E-Newsletter: March 3, 2008

NIDCR NEWS

NIDCR's FY 2009 Congressionasl Justification
See NIDCR's FY 2009 Congressional Justification

NIDCR Now Participating in Award for Predoctoral Fellows
NIDCR is now participating in the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (F31).  See additional details about the awards.

In addition, the Institute encourages participation in the following awards:

• Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA for Individual Predoctoral Dental Scientist Fellowship (F30)
  For combined DDS or DMD/PhD students:
  
   
• Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (F31)
  For individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds who are in a research training program leading to a Ph.D. in biomedical, behavioral, and health services, or clinical sciences.
  Also see the Notice about the F31 award.
  
  Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA for Individual Postdoctoral Fellows (F32)
  For postdoctoral scientists to help them broaden their scientific background, extend their potential for research in health-related areas, and develop into independent scientists: For questions regarding NRSA fellowships, please contact Dr. Albert Avila at aavila@mail.nih.gov or (301)496-4263.
  

New: Women in Dental Research Video
A video is now available featuring NIDCR grantees Drs. Deborah Greenspan, Jennifer Webster-Cyriaque, and Marjorie Jeffcoat. A joint effort of NIH’s Office of Science Education and Office of Research on Women's Health, the video is part of a series meant to inspire young women ages 11 to 18 to pursue careers in biomedical research.

NIH NEWS

Draft Report on Peer Review Released – Public Feedback Requested
On February 28, 2008, the Final Draft of the NIH 2007-2008 Peer Review Self-Study was submitted to Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Director of NIH, marking the end of the diagnostic phase of the peer review enhancement effort.  To obtain the PDF file of Final Draft Report: Final Draft Report (PDF, 1.69MB) please go to the Peer Review Website. (Persons with disabilities experiencing problems accessing portions of the above PDF file should contact Kerry Brink (301) 435-2641).

This Final Draft Report identifies the most significant challenges facing the NIH peer review system and proposes recommended actions. If you wish to comment on the Final Draft, please send your comments no later than Monday, March 17, 2008.

NIH Launches Human Microbiome Project
To better understand the role that bacteria, fungi, and other microbes play in human health and disease, NIH has announced the launch of the Human Microbiome Project. The human microbiome is the collective genomes of all microorganisms present in or on the human body. Part of the NIH’s Roadmap for Medical Research, the project will award a total of $115 million to researchers over the next five years. Initially, researchers will sequence 600 microbial genomes, completing a collection that will total some 1,000 microbial genomes and provide a resource for investigators interested in exploring the human microbiome. Other microbial genomes will be contributed to the collection by individual NIH institutes and internationally funded projects. See additional information about the Human Microbiome Project.

Announcing the FY 2008 NIH Director's Bridge Awards
NIH is taking specific steps to continue the support available to investigators whose R01 applications receive review scores near the Institute or Center nominal payline and who have limited additional support. The NIH Director’s Bridge Award (NDBA) provides continued but limited bridge funding for meritorious investigators who just miss the funding cutoff to permit the principal investigator additional time to strengthen a resubmission application.

eRA System Now Allows Multiple Active Applications
To make the application process more flexible for applicants, NIH announced that the eRA system will now allow Multiple Active Applications (MAA). With the new change, the eRA system allows a next round submission and still keeps the earlier application in consideration for funding. Specific changes made to eRA modules will be posted on the eRA New Features and Fixes web page at the time of release. Prior to February 8, the eRA system allowed only one version of an application to be active at any one time. When a resubmission was sent, the previous application was automatically withdrawn. This was a potential disadvantage to applicants since NIH may sometimes find it feasible to make an award to an earlier version of an application.

New FY 2008 Legislative Mandates
See the list of new mandates concerning the NIH public access requirement, dissemination of false or deliberately misleading scientific information, and restriction on employment of unauthorized alien workers.

Josephine Briggs, M.D., Named Director of NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
NIH Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has named Josephine P. Briggs, M.D., to be director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). An accomplished researcher and physician, Dr. Briggs brings a focus on translational research to the study of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). For the last year and a half, she served as senior scientific officer at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Prior to that she was director of the Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases for nine years. From 1993 to 1997 she was a professor of internal medicine and physiology at the University of Michigan. See additional details about Dr. Briggs' appointment

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS

Behavioral/Social Science Research

NIH Roadmap

SCIENCE ADVANCES

Localized Aggressive Periodontitis: Pinning Down the Long Suspected Role of Aa

For dentists who treat an occasional child with localized aggressive periodontitis, or LAP, the research points to the likely culprit as a bacterium with a long name, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (Aa). But the case remains far from air tight. Absent from the scientific literature are clinical studies that track the natural history of the disease in children and whether Aa indeed plays a role in its onset and progression. In the December 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, a team of NIDCR supported scientists offer the first results from a natural history study. While a final verdict remains to be rendered, this study and a similar one in Morocco offer stronger evidence that Aa might just be a cause. To learn more about this study, the Inside Scoop spoke with Dr. Daniel Fine, a scientist at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark and the lead author on the JCM paper. Read the interview with Dr. Fine. 

TP53 and the Prognosis of Head and Neck Cancer

When discussing the TP53 gene, scientists describe it like a technician would a Swiss army knife. The gene encodes a multi-purpose protein that takes part in regulating the cell cycle, carrying out programmed cell death, initiating DNA repair, and regulating the transcription of a large cassette of genes that cells employ for various biological purposes. Given its many essential functions, P53 is frequently found inactivated in tumor cells, including those that cause most head and neck cancers, as a means to co-opt the cell cycle. In the December 20, 2007 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of NIDCR grantees and colleagues evaluated the prognostic value of TP53 mutations in 420 head-and-neck cancer patients treated with surgery only and whose survival was tracked for several years thereafter. Detecting TP53 alterations in the tumors of 53 percent of participants, the scientists found that collectively these mutations were associated with decreased overall survival. This was particularly so for a subset of TP53 mutations that affected the ability of its protein to function as a transcription factor. To hear more about this paper, the Inside Scoop spoke with Dr. Wayne Koch, the senior author on the paper and a scientist and head-and-neck cancer surgeon at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. See the interview with Dr. Koch.

Science News in Brief
Please see the following brief summaries of recent oral health research findings:

Porous Implant Shows Promise

Scientists Report Oral Alterations May Help Diagnose Rare Condition

Study Compares Protein Expression of P. Gingivalis

NIDCR PERSONNEL NEWS

Michelle Culp Appointed Head of Office of Clinical Trials Operations and Management
Michelle A. Culp, MPH, has been appointed director of the new Office of Clinical Trials Operations and Management (OCTOM). The OCTOM will provide operational and management support to the Institute’s clinical research studies, including clinical trials and epidemiological studies; coordinate the implementation of clinical research studies across the NIDCR; develop and maintain a pharmacovigilance program for the NIDCR clinical research program; serve as the Institute’s liaison to FDA regulatory affairs services for clinical trials and as liaison for access to pilot lot production of investigational agents for clinical evaluation. OCTOM will work closely with scientists in both the Division of Extramural Research and the Division of Intramural Research to expand and advance NIDCR’s clinical research agenda.

Ms. Culp brings a wealth of experience in clinical trials management, evaluation and monitoring to the Institute. For the past 14 years she has held progressively responsible positions in the private sector and the NIH -- most recently with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases--where she designed and managed a clinical research operations program, oversaw the development of pharmacovigilance reporting systems, supervised clinical operations, and oversaw implementation of clinical research management systems.