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Overview
Facts at a Glance
- Funding: May 1, 2004
- Public Announcement: May 4, 2004
- Steering Committee Meeting: May 3-4, 2004
- Funding Mechanism: U01 (Collaborative Research Grant)
- Project Period: 5 Years
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- The initial network consists of:
- one informatics group, with roughly $3 million per year in direct costs; and
- three research groups, each with funding of roughly $500,000 per year in direct costs
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MIDAS is an integral component of the overall NIH biodefense plan. MIDAS is a consortium of scientists who will produce user-friendly computational models for policymakers, public health workers, and other researchers to assist them in making better-informed decisions about emerging infectious diseases. The Network will consist of one informatics group and several research groups.
Research groups will design, build, and validate computational models to better understand (1) host-pathogen systems, (2) disease epidemiology and forecasting systems, and (3) response systems. Working collaboratively with other members of the Network, the research groups will focus on information-driven research rather than hypothesis-driven investigations.
The informatics group is responsible for data management. The research groups will require a wide variety of information, including climate records, demographic and epidemiological information, and molecular biology data. The informatics group will assist the research groups in obtaining, validating, organizing, storing, and sharing information. The informatics group will also develop methods to analyze and validate models and will provide a portal and user-friendly environment for accessing and running the computational models developed by the research groups. Models and data will be made freely and widely available.
MIDAS may play a role in national emergencies. If there is a disease outbreak, whether intentional or natural, NIH may call upon the MIDAS Network to develop specific models to help public officials understand what is happening and how best to respond.
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