News: 2009
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October 13: NIBIB Announces Regional Grantsmanship Seminar
– November 19, 2009
The NIBIB invites all interested colleagues to attend a regional Grantsmanship Seminar
on Thursday, November 19, 2009. This event will be hosted by the University of Washington
in Seattle.
This Grantsmanship Seminar is intended to provide an overview of NIBIB funding opportunities
and the NIH application, review, and grant-making processes and policies. We invite
faculty, researchers, students, and others interested in research opportunities
in bioengineering, biomedical imaging, and research training opportunities at the
NIH to attend.
The one-day program will feature presentations from NIBIB science program and scientific
review staff on the following topics:
- Introdcution and Status of the NIBIB
- NIH General Overview
- Overview of NIBIB Research Areas and Opportunities
- NIBIB Research Training and Career Development Opportunities
- NIH Peer Review Process and Grant Application
If you are interested in attending the Grantsmanship Seminar, please register here:
http://www.uweb.engr.washington.edu/NIBIB/. The registration
fee is $69 for general attendance and free for all currently enrolled students and
postdoctoral fellows. Early registration is advised as space is limited and on-site
registration (if available) will be more expensive.
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September 14: NIBIB Grantee, PATH, Awarded Hilton Humanitarian
Prize – World's Largest Humanitarian Prize
PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health), an international nonprofit
organization that uses innovative technologies and solutions to solve global health
problems, has been selected to receive the 2009 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize
of $1.5 million. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation presents the annual award, the
world’s largest humanitarian prize, to an organization that is significantly
alleviating human suffering worldwide. The prize will be presented on September
21 in Washington, D.C. PATH was one of more than 200 nominees for the 2009 Hilton
Humanitarian Prize.
The 2009 Hilton Humanitarian Prize will help promote PATH’s mission and new
initiatives to improve the health of people around the world by advancing technologies,
strengthening systems, and encouraging healthy behaviors. PATH currently works in
more than 70 countries and is leading efforts in identifying, introducing and scaling
up affordable technology solutions to break long-standing cycles of poor health
in developing countries. A Seattle-based organization, PATH has state-of-the-art
laboratories and product development facilities, where more than 85 cutting-edge
technologies have been developed in the areas of technology development, maternal
and child health, reproductive health, vaccines and immunization, and emerging and
epidemic diseases.
Included in PATH’s realm of technology development, is the development of
appropriate point-of-care (POC) diagnostic tests designed for low-resource settings,
especially in developing countries. Low-cost POC tools are needed in developing
countries where diagnostic capabilities are minimal, inadequate, or even nonexistent.
POC testing refers to the timely provision of diagnostic testing and therapy at
the point-of-care that can reliably be used by a range of healthcare providers or
by patients themselves in decentralized (i.e., non-hospital) settings.
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) funds the
Center for Point-of-Care Diagnostics for Global Health (http://www.path.org/dxcenter/)
as part of a POC Technologies Research Network to facilitate the development and
application of these technologies to health care. NIBIB funded four Centers within
the Network, each with a different POC diagnostic focus but bound through common
goals and objectives.
Read more about the PATH Hilton Humanitarian Prize at:
http://www.hiltonfoundation.org/press_release_details.asp?id=72.
Read more about the Center to Advance POC Diagnostics for Global Health at:http://www.nibib.nih.gov/Research/POCTRN/GlobalHealth.
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August 17: NIBIB Invests in Interdisciplinary Graduate Research
Training
Phase II of the HHMI-NIBIB Interfaces Initiative for Interdisciplinary Graduate Research
Training
The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of
the National Institutes of Health, announced today that it has awarded ten Phase
II interdisciplinary research training grants totaling $16 million over five years.
These training grants will provide sustained support for interdisciplinary research
training that integrates the biomedical sciences with the physical sciences and
engineering.
These awards will increase the number of interdisciplinary researchers working at
the intersection of the biological and physical sciences and will transform institutional
programs to support interdisciplinary training. The awards represent the second
phase of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)-NIBIB Interfaces Initiative
for Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Training, a collaborative training program
that was developed jointly by both institutions with the goal of increasing interdisciplinary
training opportunities. Funding for Phase I of the Interfaces Initiative was provided
by HHMI, which awarded $10 million in three-year grants to ten institutions to jump-start
the development of new and innovative ways to train interdisciplinary scientists.
