor who is a well-qualified stem cell
expert.
Clinical Research Education and Career Development in
Minority Institutions
The purpose of this renewal is to develop and
implement a curriculum leading to an accredited Master of Science in Clinical
Research or an accredited Master of Public Health in a clinically relevant area
for doctoral and postdoctoral candidates at minority institutions. The 5-year
program consists of two phases. Phase I lasts 2 years and offers a structured
curriculum and mentored clinical research training that leads to a Master's
degree. Phase II provides continued mentoring and career development in
clinical research for up to 3 years as part of the training and skill
development to become an independent clinical investigator.
Exploratory/Developmental Bioengineering Research
Grants
The purpose of this renewal is to support innovative,
high-risk exploratory or developmental bioengineering research whether or not
preliminary results have been obtained.
Exploratory/Developmental Research Grants
The purpose of this renewal is to encourage novel
scientific ideas, model systems, tools, agents, targets, and technologies that
have the potential to substantially advance biomedical research. R21 awards
allow investigators with innovative ideas to obtain support for early and
conceptual-stage research without the need for large amounts of preliminary
data that often serves as a barrier to entry into the NIH grants system.
Independent Scientist Award
The purpose of this renewal is to foster the research
development of promising individuals in the formative years of their career by
providing salary support and protected time for 3 to 5 years.
Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career
Development Award
The purpose of this renewal is to provide support and
protected time for intensive, supervised research career development in
biomedical, behavioral, and translational research.
Mentored Quantitative Research Career Development
Award
The purpose of this renewal is to support the career
development of investigators with quantitative scientific and engineering
backgrounds outside of biology or medicine who have made a commitment to focus
their research endeavors on biomedicine, bioengineering, biobehavioral, or
biomedical research.
National Research Service Awards for Individual
Postdoctoral Fellows
The purpose of this renewal is to ensure that diverse
pools of highly trained scientists will be available in adequate numbers and in
appropriate research areas to carry out the Institute's biomedical, behavioral,
and clinical research agendas.
Research on Sleep and Sleep Disorders
The purpose of this renewal is to advance biomedical
knowledge related to sleep and sleep disorders, improve understanding of the
neurobiology and functions of sleep over the lifespan, enhance timely diagnosis
and effective treatment for individuals affected by sleep-related disorders,
and implement and evaluate innovative community-based public health education
and intervention programs.
New Initiatives
Anemia in the Elderly
The purpose of this RFA is to determine the
epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical aspects of anemia in the elderly.
Research findings should lead to improvements in the health and well-being of
elderly patients with anemia and decrease functional impairment and morbidity
associated with anemia in this population.
Directed Stem Cell Differentiation for Cell-Based
Therapies for Heart, Lung, Blood, and Aging Diseases
The purpose of this PA is to define factors and
mechanisms that control differentiation of embryonic or adult stem or
progenitor cells. The ultimate goal of the program is to develop methods to
direct differentiation or development of stem cells along specific cell
lineages to yield replacement cells for clinical use, whether the replacement
cells are formed in vitro for delivery or in vivo in the tissue or organ
environment.
Effect of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination/Bias on
Health Care Delivery
The purpose of this PA is to stimulate research on
improving measures (i.e., instrumentation, data collection, and
statistical/analytical techniques) of racial/ethnic discrimination in health
care delivery systems; to enhance understanding of the influence of
discrimination in health care delivery and its association with disparities in
disease incidence, treatment, and outcomes; and to reduce prevalence of health
disparities by developing interventions to reduce the influence of
discrimination on health care delivery systems in the United States.
Environmental Pathways and Susceptibility:
Comparative Biology Elucidation
The purpose of this RFA is to understand the responses
of biological pathways and networks to perturbation by environmental factors,
stressors, or alcohol that can alter an individual's susceptibility to complex
human diseases. The NHLBI is interested in combining comparative genomics and
other "omics" (e.g., proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics) with
informatics and high throughput technologies (RNA interference, tissues arrays)
into a comprehensive pathway-driven approach to study environmental factors
that contribute to heart, lung, or blood diseases or sleep disorders.
