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Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) National Institutes of Health  •  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Roadmap 1.5 Update

The idea selection process for a new cohort of Roadmap initiatives has concluded.

Through the summer and fall of 2006, NIH solicited ideas for new initiatives from the intramural and extramural scientific community, patient advocates, and the general public to help senior NIH staff identify cross-cutting challenges in biomedical research that meet special criteria established for Common Fund (Roadmap) initiatives.

To facilitate the prioritization of ideas, the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) coordinated a programmatic review of the submitted ideas concerning their responsiveness to the criteria. In addition, to further inform the decision-making process, OPASI and the Institutes and Centers (ICs) worked together to provide a preliminary assessment of the currently funded portfolio of research related to several of the broad areas highlighted by the ideas. Informed by this analysis and following extensive scientific discussion, the IC Directors selected broad areas that were to be pursued as either:

  • Major Roadmap Initiatives – programs expected to consist of multiple, coordinated funding initiatives designed to overcome grand challenges in biomedical/health research. Each of these initiatives is expected to meet all of the criteria established for Roadmap Initiatives.
  • Pilot Studies – small, targeted proposals designed to test the potential for new technologies to revolutionize biomedical/health research.
  • Coordination Areas – cross cutting areas of critical importance to many ICs which receive significant support through diverse mechanisms and programs and which therefore require a coordinated effort for effective planning and management.
  • Strategic Planning Areas – broad, complex topics that are likely to require an extensive planning process to articulate grand challenges and solutions.

On May 18, 2007, the IC Directors met to review and prioritize specific proposals developed by Working Groups of trans-NIH staff, led by IC Directors. Four topics were chosen to move forward as Major Roadmap Initiatives. Two of these, the Microbiome and Epigenetics Programs, were approved for immediate implementation as five year programs. The Protein Capture Tools and Phenotyping Services/Tools Programs were approved for staged implementation. Phase I programs will be implemented initially, with further funding for Phase II programs contingent on the outcomes of the first phase.

  • Microbiome – The goal of the proposed Human Microbiome Project is to characterize the microbial content of sites in the human body and examine whether changes in the microbiome can be related to disease.
  • Epigenetics – Epigenetics is the study of stable genetic modifications that result in changes in gene expression and function without a corresponding alteration in DNA sequence. The epigenome is a catalog of the epigenetic modifications that occur in the genome. Epigenetic changes have been associated with disease, but further progress requires the development of better methods to detect the modifications and a clearer understanding of factors that drive these changes.
  • Protein Capture Tools/ Proteome Tools – The Proteome is the complete set of proteins in the body. Efforts in this area would support developing and making available to the scientific community high quality probes specific to every protein in the human and in desired animal models. This would allow the ability to characterize protein function in health and disease and to monitor the markers of a disease in order to deploy early prevention efforts and to identify potential therapeutic targets.
  • Phenotyping Services and Tools – A human Phenotype is the total physical appearance and constitution of a person, often determined by multiple genes and influenced by environmental interactions. Initiatives in this area would encourage the development of resources to systematically catalog human phenotypes in an effort to characterize complex diseases and disorders.

One NIH Roadmap Pilot Study will be supported:

  • Genetic Connectivity Map – The Connectivity Map is an effort to discover and demonstrate the linkages between diseases, drug candidates, and genetic manipulation.

RFAs that are relevant to these topics will be released on a variable timeline, but the earliest are expected to be released this fall, with awards made in summer, 2008. Updates to this website will be provided as detailed implementation plans are developed.

Activities of the Working Groups for the Coordination Areas and Strategic Planning Areas are ongoing.

Roadmap Coordination Groups will assess current efforts in the following areas, and if deemed necessary, will propose activities that the NIH may undertake to foster collaborations across organ systems or disease areas:

  • Regenerative Medicine – Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine involves the engineering of healthy, functional tissues/organs in vitro for implantation and the remodeling or regeneration of tissue in vivo to repair, replace, preserve, or enhance tissue/organ function.
  • Pharmacogenomics – Pharmacogenomics applies the power of genomics to the prediction of individual responses to medication. By determining the variations in the human genome that predict likelihood of response (or susceptibility to adverse effects), the type and dose of medication can be adapted to each person's unique genetic makeup, thereby assuring greater efficacy and greater safety of treatment.
  • Bioinformatics – Bioinformatics applies principles of information sciences and technologies to make the vast, diverse, and complex life sciences data more understandable and useful.

Roadmap Strategic Planning Activities are focused on the following topics:

  • Training/Careers – This initiative seeks to address concerns with current NIH training programs. Staff will collaborate with academic institutions and scientific societies to determine what the scientific workforce should look like and to define multiple career paths and training programs to foster the development of an optimal workforce.
  • Health Disparities – Numerous offices and programs at NIH support research on understanding the causes of and potential interventions for addressing health disparities across population groups in the US. NCMHD currently serves as the NIH lead for strategic planning and coordination of research funding in this area. The roadmap strategic planning effort in this area will determine whether additional activities such as further analysis of the current NIH portfolio to determine gaps in this area or new methods to promote coordination of activities in this area across the agency would be of added value in support of current NCMHD activities.
  • Science of Science Administration – This concept is an attempt to determine the most effective administrative approaches (e.g., review processes or funding mechanisms) for achieving programmatic goals such as high innovation, support of junior investigators, productive research teams, etc.

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This page last reviewed: January 30, 2008