Theme: New Pathways to Discovery
Building Blocks, Pathways, and Networks Implementation Group
- National Technology Centers for Networks and Pathways. This network of research Centers will create new tools to describe the dynamics of protein interactions. The Centers will develop instruments, methods, and reagents for quantitative measurements at sub-cellular resolution and very short timescales.
- Metabolomics Technology Development. This initiative will promote development of novel technologies to study cellular metabolites, such as lipids, carbohydrates, and amino acids. Knowledge gained from these studies will be used to understand more precisely the role of metabolites in the context of cellular pathways and networks.
- Standards for Proteomics and Metabolomics/Assessment of Critical Reagents for Proteomics. Workshops will be convened to address these two important areas. The "Standards" workshops will engage the scientific community in the establishment of quality and data standards for proteomics and metabolomics. The "Reagents" workshops will seek advice from extramural and intramural scientists and program staff regarding critical reagents required to enhance future research in proteomics.
Molecular Libraries and Imaging Implementation Group
- Molecular Libraries Screening Center Network (MLSCN). These NIH-funded centers will provide: a public collection of chemically diverse small molecules; high-throughput screening to identify compounds active in target- and phenotype-based assays; medicinal chemistry to transform hits into chemical probes; implementation of novel technologies, and deposition of screening data into a freely accessible public database.
- Cheminformatics. A new and comprehensive database of chemical structures and their biological activities is being developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information at NIH. The database, called PubChem, will house both compound information from the scientific literature as well as screening and probe data from the MLSCN. This initiative will also fund grants to develop and test new algorithms for computational chemistry and virtual screening.
- Technology Development. Bottlenecks in the development of compounds as basic research tools and drugs will be targeted, including improvement of chemical diversity, assay flexibility, screening instrumentation/robotics, and prospective characterization of chemical compounds' metabolism and toxicology properties.
- Development of High Specificity/High Sensitivity Probes to Improve Detection. This technology development program seeks to improve probe detection sensitivity 10- to 100-fold within 5 years.
- Comprehensive Trans-NIH Imaging Probe Database. A specialized portion of the PubChem database will catalog imaging probe information, describing the specificities, activities, and applications of imaging probes for a wide range of diseases and biological functions.
- Core Synthesis Facility to Produce Imaging Probes. This center will produce known imaging probes for the research community in cases where there is no viable commercial supplier, as well as generate novel imaging probes for biomedical research and clinical applications.
For more information on Molecular Libraries and Molecular Imaging, please visit the Molecular Libraries Program Web site at www.mli.nih.gov.
Structural Biology Implementation Group
- Protein Production Facilities. This initiative will focus on the long-standing challenge of membrane-bound protein structure through the development of rapid, efficient and dependable methods to produce protein samples that scientists can use to determine the three-dimensional structure, or shape, of a protein.
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Implementation Group
- National Centers for Biomedical Computing. This initiative will create a national software engineering system in which biologists, chemists, physicists, and computer scientists anywhere in the country will be able to tap into a supercomputing network to share and analyze data, using a common set of software tools.
Nanomedicine Implementation Group
- Planning for Nanomedicine Centers. To launch this initiative, NIH will support Nanomedicine Development Centers. A public meeting was held in May, 2004 to discuss the NIH vision for these Centers, receive comments from the scientific community, and announce the details of a new funding opportunity (RFA) for planning the Centers, which will focus on quantitative measurement of biological processes at the nanoscale and the engineering of new tools to intervene at the nanoscale or molecular level. This research will help scientists construct synthetic biological devices, such as miniature, implantable pumps for drug delivery or tiny sensors to scan for the presence of infectious agents or metabolic imbalances that could signify disease.
Theme: Research Teams of the Future
High-Risk Research Implementation Group
- NIH Director’s Pioneer Awards. These awards will provide support to a highly select group of individuals who have the potential to make extraordinary contributions to medical research. They will be evaluated in terms of their exceptional creative abilities, potential for ground-breaking discovery, evidence of focused and skilful habits of mind that predict perseverance and thorough exploration of his/her ideas, and prospects for making seminal biomedical research advances.
Interdisciplinary Research Implementation Group
- Interdisciplinary Research Centers. Planning grants have been awarded to begin interdisciplinary research programs that will address significant and complex health problems, particularly those that have been resistant to more traditional approaches. Planning activities will include approaches to overcoming traditional institutional barriers to interdisciplinary research. This is intended to lay the foundation and prepare investigators for submitting a subsequent application for support through an Interdisciplinary Research consortium. The Interdisciplinary Research Consortia, to be funded in Fiscal Year 2007, will include research, training, infrastructure, and coordination activities.
- Interdisciplinary Research Training Initiative. This initiative includes four sub-initiatives that collectively seek to provide interdisciplinary training to investigators at all levels of their careers. With an emphasis on translational research, behavioral/social sciences, and quantitative sciences, the initiatives are intended to broaden the knowledge base of investigators so they might bring new insights and approaches to health problems. The individual training programs include institutional training grants, short training programs, and curriculum development awards.
