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NIH Clinical Collection Now Available at www.nihclinicalcollection.com
The NIH Clinical Collection (NCC), a plated array of approximately 450 clinically tested compounds, is now available for distribution through www.nihclinicalcollection.com. There is a cost recovery charge of $805.00 for the collection.
Similar collections of FDA approved drugs have proven to be rich sources of undiscovered bioactivity and therapeutic potential. The clinically tested compounds in the NCC are highly drug-like with known safety profiles. These compounds can provide excellent starting points for medicinal chemistry optimization and, for high-affinity targets, may even be appropriate for direct human use in new disease areas. The compounds come as a ready-to-screen kit with the following features:
Format: The collection contains approximately 450 compounds arrayed in six 96-well plates. Compounds are supplied as 50ul of a 10mM solution in 100% DMSO.
Selection criteria: The NCC consists almost entirely of drugs that have been in phase I-III clinical trials and have not been represented in other available collections. These compounds also have favorable attributes for inclusion in a screening collection, such as purity, solubility and commercial availability for re-supply.
Drug-likeness: By definition, compounds that have been tested in human clinical trials have highly developed properties of drug-likeness, such as bioavailability and stability. Having been used in humans, most of these compounds also have well-characterized safety profiles.
Extensive Bioactivity Profiles: The NCC compounds are part of the screening library for the NIH Roadmap Molecular Libraries Screening Centers Network (MLSCN). Thus, extensive bioactivity data on these compounds from dozens of high throughput screens will be publicly available through PubChem. Through ongoing screening within and outside the MLSCN, the body of knowledge about these compounds will be continually expanding.
Resupply: All of the compounds in the NCC are commercially available for re-supply. Sources of compounds for the NCC are listed in the compound database.
The NCC was assembled by the National Institutes of Health through the Molecular Libraries Roadmap Initiative as part of its mission to enable the use of compound screens in biomedical research.
The NIH Roadmap for Medical Research is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the nation’s medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. It provides a framework of the priorities the NIH must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research. For more information about the NIH Roadmap, please visit the Web site at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — is comprised of 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 investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.
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Action Needed on NIH Funding
Background: The President has proposed a $310 million cut in the NIH budget below the FY 2007 level. NIH program spending would be effectively reduced by over $500 million because the President proposes to add $201 million to the Global AIDS transfer. The AFMR is recommending an NIH budget increase of 6.7%, which would put NIH at $30.9 billion in FY 2008.
Recommended Action: The House HHS Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to take up funding for NIH before Memorial Day. You are encouraged to call your Representative as soon as possible to express concern about the President’s proposed NIH budget cut and to encourage support for a 6.7% increase in the NIH budget to a level of $30.9 billion. In addition to articulating the budget recommendation above, you should tell the staff person about the importance of NIH funding to your institution and state. Briefly describe how your institution and state have benefited from NIH support.
You can reach your Representative’s office by dialing the Capitol Hill Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and asking to be connected to his or her office. Once connected, ask to speak to the person who handles appropriations for the Department of Health and Human Services.
For additional information, contact Lynn Morrison or Peter Banks at Peter.Banks@whaonline.org. AFMR will keep you informed as the NIH appropriations process moves forward during the spring and summer.
Thank you for participating in this effort.
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Limited Competition for Supplements to CTSAs to Plan for Pilot Projects to Apply the National Clinical Research Associates Model in Their Community Engagement Activities (UL1) (RFA-RM-07-006)
The purpose of this limited competition Request for Applications (RFA) is to enable the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) grantees to apply for competitive supplements to plan pilot projects to test the National Clinical Research Associates (NCRA) concept of establishing cadres of community-based health practitioners trained to conduct clinical research as part of the Community Engagement component of their grants.
The NIH intends to commit approximately $1 million in FY 2007 to fund five to seven competitive supplements in response to this announcement. Eligible institutions or organizations are the current CTSA awardees. NIH is issuing this solicitation for competitive supplement grants to the 12 CTSAs awarded under RFA-RM-06-002. The supplements are to provide support for one year of planning for pilot projects, in interaction with NIH staff. These competitive supplements should extend the community engagement component of the institution’s UL1 CTSA award. Applicants for these supplements may build on the activities proposed in the CTSA or may propose new and independent activities, whichever they believe will best meet the intent of the NCRA program.
Application Receipt Date(s): January 22, 2007
For more information, please go to:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-006.html
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NIH Launches National Consortium to Transform Clinical Research
BETHESDA, Md. - National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., today announced the launch of a national consortium that will transform how clinical and translational research is conducted, ultimately enabling researchers to provide new treatments more efficiently and quickly to patients. This new consortium, funded through Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs), begins with 12 academic health centers (AHCs) located throughout the nation. An additional 52 AHCs are receiving planning grants to help them prepare applications to join the consortium. When fully implemented in 2012, about 60 institutions will be linked together to energize the discipline of clinical and translational science.
"The development of this consortium represents the first systematic change in our approach to clinical research in 50 years," said Zerhouni. "Working together, these sites will serve as discovery engines that will improve medical care by applying new scientific advances to real world practice. We expect to see new approaches reach underserved populations, local community organizations, and health care providers to ensure that medical advances are reaching the people who need them."