These awards provided flexible support for faculty recruitment, administrative staff,
curriculum development, and program evaluation activities. The present Phase II
awards provide support for research training of predoctoral students in interdisciplinary
research.
"Developing new approaches to interdisciplinary training is vitally important
in preparing the next generation of scientists for the complex medical challenges
ahead," said Roderic I. Pettigrew, NIBIB director. "NIBIB is delighted
to have partnered with HHMI in creating this innovative program, which was crafted
specifically to provide biomedical education and research training that integrates
the physical and life sciences. Students who are a product of this program should
be fluent in the science at the interface of these interdependent but previously
separately taught fields."
"We are excited to see this program continue on into phase II. The HHMI/NIBIB
partnership has enabled each institution to do what it does best, working together
to address the common goal of producing new scientists at the interfaces between
physical sciences, mathematics and life sciences," said Peter J. Bruns, HHMI’s
vice president for grants and special programs. "HHMI was able to support the
establishment of these programs and now NIH is providing the long term student support
that is absolutely essential for programs that bridge multiple academic compartments."
The programs selected for award will link the educational and research training
missions of multiple schools and departments, including biology, chemistry, computational
mathematics, engineering, and physics. These programs feature unique and innovative
activities, such as boot camps, team challenges, interdisciplinary courses and laboratories,
courses on communication and collaboration, dual or team-based research mentoring,
and interdisciplinary rotations, retreats, and seminars. In addition, they include
plans for identifying and disseminating best practices in interdisciplinary educational
and research training to the broader extramural community.
The phase II awardees are:
- Brandeis University, Waltham, MA – Quantitative Biology: a Graduate Curriculum
Linking the Physical and Biomedical Sciences
- Keck Center of the Gulf Coast Consortia, Houston, TX (Baylor College of Medicine,
Rice University, University of Houston, the University of Texas Health Science Center
at Houston, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and University of Texas
Medical Branch at Galveston) – Nanobiology Interdisciplinary Graduate Training
Program
- Northwestern University, Evanston, IL – Interdisciplinary Graduate Education
in Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences
- University of California, Irvine – Mathematical, Computational and Systems
Biology
- University of California, San Diego – Training in Multi-scale Analysis of
Biological Structure and Function
- University of California, San Francisco – Integrated Program in Complex Biological
Systems (ipCBS)
- University of Chicago – Graduate Program in Biophysical Sciences
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque – Program in Interdisciplinary Biological
and Biomedical Science (PiBBS)
- University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia – Training Program in Biomedical
Imaging and Informational Sciences
- University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon University – Interdisciplinary, Integrative,
Inter-university PhD Program in Computational Biology
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute plays a powerful role in advancing scientific
research and education in the United States. Its scientists, located across the
country and around the world, have made important discoveries that advance both
human health and our fundamental understanding of biology. The Institute also aims
to transform science education into a creative, interdisciplinary endeavor that
reflects the excitement of real research. For more information, visit www.hhmi.org/about/.
NIBIB, a component of NIH, is dedicated to improving health by bridging the physical
and biological sciences to develop and apply new biomedical technologies.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) – The Nation's Medical Research
Agency – includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting
and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates
the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information
about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
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July 1: Imaging Technique Allows Researchers to Monitor Protein
Changes in Mouse Tumors
A new imaging technique can monitor, in living mice, the HER2 protein found in above-normal
amounts in many cases of breast cancer as well as some ovarian, prostate and lung
cancers. This new approach, once validated in mice and pending further experiments,
could provide a real-time noninvasive method for identifying tumors in humans who
express HER2 and who would be candidates for targeted therapy directed against this
protein. It may also provide real-time information that will help clinicians optimize
treatment for individual patients. The study, published in the July 2009 issue of
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer
Institute (NCI) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering,
both parts of the National Institutes of Health.
The HER2 protein is overexpressed (produced at higher-than-normal levels) in approximately
20 percent to 25 percent of breast cancers. Tumors that overexpress HER2 are more
aggressive and more likely to recur than tumors that do not overexpress the protein.
Targeted therapies directed against HER2 can slow or stop the growth of tumors that
overexpress it.
