10th Edition: January 4, 2005

NIDCR FY 2005 Funding Plan

Information about the new FY 2005 Extramural Funding Plan is available on the NIDCR website.
 

Congressman Simpson Visits the NIDCR

On December 1, Rep. Mike Simpson (R.-ID) visited the NIDCR and met with Drs. Lawrence Tabak, Director, NIDCR; Robert Angerer, Scientific Director; Thomas Hart, manager, Clinical Research Core; Pamela Robey, chief, Craniofacial and Skeletal Diseases Branch (CSDB); and Michael Collins, staff clinician, CSDB.  Among the topics discussed were NIDCR’s research on the properties of adult stem cells and their potential use in tissue engineering; how clinical studies on fibrous dysplasia have suggested evidenced-based changes in clinical management of these patients; and the use of stereophotoimaging of the face to identify individuals with genetic conditions that are not easily diagnosed.     

NIDCR Co-Sponsors Lecture by LEE Jong-Wook, WHO Director-General

On December 6, NIDCR and the Fogarty International Center cosponsored the 4^th annual 2004 David E. Barmes Global Health Lecture on the NIH campus.  LEE Jong-wook, M.D., MPH, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), presented the lecture, entitled “Health Challenges for Research in the 21^st Century.”  
 

NIDCR Launches Unique Initiative on Oral Biofilm

The NIDCR has begun supporting an innovative, three-year study to compile the first full catalogue of genes found in oral biofilms, the sticky bacteria-laden films that form on teeth and gums.  The study, which will yield many tens of thousands of genes—exceeding the number identified in the landmark Human Genome Project—will also attempt to detect unique patterns of gene expression within these bacterial communities that are predictive of periodontal diseases, a leading cause of tooth loss that affects millions of Americans.

For additional information, see the NIDCR news release about oral biofilm initiative.

New NIDCR/CDC Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Data Resource Center Updates

The Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Data Resource Center (DRC) has two updates to programs on its website: Data from the 2002 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) has been added to the Data Query System to facilitate online analysis of oral health variables from this survey.  In addition, the September 2004 release of the Catalog of Surveys and Archive of Procedures Related to Oral Health is now available.  This release contains new entries along with updated survey information for entries already in the Catalog.  It is available free of charge on CD-Rom.  
 

NIH Roadmap to Develop Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Network

As part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, NIH provided approximately $6 million in fiscal year 2004 to fund six primary research sites and a statistical coordinating center for a Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) network.  This trans-NIH initiative, managed by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), aims to develop ways to measure patient-reported symptoms such as pain and fatigue and aspects of health-related quality of life across a wide variety of chronic diseases and conditions.  See the NIH Roadmap web site.

NIH Issues Electronic Research Administration (eRA) Newsletter

“Inside eRA for Partners,” the newsletter of the NIH eRA, provides NIH grantees with pertinent information about the plans and progress of the eRA Project.  NIH uses the electronic research administration (eRA) to conduct interactive electronic transactions for the receipt, review, monitoring, and administration of NIH grant awards to biomedical investigators worldwide.  eRA integrates the external system--NIH eRA Commons—with the internal system, IMPAC II, which is used by NIH staff.  See additional information about the NIH eRA Commons. 

New Competing Public Health Service Grant Application Forms Available

The newly revised “Application for a DHHS Public Health Service Grant” (PHS 398, rev. 9/04) instructions and forms are now available and will be accepted for submission/receipt dates after December 1, 2004. All applications received on or after May 10, 2005 must use the new instructions and forms.  Also see the Notice about the new grant application forms. 

Manual Chapter for Research and Development Contracts Is Revised

NIH Manual 6315-1, “Initiation, Review, Evaluation and Award of Research and Development (R&D) Contracts was revised.  The chapter states policies and procedures for the initiation, review, evaluation, negotiation and award of NIH biomedical and behavioral R&D contract projects.  For additional information, please go to:

NIH Considers Extending Deadline on Plan for Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information

NIH is holding discussions with congressional committees to consider extending the timeline on its plan for “Enhanced Public Access to NIH Research Information.”  NIH has received more than 6,000 responses to its proposal, which was first posted for comment on September 3.   In report language accompanying its FY 2005 funding bill, the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Subcommittee asked NIH to produce a plan (by December 1) for providing public access to the published results of the research it funds.  According to NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, NIH is asking for “a reprieve on the timeline" to allow the agency time to consider all the comments and to formulate an unrushed policy.

Dr. David Schwartz Appointed Director of NIEHS

On October 25, Dr. Zerhouni announced the appointment of Dr. David Schwartz as the new director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) and the National Toxicology Program (NTP).  Schwartz currently serves as director of the Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Division and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Medicine at Duke University.  While at Duke, Dr. Schwartz played a principal role in developing three interdisciplinary Centers in Environmental Health Sciences, Environmental Genomics, and Environmental Asthma.    He will join NIH on April 4, 2005.

Listing of Useful NIH Web Sites

The following is a listing of useful NIH web sites:

*NIH Office of Extramural Research Web Site for New Investigators
A web site with resources for new investigators.

*The NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts
Published every Friday.  The official publication for research grant policies, guidelines, and funding opportunities.

*The NIH Roadmap
Updated regularly to reflect developments in the implementation of various Roadmap Initiatives.

