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Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research (CEER)
Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research Overview
The NHGRI ELSI Research Program has funded research grants from investigators in a wide range of disciplines.
Many of these projects have used interdisciplinary approaches to
investigate ELSI questions. As the pace of genomic and genetic research increases, the development of
research teams that have the expertise and flexibility to respond
rapidly to the large number of emerging and evolving ELSI issues is
critical. All of these factors contribute to a need for new and more
innovative approaches, including new organizational structures and
funding mechanisms. The creation of
research centers with the resources and expertise to design and
implement multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary investigations of
particularly complex, persistent or rapidly emerging ELSI issues will
be an important addition to ongoing genetic, genomic and ELSI research
efforts.
Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research Synopsis
A Successful CEER Will:
- Promote intensive and sustainable interactions among basic genomic and genetic
scientists, clinical and social scientists, and researchers from law, bioethics
and the humanities.
- Be highly innovative and develop new concepts, methods, analyses, or ways
to consider ELSI issues that will substantially advance the state of the art
in ELSI.
- Propose a very substantial advance to addressing a critical issue in ELSI
research. (Achieving a substantial advance can entail addressing potentially
controversial issues or identifying and exploring issues surrounding emerging
technologies that are not yet in common use. It also can involve the use of
new or unproven approaches or methodologies. These high risk issues and methodologies
should be balanced by the potential for very high payoff and will require
a detailed plan and a very effective management strategy.)
- Encompass, as appropriate, the full spectrum of ELSI research including:
analytical investigations that develop conceptual tools; data generating qualitative
and quantitative studies; and 'translational' approaches that use these conceptual
tools and data to explore and define appropriate public- policy options, research
or health care guidelines. (These policy options and guidelines must incorporate
diverse points of view, including, as appropriate, communities that may be
particularly vulnerable or disproportionately affected by the issues being
addressed.)
- Propose research that cannot be reasonably addressed by a standard R01 Research
Grant (As multidisciplinary collaborations on the core research continue,
additional funding may be sought through the ELSI regular research and small
research grant programs to support other related research.)
- Add value beyond activities in genomics or in ELSI research that might already
be ongoing at the applying institution.
- Include a strategy for disseminating the results of the Center's research.
- Increase the pool of ELSI researchers, by offering innovative, substantive
training opportunities across appropriate disciplines. It will integrate the
training of new investigators and broaden the training of established investigators.
- Help ameliorate the ELSI community's shortage of investigators from underrepresented
minority communities (African Americans, Alaskan Natives, Hispanic Americans,
Native Americans, Pacific Islanders) by developing effective opportunities
to recruit and encourage members of these communities to develop as independent
ELSI investigators.
A CEER Will NOT:
- Continue research already being pursued by the team, or by others.
- Serve as the obvious next step in a project or field, which could be accomplished
by assembling state-of-the-art components and innovating at the level of a
typical R01.
- Be a program project.
- Provide infrastructure for an existing program or department.
Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research Request for Applications
RFA-HG-06-025: Centers for Excellence in Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) Research (CEERs) (P50)
Letter of Intent Receipt Date: December 20, 2006. Application Receipt Date: January 16, 2007. [Expired]
Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research Awarded Grants Information
In August 2004, four full centers and three exploratory centers were funded. More information on each of these centers and links to the center homepages, research focus, faculty and publications are available at: CEER Awarded Grants.
Centers of Excellence in ELSI Research Program Contact
Elizabeth Thomson, M.S., R.N.
E-mail: et22s@nih.gov
Address National Human Genome Research Institute National Institutes of Health 5635 Fishers Lane Suite 4076, MSC 9305 Bethesda, MD 20892-9305
Phone:(301) 402-4997
Fax:(301) 402-1950
Last Reviewed: August 25, 2008
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