Heterogeneity of Fat Depots: Underlying Basis and
Association With Morbidity
The purpose of this PA is to explore the fundamental
mechanisms contributing to the heterogeneity of fat depots and to determine how
these differences correlate with obesity and its associated morbidities. The
goal of the initiative is to increase understanding of the interactions among
cell populations in order to identify biomarkers of changes in cellular
physiology and metabolism brought on by obesity. Research findings are expected
to yield new targets for therapeutics to disrupt the progression of obesity to
diabetes, atherosclerosis, and hypertension.
Improved Measures of Diet and Physical Activity for
the Genes and Environment Initiative
The purpose of this RFA is to develop new or to
improve existing sensor devices and systems that can be used in free-living
populations to provide quantitative, reliable, field-deployable measurement of
personal-level exposure to dietary intake and physical activity.
Individual Predoctoral Fellowships To Promote
Diversity in Health-Related Research
The purpose of this PA is to improve diversity of the
health-related research workforce by supporting the training of predoctoral
students from underrepresented groups (i.e., students from underrepresented
racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students from
disadvantaged backgrounds).
Innovative Applications of Nanotechnology to Heart,
Lung, Blood, and Sleep Disorders
The purpose of this PA is to encourage innovative,
high-risk strategies based on nanotechnology to diagnose and treat heart, lung,
and blood diseases and sleep disorders and to identify environmental influences
on those conditions.
Methods of Analysis of Gene–Environment
Interactions in Complex Diseases: The Genes and Environment Initiative
The purpose of this RFA is to encourage collaborations
among scientists from the fields of genetics, environmental health,
epidemiology, biostatistics, and bioinformatics to develop and evaluate
innovative strategies for identifying gene–environment interactions in
genome-wide association, sequencing, linkage, or candidate gene studies in
complex diseases.
NIH Pathway to Independence Award
The purpose of this PA is to increase and maintain a
strong cohort of new and talented NIH-supported independent investigators by
fostering the transition of postdoctoral scientists from mentored environments
to independence.
Nuclear Receptor Signaling Consortium
The purpose of this renewal is to complete the
development and implementation of an atlas of nuclear hormone receptors (NHR).
The Consortium is responsible for (a) developing critical resources, datasets,
and reagents; (b) developing novel technologies and new concepts in NHR and
coregulator biology; (c) designing studies with immediate translational effect
on human disease, and (d) promoting activities to ensure communication of
ideas, resources, and technologies to the broader research community.
Relationship Between Hypertension and
Inflammation
The purpose of this PA is to study the interaction
between hypertension and inflammation and to determine whether a causal
relationship exists between the elevation of blood pressure and the production
of inflammatory factors.
Venous Thrombosis and Thromboembolism in the
Elderly
The purpose of this RFA is to understand the factors
that contribute to the age-related increase in risk of thrombosis and
thromboembolism in the elderly and to translate that knowledge to improvements
in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
Trans-PHS
New Initiative
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Subpopulations
and Intermediate Outcome Measures
The purpose of this RFP is to define pathogenetically
homogeneous subgroups of individuals with COPD based on biomarkers, genotypes,
and CT images and to identify intermediate outcome measures for use in future
clinical trials.
Interagency
New Initiative
Network for Cardiothoracic Surgical Investigations in
Cardiovascular Medicine
The purpose of this RFA is to establish a cooperative
network of academic centers with cardiothoracic surgeons and their colleagues
in allied specialties that will foster rigorous scientific evaluation of newer
surgical techniques, technologies, and devices or innovative pharmaceutical and
bioengineered products directed toward CVD and to provide a scientific basis
for their use. The Network will also serve as a clinical trials training ground
for fellows and junior faculty.
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