Summary of the Sixth Comparative Medicine Resource Directors Meeting

Introduction

Dr. Stephen Barthold of the University of California at Davis was awarded a conference grant that supported the Sixth Comparative Medicine (CM) Resource Directors Meeting held on November 15-16, 2006 in Davis, California. Principal Investigators were invited to attend if they held resource-related grants or contracts from the Division of Comparative Medicine (DCM), National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health and Human Services. The meeting provided a forum to highlight activities of the DCM-supported resource centers and to exchange additional information. The attendees included the Principal Investigators of NCRR-supported centers funded by contracts, P40, U24, and U42 grant mechanisms, as well as grantees that have resource-related projects funded via the R24 mechanism. Some participants also attended the Mutant Mouse Research Resource Center (MMRRC) and Mouse P40 Resource Directors Meeting-a satellite meeting in Davis after the main meeting. During the Sixth CM Resource Directors' Meeting, extensive material was provided on a compact disc prepared by NCRR staff and distributed to the attendees; three talks were presented by videoconferencing; and a poster session was held. No breakout sessions were held.

Main Meeting Agenda

Dr. Barthold welcomed the attendees to the California National Primate Research Center Seminar Hall. Dr. Barbara Alving, Acting Director of NCRR, also welcomed the attendees and delivered an address on "CTSAs and Translational Research." Dr. Alving outlined the overall goals of the Clinical Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) and their relationship to preclinical studies using animal models. Twelve CTSA grants were funded in Fiscal Year 2006, with plans for funding of additional awards in 2007 and beyond. More information is available at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/clinical_research_resources/clinical_and_translational_science_awards/ and http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/. Dr. Lars Bergland of the University of California at Davis described CTSAs from the standpoint of an applicant and a new recipient of a CTSA award. Dr. Bergland described the team effort that was required to plan and develop a successful application and that will be required to maintain an effective partnership among the many varied components of the University of California at Davis CTSA.

Dr. Barthold presented a talk on "Leveraging NCRR's Investment for the Advancement of Human Health." Dr. Barthold outlined the various grants from NIH to the animal-related components of the University of California at Davis. These include conference (R13, U13), training (T and F), career development (K), MMRRC (U42), National Primate Research Center (P51, U42, U24), CTSA, construction and renovation grants, and many research project awards (R01, R21) from multiple Institutes and Centers of NIH. This was followed by a report and discussion on recent NCRR-sponsored workshops, moderated by Dr. Monte Westerfield of the University of Oregon. The two workshops were the "Animal Models Information Center," presented by Dr. Harold Watson of NCRR, and the "Next Generation of Genomics Tools for Nonhuman Primate Research," presented by Dr. John Harding of NCRR. Reports concerning these workshops are available on the Comparative Medicine News & Events page of the NCRR Web site. Dr. Dallas Hyde then gave an overview of the California National Primate Research Center (NPRC), and attendees were provided the opportunity to tour the NPRC center.

An extended session covered "Optimizing Cost Recovery - Toward Achieving Self-Sufficiency," and was moderated by Dr. Chris Abee of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Franziska Grieder, Director, Division of Comparative Medicine, NCRR gave an introduction. The session reinforced the concept that cost recovery is an important integral part of DCM-funded resources. Since this high priority issue is complex, DCM does not currently plan to impose a "one-size-fits-all" approach to every resource grantee. This was followed by a presentation-"Implementing a Recharge Center"-by Irene Grissom, Director, Office of Grants Management, NCRR. Next, four grantees served as example resources during four PowerPoint presentations. These included the following types of resources and their Directors:

Primate Resource (Dr. John VandeBerg/Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research)

Mouse and Rat Resources (Dr. John Critser/University of Missouri)

Non-Mammalian Resource (Drosophila Genomics Resource Center/Dr. Justen Andrews/Indiana University)

Reagent Resource (Nonhuman Primate Reagent Resource/Dr. Keith Reimann/Harvard Medical School)

The resource representatives described their resources' products, their methods used for cost recovery, and their fee schedules for various users. The detailed and informative presentations were judged useful by the attendees from NCRR and grantee institutions. Some of the common features noted for these resources include:

• production costs are generally recovered for components that provide animals, services, reagents, etc., but administrative and many infrastructural components aren't usually covered by cost recovery, and development costs are typically funded by the DCM grant;
• there is usually a fee that the market will bear, and increasing the price beyond this point will decrease overall resource cost recovery and impede scientific progress as research investigators drop out;
• the fee the market will bear varies according to the product being distributed and by the type of purchaser (e.g., a for-profit employee versus a NIH-funded investigator);
• input is desirable from the scientific community, including Advisory Board recommendations regarding the resource's fees and overall business plan;
• there are constant and significant challenges in keeping prices low but quality high for an extensive stock of various mutants/reagents/animals; and
• all four resources have an evolving but well-defined financial plan for cost recovery for the current year, and often for distant future years.