*Public Access
NIH’s proposed new policy on public access and manuscript archiving
 
*Director of NIH
Information by and about the Director, Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D
 

*Opportunities for public involvement in NIH’s programs and activities, including links to the NIH Bulletin and the Director’s Council for Public Representatives
(COPR)

*News and information about upcoming events at NIH

*NIH videocast site
Current events and past archived events available for desktop viewing

*The NIH health information gateway: MedlinePlus

Information about clinical trials

NIDCR Science News in Brief

NIDCR now has a new feature on its web site called “Science News in Brief.” It highlights recent noteworthy NIDCR-sponsored research findings.  Each entry consists of a brief overview paragraph with an embedded link that leads to the paper’s abstract on MEDLINE/PubMed.  Science News in Brief will have new postings every week. 

Highlighted research to date includes:  

*New Data on Prevalence of Dental Caries in Immigrant Children

*Caspase Inhibitors and Possible Bone Loss

*New Clue Into How Opportunistic Virus Evades Immune System

*Study Describes Boron Transport

*Latest Microarray Gene Profiles of Head and Neck Cancer

*New Finding in Tooth Formation

New Lead In Refractory Periodontitis
*New Findings With RHO GTPases
*New Cost-Assessment Study
*Discovery of Genes Involved in Nervous System Development

Wendy Liffers to Serve as Acting Executive Officer, NIH 

Wendy Liffers, NIDCR associate director for policy integration, has been appointed acting executive officer in the Office of the Director, NIH.  Ms. Liffers is an attorney whose 20-year Federal science policy and management career has focused on the development, management, administration and analysis of major biomedical research programs at the NIH.  Her responsibilities have included operational and strategic science and program planning, program and performance management, and Congressional and intergovernmental relations and legislative analysis at the most senior levels.  In her current role at the NIDCR, she is a senior advisor and counselor to NIDCR Director Lawrence Tabak on a wide variety of policy concerns affecting trans-NIH programmatic and science policy issues, including the development and implementation of the NIH Roadmap.  Her previous science management and advisory positions include director, Office of Science Policy and Legislation, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and deputy associate director for management and operations, NIAID.               

Dr. Gabor Illei Joins NIDCR as Chief, Sjogren’s Syndrome Clinic

Dr. Gabor Illei recently joined NIDCR’s Gene Therapy and Therapeutics Branch as a clinical tenure track principal investigator and chief of the Institute’s Sjogren’s Syndrome Clinic.  Dr. Illei received both his M.D. and Ph.D. in his native Hungary.  Following post-doctoral training at Oxford University, he completed training in internal medicine at SUNY-Stony Brook and specialty training in rheumatology at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.  For the past five years, he has conducted clinical studies of systemic lupus erythematosus.  Dr. Illei’s focus at the NIDCR is on finding treatments for Sjogren’s syndrome that are safe and effective and target specific steps in the pathogenesis of this complex disorder.  His studies will include the use of novel therapies involving immunomodulatory molecules.   

Dr. Nicholas Ryba Appointed Chief of New Laboratory of Oral Sensory Biology

Dr. Nicholas Ryba has been appointed chief of the new NIDCR Laboratory of Oral Sensory Biology.  A tenure track investigator since 1996, he had been the senior investigator in the Taste and Smell Unit, Oral Infection and Immunity Branch since 2001.  He established this unit, in what was then the Laboratory of Immunology, in 1991.  Dr. Ryba’s early work focused on G protein-coupled signaling pathways that mediate perception of pheromones.  Over the past six years, together with his colleagues, he has collaborated with Dr. Charles Zuker at the University of California at San Diego and made major advances in our understanding of the sense of taste and the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which different tastes are “decoded.”  Dr. Ryba’s research has attracted considerable national and international interest.

Dr. Wanjun Chen Heads New Mucosal Immunology Unit

Following an international search, Dr. Wanjun Chen was recently recruited as a tenure-track investigator in immunology to head the newly established Mucosal Immunology Unit in the Oral Infection and Immunity Branch, NIDCR.  His research program will focus on TGF-beta regulation of T cell immunity and tolerance, with special attention to the mucosal immune system.   Dr. Chen received his M.S. from Shandong University Medical School and Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences in Jinan, China and his M.D. with a specialty in immunology from Qingdao University Medical School in Qingdao, China.  He did his postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Howard Weiner at Harvard Medical School, where he studied mechanisms of mucosal and thymic immune tolerance.  Dr. Chen joined NIDCR in 1997 as a senior staff fellow to study TGF-beta regulation of T cell immunity and tolerance and the mechanism of oral tolerance.  He initiated studies demonstrating that TGF-beta plays a critical role in T cell apoptosis and the function and development of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells. 

Dr. Kelly Ten Hagen Appointed Chief, Developmental Glycobiology Unit

Dr. Kelly G. Ten Hagen was recently appointed as a tenure-track investigator and chief of the Developmental Glycobiology Unit within the Craniofacial Developmental Biology and Regeneration Branch, NIDCR.   Her research program will focus on the use of model organisms to determine the role of O-linked glycosylation during embryonic development.  Dr. Ten Hagen received her Ph.D. from Stanford University and trained in the laboratory of Dr. Stanely N. Cohen, where she studied eukaryotic DNA replication.  She then joined the laboratory of Dr. Lawrence Tabak while he was at the University of Rochester, and began studying mucin-type O-linked glycosylation in mammalian systems.  Dr. Ten Hagen joined the NIH in 2001, where she initiated studies demonstrating that O-linked glycosylation is both conserved across species and essential for viability.    

• Home
• Site Map
• Web Policies
• Privacy Policy
• FOIA
• Contact Us

• National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
• National Institutes of Health
• Bethesda, MD 20892-2190
• 301-496-4261