ANNOUNCEMENT OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS:  
INDUCIBLE MOUSE MODELS OF SPINAL MUSCULAR ATROPHY (SMA)

RELEASE DATE:  December 2, 2003

NOTICE:  NOT-NS-04-004

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) 
 (http://www.ninds.nih.gov)

RECEIPT DATE:  December 23, 2003 (Two-page pre-proposals)

PURPOSE

The NINDS has launched the Collaborative Program to Accelerate 
Therapeutics Development for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Science 
Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is supporting the NINDS in 
the management of this program.  SAIC will release a series of Requests 
for Proposals (RFPs) to solicit research consistent with the program’s 
strategic plan. Through SAIC, NINDS is now accepting proposals for the 
first RFP under this program, to develop an inducible mouse model for 
SMA. Successful offerors will be supported through subcontracts under 
the SAIC prime contract N01-NS-3-2356.

DESCRIPTION

SMA, the most common hereditary cause of infant death, results from the 
loss of function of a single gene, SMN1, which leads to the death of 
motor neurons.  This defined target suggests tractable strategies for 
therapeutics development.  The Collaborative Program to Accelerate 
Therapeutics Development for SMA will implement a plan for rapid SMA 
therapeutics development through the strategic support of research 
projects.

In this announcement, pre-proposals are requested for the development 
and characterization of mouse models of SMA that can be used to 
determine (a) the window of requirement for SMN protein in the 
development and life of the animal and (b) the window when increasing 
SMN function can ameliorate disease progression.  In addition, we are 
soliciting an inducible mouse model of SMA that will be amenable to 
testing candidate therapies for SMA.  

Responses to this RFP in the form of two-page pre-proposals will be 
sent by e-mail to Jonathan Logan at jonathan.h.logan@saic.com by 5:00 
p.m. Eastern due on December 23, 2003. Pre-Proposal Submission Form, 
accessible through the SMA Project website as described below.  
Offerors whose pre-proposals are deemed by the SMA Project’s Steering 
Committee to be most responsive to the RFP solicitation will be invited 
to submit full 10-page proposals that will be due on or about February 
3, 2004 (deadline to be determined). For a detailed description of the 
aims of this RFP(RFP JL-32903-001 for an inducible mouse model of SMA 
the Pre-Proposal Submission Form), the procedure for preparing a pre-
proposal can be reached through, and more information about the home 
page of program, visit the SMA Project website (at 
http://www.smaproject.org by clicking on “Open Solicitations” on the 
left-hand side of the screen.

This advertisement does not commit SAIC to award a subcontract.

Return to Volume Index

Return to NIH Guide Main Index

	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Note: For help accessing PDF, RTF, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, RealPlayer, Video or Flash files, see Help Downloading Files.