Currently, HER2 expression is measured in biopsy specimens - that is, in tumor samples
that have been removed from the body. However, expression of HER2 in these samples
may not accurately represent HER2 expression in the tumor as a whole. Moreover,
follow-up biopsies are not routinely performed after the initial diagnosis, and
there are no means to evaluate how long a targeted therapy takes to reach its target,
how effective it is, and how long its effects last.
In this study, the research team used an imaging compound that consists of a radioactive
atom (fluorine-18) attached to an Affibody molecule, a small protein that binds
strongly and specifically to HER2. Affibody molecules, developed by Affibody AB,
Bromma, Sweden, are much smaller than antibodies and can reach the surface of tumors
more easily. The radioactive atom allows the distribution of the Affibody molecules
in the body to be analyzed by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
The research team first used the radiolabeled Affibody molecule to visualize tumors
that expressed HER2 in mice. The mice were injected under the skin with human breast
cancer cells that varied in their levels of HER2 expression, from no expression
to very high expression. After three to five weeks, when tumors had formed, the
mice were injected with the Affibody molecule and PET images were recorded. The
levels of HER2 expression as determined by PET were consistent with the levels measured
in surgically removed samples of the same tumors using established laboratory techniques.
To determine whether their method could be used to monitor possible changes in HER2
expression in response to treatment, the team next injected the Affibody molecule
into mice with tumors that expressed very high or high levels of HER2 and then treated
them with the drug 17-DMAG, which is known to decrease HER2 expression. PET scans
were performed before and after 17-DMAG treatment. The researchers found that HER2
levels were reduced by 71 percent in mice with tumors that expressed very high levels
of HER2 and by 33 percent in mice with tumors that expressed high levels of HER2
in comparison with mice that did not receive 17-DMAG. The researchers confirmed
these reductions by using established laboratory techniques to determine the concentrations
of HER2 in the tumors after they were removed from the mice.
"Our work shows that PET imaging using Affibody molecules was sufficiently
sensitive to detect a twofold to threefold decrease in HER2 expression," said
senior author Jacek Capala, Ph.D., of NCI's Center for Cancer Research. "Therefore,
PET imaging may provide a considerable advantage over current methods. Our technique
would allow a better selection of patients for HER2-targeted therapies and also
early detection of tumors that either do not respond to or acquire resistance to
these therapies."
"This approach might easily be extended to forms of cancer other than breast
cancer," continued Capala. "Because Affibody molecules may be selected
to target specific cell proteins, similar compounds can be developed to target proteins
that are unique to other types of tumors."
For more information on Dr. Capala's research, please go to: http://ccr.cancer.gov/staff/staff.asp?profileid=9891.
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June 30: NIBIB Quantum Grantee Mehmet Toner and Team Receive
National Stand Up to Cancer Grant
A research team headed by Drs. Mehmet Toner, Ph.D. and Daniel Haber, M.D., Ph.D.,
of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, has been awarded a $15 million
research grant from the proceeds raised by the Entertainment Industry Foundation
during their landmark Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) telethon. The Foundation, established
by media and entertainment industry leaders to raise cancer awareness and accelerate
developments in cancer research, raised over $100 million during their first telethon,
which was aired simultaneously by ABC, CBS, and NBC in September 2008.
The SU2C grant will help accelerate research and development of the Circulating
Tumor Cell (CTC) microchip, which was initiated with National Institute of Biomedical
Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Quantum Grant (QG) funds in 2007. The size of
a mere microscope slide, with great sensitivity that allows the detection of one
at-large cancer cell out of a billion blood cells, the CTC chip sorts out and traps
migrating tumor cells gently enough to also maintain their viability, which is key
to further analysis that gives clues that can contribute to decisions on cancer
treatment.
Toner explains how QG strategies set the research bar higher, but also promote the
proper environment for success. "The Quantum Grants take a major medical problem
where engineering could have great impact, and they put together a multidisciplinary
team to tackle the problem. It requires people who are working closely together,
and it requires us to take on a bigger challenge than we would ordinarily."
The "one-two punch" of CTC microchip research success has thus far been
realized through the tandem impact of QG funds and the NIBIB-funded BioMEMS (Biomicroelectromechanical
Systems) Resource Center, which, in Toner’s words, "…has been
a unique environment nurturing the translation of this device from a ‘cool
technology’ phase to ‘real technology’ phase with great potential
for impact at the patient’s bedside."