- Interdisciplinary Research in The Behavioral and Social Sciences. In fiscal year 2004, supplements to existing awards and support of scientific meetings and networks fostered the development of new methodologies for behavioral and social sciences research. In fiscal year 2005, supplements to ongoing projects are supporting interdisciplinary research, in humans, that integrates the biological sciences with the behavioral or social sciences. Taken together, these initiatives are designed to facilitate an interdisciplinary research approach that brings together the biological, behavioral and social sciences to tackle our most pressing health problems.
In 2007, an RFA was released entitled, Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research via Methodological and Technological Innovation in the Behavioral and Social Sciences. Merging scientific insights and technologies gleaned from behavioral and social sciences with approaches from other scientific disciplines offers the promise of further advancing the public health mission of the NIH. This NIH Roadmap initiative funds projects that develop new/innovative measures, methods, and technologies that support the interdisciplinary integration of human social and/or behavioral science with other disciplines across varying levels of analysis.
- Removing Structural Barriers to Interdisciplinary Research. This effort will help NIH remove business practice barriers that impede interdisciplinary research. For example, NIH only recognizes one Principal Investigator, and this minimizes the contributions of co-investigators. In addition, NIH program officials run focused programs within their area of scientific expertise, and this may not serve interdisciplinary research grant applications and grants well when the research involves areas outside of a single program official's area of specialized expertise. Finally, review practices are being considered which will better serve research in interdisciplinary areas.
- NIH Intramural Program as a Model for Interdisciplinary Research. As a corollary to the extramural interdisciplinary research centers, this project will utilize the NIH Intramural Research Program as a laboratory to demonstrate the feasibility, benefits, and successes to establishing interdisciplinary research teams. Specifically, the NIH Intramural Research Program will serve as an excellent model for (1) providing Ph.D.s with training and education in interdisciplinary translational research, and (2) building programs that bring interdisciplinary research teams together.
- Interagency Conference on the Interface of Life Sciences and Physical Sciences (See NIH House Appropriations Report 108–188, p. 94). In response to FY 2004 House Appropriations report language for NIH and for the National Science Foundation, an interagency conference was convened “to discuss what needs to be done to encourage progress in the physical sciences that will provide support and underpinning in the future for advances in the life sciences.”
Public Private Partnerships Implementation Group
- Designation of a Public-Private Sector Liaison. Public-Private Partnerships enhance NIH research, training, and information activities. To expand such collaborations, the Public-Private Sector Liaison will serve as a resource to NIH staff on such partnerships, share best practices across the NIH by developing training and policies and procedures and chair an internal Public-Private Partnerships Coordinating Committee.
- High-level Science-driven Partnership Meetings. The Public-Private Sector Liaison, working with the Public-Private Partnerships Coordinating Committee, will identify scientific initiatives that could be accelerated, improved upon, or facilitated by public-private partnerships and that warrant a high-level meeting. The NIH Director will meet with senior officials in potential partner organizations to explore partnership opportunities.
Theme: Re-engineering the Clinical Research Enterprise
Clinical Research Implementation Group
- Clinical Research Networks/NECTAR. The efficiency and productivity of the Nation's clinical research enterprise will be enhanced by promoting clinical research networks capable of rapidly conducting high-quality clinical studies and trials where multiple research questions can be addressed. This initiative involves feasibility testing of establishing the National Electronic Clinical Trials and Research (NECTAR) Network. This network will be developed through a phased planning and development process. The network will allow community-based clinicians from the NIH National Clinical Research Associates to participate in important national studies, facilitate the sharing of data and resources, and augment clinical research performance and analysis.
- Clinical Research Policy Analysis and Coordination. This effort is intended to enhance the leadership and coordination of approaches to harmonize, standardize, and streamline Federal policies and requirements pertaining to clinical research, while emphasizing the integrity and effectiveness of Federal and institutional systems of oversight. As part of its stewardship responsibilities, NIH is responsible for taking steps to foster the responsible conduct of high-quality clinical research.
- Clinical Research Workforce Training. This effort will address the career development of clinical researchers at multiple points in the educational pipeline, both to attract individuals to clinical research and to enhance the expertise and careers of those already engaged in clinical research. One initiative, the Multidisciplinary Research Career Development Program, will support the early career development of clinical researchers from a variety of disciplines, including patient oriented research, translational research, small and large scale clinical investigation and trials, and epidemiologic and natural history studies. Another initiative, the National Clinical Research Associates (NCRAs), will create a cadre of qualified healthcare practitioner-researchers who are well trained to ensure responsible conduct of clinical research. The NCRAs will refer and follow their own patients in clinical research and disseminate research findings to the community, thus playing a critical role in advancing the discovery process.
- Dynamic Assessment of Patient-Reported Chronic Disease Outcomes. There is a pressing need to better quantify clinically important symptoms and outcomes, including pain, fatigue, and quality of life. Through this effort, new technologies will be developed and tested to measure these self-reported health states and outcomes across a wide range of illnesses and disease severities.
- Translational Research. Translational Research Core Services will facilitate the translation of basic discoveries to early phase clinical testing, by providing bench and clinical investigators with cost-effective core services, including the expertise needed to move projects through complex logistical and regulatory barriers, and the technical services to synthesize chemical and biological agents for early phase clinical studies.
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