In this Issue:
1. NIDCR News
2. NIH News
3. Funding Opportunities
4. Science Advances
NIDCR NEWS
Director-General of World Health Organization Speaks About Climate Change and Health
On December 10, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, delivered the David E. Barmes Global Health Lecture on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. See her lecture, entitled "Climate Change and Health."
The annual lecture series honors the late David E. Barmes, a long-standing World Health Organization employee, special expert for international health in the NIDCR Office of International Health, and ardent spokesman for global health. The lecture is jointly sponsored by the NIDCR and the Fogarty International Center.
A transcript of Dr. Chan's lecture also is available.
NIH NEWS
HHS Secretary Leavitt, DHS Secretary Chertoff Meet with Health Ministers on Global Health Security
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff met with health ministers from allied nations, the European Union, and the World Health Organization on November 2 on the NIH campus. The meetings took place as part of the Global Health Security Initiative (GHSI). Health ministers, senior officials, and technical experts engaged in a series of discussions and workshops to help decide how best to address the threats of bioterrorism, infectious disease, and other public health risks.
The GHSI originated following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax attacks, when the U.S. Government called for the establishment of a regular, formal opportunity for the health ministers of the major industrialized nations and their immediate neighbors to meet and exchange ideas. This is the first time the U.S. has hosted the meeting.
2008 NIH Director's Pioneer Award Program
NIH is now accepting applications for the 2008 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award Program. The Pioneer Award Program is a unique aspect of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, a high-risk research initiative of Research Teams of the Future. Pioneer Awards are designed to support individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering – and possibly transforming--approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. Approximately 5–10 new awards of $500,000 in direct costs per year for five years will be made in Fiscal Year 2008. Awardees are required to commit the major portion (at least 51%) of their research effort to activities supported by the Pioneer Award. The application deadline is January 16, 2008. Details are available at:
Also see details about an additional application requirement.
NIH Director's New Innovator Awards
NIH will accept applications for the 2008 NIH Director's New Innovator Award Program from March 3 - 31, 2008. 
The program was created in 2007 to support a small number of new investigators of exceptional creativity who propose bold and highly innovative research approaches that could potentially have a major impact on important problems in biomedical and behavioral science. The proposed research need not be in a conventional biomedical or behavioral discipline but must be relevant to the mission of NIH. Information about the award program is available at
Also see the list of FAQs about the NIH Director's New Innovator Award.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS
Biotechnology/Regenerative Medicine/Biomaterials
Cancer
Career Development
NIH Roadmap
REQUESTS FOR APPLICATIONS
Neurobiology/Pain
NIH Roadmap
NOTICES
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Scientists Discover Candidate Salivary Marker for Sjogren's Syndrome
Three years ago, scientists supported by the NIDCR began taking the first full inventory of the proteins that normally are produced in our salivary glands. Now, one of those scientists and his colleagues offer a first glimpse into how this new research tool can be applied to detect subtle changes in the protein content of a person’s saliva that may be linked to an oral or systemic disease. As reported in the November issue of the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, the scientists detected 42 proteins and 16 peptides in saliva that clinically discriminated between people with the primary form of Sjőgren’s syndrome and healthy volunteers. These data far surpass previous efforts to identify protein biomarkers for primary Sjőgren’s syndrome, a chronic autoimmune condition of the salivary and tear glands that affects about two million Americans, mainly women. The NIDCR Inside Scoop spoke with the study’s senior author Dr. David Wong, a scientist at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Dentistry.
See the interview with Dr. Wong.
Science News in Brief
Please see the following brief summaries of recent oral health research findings:
Mussel Inspired Polymer Coating Reported
Scientists Identify Muscle Forming Cells
Looking to Nature to Coat Nanomaterials