Reference materials on "Optimizing Cost Recovery" were emailed to the attendees in advance; were included on the CD provided to attendees; and are available upon request to the DCM. The files "Glossary - DCM Financial Terms 10 23 06.doc" and "Reference Material.pdf" are available from DCM upon request. "Reference Material.pdf" includes a copy of the Financial Status Report form to be filed by the grantee institution each year. This important form reports both any Unobligated Balances (line p), as well as Program Income (lines c, g, and r). As NIH transitions to electronic submissions for resource grant applications, the requirements for cost recovery will be specified in the Funding Opportunity Announcement for the various grant mechanisms (P40, P51, R24, U42, U24). The Principal Investigators and Directors of DCM-supported resources need to continue informing their users that all affected R01 grant applications (and all other funding mechanisms) must include the costs required to purchase products from DCM-funded resources.

Forty posters from representative NCRR-supported resources were then displayed in the Center for Comparative Medicine. This allowed the opportunity for the attendees to have individual and detailed discussions with Resource Directors from scientific fields that differed from their own fields.

Dr. Murray Gardner, M.D. of the University of California at Davis delivered the Keynote Address entitled "Adventures in Retrovirology: A 40-Year Odyssey."

Dr. Franziska Grieder initiated the next session by presenting "An Overview of DCM Resources and Introduction of New P40 and R24 Resources." DCM-funded resources are described in the Comparative Medicine Research Resources Directory on the NCRR Web site. In addition, selected resources are periodically highlighted in the NCRR Reporter and the new E-Reporter, available via regular e-mail upon request. Eight Principal Investigators from recently funded resources gave 10-minute overviews of their resources. These included the following:

P40 - A Resource Center for Tetrahymena Thermophila (Dr. Ted Clark, Cornell University)

P40 - Vervet Research Colony as a Biomedical Resource (Dr. Lynn Fairbanks, UCLA)

P40 - National Gnotobiotic Rodent Resource Center (Dr. Balfour Sartor, UNC Chapel Hill)

P40 - Rhesus Breeding Colony in Nepal and Importation (Dr. John VandeBerg, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research)

R24 - Owl Monkey Breeding and Research Resource (Dr. Chris Abee, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)

R24 - Luminex Technology for the Quantification of Cytokines in Nonhuman Primates (Dr. Luis Giavedoni, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research)

R24 - Novel Immunoassays for Mycobacteria Detection in Nonhuman Primates (Dr. Imran Kahn for Dr. Paul Luciw, UC Davis)

Drs. Michael Chang and Muriel Davisson from NCRR and the Jackson Laboratory then moderated the next session: "Update from NCRR and NIH." The speakers were Drs. Franziska Grieder, Ray O'Neill, and William Rall of NCRR. The topics were:

• Transition of grant applications to NIH from paper PHS398 to Electronic Submission: SF424 R&R form sets, and revised due dates ("NIH Guide" NOT-OD-07-001)
  
• NIH Pathway to Independence (PI) Award (K99/R00) ("NIH Guide" PA-06-133)
  
• Attribution of NCRR support when publishing
  
• Revisions to DCM's Web pages
  
• Carryover requests to NCRR
  
• The legislative continuing resolution process for Fiscal Year 2007

The PowerPoint presentation and related materials on "Transition from paper PHS398 to electronic SF424 R&R" were included on the CD provided to attendees. Grantees were requested to check their resources' entries in the NCRR Comparative Medicine Research Resources Directory, and to send updates to oneillr@mail.nih.gov by using the data form provided on the CD. It was announced that (except for P51 grantees) DCM-funded resource grantees (P40, U42, U24, R24) no longer are required to submit yearly reports to the automated Annual Progress Report System of the NCRR. Annual submissions of PHS2590 information (as well as Financial Status Reports, Invention Reports, etc.) continue to be required for non-competing continuation awards (now called renewals). Requests to carryover unobligated funds from year to year must be communicated to NCRR staff through the Signing Official (now called the Authorized Organizational Representative) of the grantee institution, and will receive increased scrutiny before approval in fiscal year 2007 and beyond.

The main meeting concluded with discussions of the Seventh Comparative Medicine Resource Directors Meeting, scheduled for Washington, D.C. in 2008. A discussion ensued regarding possible venues and dates. Because the participation of NCRR and NIH staff in addition to DCM staff was very helpful in this sixth meeting, videoconferencing should be continued as a way to ensure that relevant NIH staff can attend the 2008 conference. Most attendees agreed that the Poster Session should be repeated in 2008. The conference grant's Advisory Committee (currently Drs. Hilliard, Kraiselburd, Riley, Rogers, Perez, Schmale, Grieder, and O'Neill) will be involved in planning the 2008 meeting's Agenda. As was the case for the 2006 meeting, the active participation of all Resource Directors will optimize the productivity and value of the 2008 meeting.

Additional feedback from the DCM community should be directed to Dr. Franziska Grieder, Director of DCM, NCRR or to Dr. Barthold, Principal Investigator of the conference grant. Following adjournment of the main meeting on November 16, the additional satellite meeting described below was held.

Summary of Satellite Meeting

Mutant Mouse Research Resource Center (MMRRC) and Mouse P40 Resource Directors Meeting
Thursday November 16, 2006
Dr. William Rall (Leader)
DCM, NCRR
Bethesda, MD

Directors of the various relevant DCM-funded P40, U42, and contract-supported mouse resources met for several hours Thursday afternoon while in Davis. Minutes of the satellite meeting were made available to attendees.