Toner explains, "Getting technology to people’s bedside is not an easy
thing to do. The [BioMEMS] experience has been educational for me, and very beneficial.
It has impacted my own research group to become more translational, and we do it
better than we could in the past. You have to step forward into full-scale collaboration
to make strides forward translationally."
Toner also appreciates the wisdom behind NIBIB’s requirements for end-user
collaboration with the Resource Center. "In order to get continued funding,
we have to be able to disseminate the technology. This is extremely critical to
development, because by working together with end users, we can really sharpen the
functionalities and specifications of the technology."
Highlighting the mounting challenges of today’s multidisciplinary research,
he continues, "The research problems we are working on are more and more complex.
You need to integrate with collaborators on a day-to-day basis so that they can
help you think about problems and issues in areas where you’re not an expert,
and create an environment where you actually think together – morph together
– sharing information, access, and also sharing credit."
The NIBIB fosters interdisciplinary research and the translation of research to
clinical application. The CTC microchip research project is consistent with the
NIBIB mission in technology development and the philosophy of accelerating technology
application.
Read more about the CTC microchip Quantum Grant.
...and more about the SU2C grant at:
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February 6: Announcing NIBIB Forum for Technology Translation:
The Role of Public-Private Partnerships in the Development and Translation of in
vitro Diagnostics
Program and Logistics (Adobe PDF 18K)
The NIBIB will host a forum on the role of public-private partnerships in the development
and translation of in vitro diagnostic technologies on April 2, 2009, in
Seattle, WA. This will be the first of a series of forums on technology translation
through which the NIBIB hopes to achieve the following goals:
- to improve the process of developing collaborations between the NIBIB and public/private
sector partners
- to identify best practices for accelerating the clinical translation of new medical
technologies
- to highlight technology development programs and research funded by the NIBIB.
The technology focus for this forum will be on in vitro diagnostics with
applications in point-of-care settings. Specifically, development efforts in multiplexed
diagnostics will be highlighted in this meeting. The program will consist of presentations
by NIBIB grantees as well as by representatives from industry and the FDA. Key topics
of discussion will be:
- What are challenges and resource gaps in the clinical translation process including
development and regulatory issues?
- How to capture and leverage best practices through an exchange of lessons-learned
examples of successful or unsuccessful commercialization ventures.
- Identification and development of enabling resources such as performance and validation
standards.
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January 12: NIBIB-RSNA RadLex Ontology Project
RadLex is supported both by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB) and by the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) project of the National
Cancer Institute (NCI).
The purpose of the NIBIB supported RSNA RadLex Ontology project is to provide a
uniform source of terms and concepts for indexing and retrieving a variety of imaging
information sources, such as imaging research databases, educational materials,
and clinical imaging reports.
When complete, the RadLex Ontology will be capable of describing the salient aspects
of an imaging examination, including modality, technique, visual features, anatomy,
findings, and pathology. The RadLex Ontology will be available for use by a wide
variety of software tools and web-based information resources, including major NIH
bioinformatics projects, e.g. caBIG, BIRN, CTSA.
This project creates the RadLex Ontology of interconnected radiology concepts from
the list of RadLex terms in different domains, such as Cardiovascular, Musculoskeletal,
Neuroradiology, Abdominal, Pediatric, Thoracic Systems, etc.
NIBIB-RSNA RadLex Ontology project leverages the current RSNA RadLex effort. The
RadLex project has enlisted the collaboration of other radiology organizations,
including RSNA and the American College of Radiology (ACR), to develop a comprehensive
radiology lexicon. It has been designed to satisfy the needs of software developers,
system vendors, and radiology users by adopting the best features of existing terminology
systems. The RadLex terms have mapped to SNOMED-CT of the College of American Pathologists
(CAP). It will also be as part of the DICOM Content Mapping Resource.
RSNA has aggressively promoted RadLex ontology to RSNA members at the RSNA annual
meeting each fall. The RadLex ontology has been disseminated through RadLex web
site, BioPortal web site, the National Center for Biomedical Ontology, the caBIG,
and the NCI Metathesaurus. RadLex Ontology has been adopted by commercial companies,
academia, and societies.
On the RSNA RadLex web site (http://www.rsna.org/RadLex/), it states: “RadLex
is supported both by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
(NIBIB) and by the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) project of the National
Cancer Institute (NCI).”
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Last Updated On 10/17/2011