Applicants were encouraged to develop institutes, centers or departments for these awards and were challenged to devise innovative and far-reaching approaches to build academic homes for clinical and translational science. In response, the CTSA institutions are planning to:
- Develop better designs for clinical trials to ensure that patients with rare as well as common diseases benefit from new medical therapies
- Produce enriched environments to educate and develop the next generation of researchers trained in the complexities of translating research discoveries into clinical trials and ultimately into practice
- Design new and improved clinical research informatics tools
- Expand outreach efforts to minority and medically underserved communities
- Assemble interdisciplinary teams that cover the complete spectrum of research-biology, clinical medicine, dentistry, nursing, biomedical engineering, genomics, and population sciences
- Forge new partnerships with private and public health care organizations
"The impact of the CTSA consortium will be far greater than the number of awards made," said Barbara M. Alving, M.D., NCRR Acting Director. "We're already seeing transformative changes and new partnerships developing at institutions as they prepare to participate. This consortium will spur innovation, integration, inclusion, and dissemination-not only among institutions receiving these awards-but at all organizations involved in health care throughout the country."
The CTSA initiative grew out of the NIH commitment to re-engineer the clinical research enterprise, one of the key objectives of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The CTSA consortium will be led by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a part of the NIH. Funding for the CTSA initiative comes from redirecting existing clinical and translational programs, including Roadmap funds. Total first year funding for the awards announced today will be approximately $100 million. When fully implemented in 2012, the initiative is expected to provide a total of $500 million annually to 60 academic health centers.
The following institutions will receive the first set of awards for nearly a five-year period:
Columbia University Health Sciences (New York, N.Y.)
Duke University (Durham N.C.)
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester, Minn.)
Oregon Health & Science University (Portland, Ore.)
Rockefeller University (New York, N.Y.)
University of California, Davis (Davis. Calif.)
University of California, San Francisco (San Francisco, Calif.)
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pa.)
University of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
University of Rochester (Rochester, N.Y.)
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Houston, Texas)
Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
For complete project descriptions, please visit http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/osptemp/ncrrprog/roadmap/CTSA_9-2006X.asp.
In addition, the list of planning grant recipients is available at http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/osptemp/ncrrprog/roadmap/CTSA_Planning_9-2006X.asp. A second Request for Applications (RFA) for CTSAs has been issued, calling for the next round of submissions to be made by January 17, 2007, with awards expected in fall 2007. The RFA is available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-RM-07-002.html.
The CTSA initiative was developed with extensive input from the research community. For more information, visit http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/clinicaldiscipline.asp.
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About the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research
The NIH Roadmap for Medical Research is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the Nation's medical research capabilities and speed the movement of scientific discoveries from the bench to the bedside. It provides a framework of the priorities the NIH must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research. Additional information about the NIH Roadmap can be found at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov .
About NCRR
NCRR provides laboratory scientists and clinical researchers with the environments and tools they need to understand, detect, treat, and prevent a wide range of diseases. With this support, scientists make biomedical discoveries, translate these findings to animal-based studies, and then apply them to patient-oriented research.
Ultimately, these advances result in cures and treatments for both common and rare diseases. Through collaborations and networks, NCRR connects researchers with one another, and with patients and communities across the nation. These connections bring together innovative research teams and the power of shared resources, multiplying the opportunities to improve human health. For more information, visit www.ncrr.nih.gov.
About NIH
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - The Nation's Medical Research Agency - is comprised of 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 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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NIH DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES 2006 PIONEER AWARD RECIPIENTS
Five-Year, $2.5 Million Grants Support Highly Innovative Research Bethesda, Md. — Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health, today names 13 recipients of the 2006 NIH Director's Pioneer Award.
Now in its third year, the Pioneer Award is a key component of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research. The program supports exceptionally creative scientists who take highly innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research.
"The 2006 Pioneer Award recipients are a diverse group of forward-thinking scientists whose work could transform medical research," said Zerhouni. "The awards will give them the intellectual freedom to pursue exciting new research directions and opportunities in a range of scientific areas, from computational biology to immunology, stem cell biology, nanotechnology, and drug development."
The 2006 awardees, who will each receive $2.5 million in direct costs over five years, are:
— KWABENA A. BOAHEN, PH.D., STANFORD UNIVERSITY associate professor of bioengineering, who will develop a specialized hardware platform for the detailed simulation of the inner workings of the brain's cortex.
— ARUP K. CHAKRABORTY, PH.D., MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Robert T. Haslam Professor of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, and Biological Engineering, who will combine the application of theoretical methods rooted in statistical physics and engineering with experiments to determine principles governing the emergence of autoimmune diseases.
— LILA M. GIERASCH, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and chemistry, who will investigate protein folding in the complex environment of a cell and explore how diseases may arise from folding mistakes.
— REBECCA W. HEALD, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY, associate professor of molecular and cell biology, who will study how cells scale the size of their internal organelles.
— KARLA KIRKEGAARD, PH.D., STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE professor and chair of microbiology and immunology, who will identify and validate targets for antiviral drugs leading to suppression of the growth of drug-resistant variants of dengue, West Nile, hepatitis C, and polio viruses.
— THOMAS J. KODADEK, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER AT DALLAS professor of internal medicine and molecular biology, who will develop a chemistry-based approach to monitor and manipulate the immune system.
— CHENG CHI LEE, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HEALTH SCIENCE CENTER AT HOUSTON associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, who will refine technologies for the suspended animation of non-hibernating mammals.
— Evgeny A. NUDLER, PH.D., NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE professor of biochemistry, who will develop new types of antimicrobial drugs and vaccines to treat and prevent drug-resistant infections.
— GARY J. PIELAK, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL professor of chemistry, who will study proteins involved in neurodegenerative diseases at the atomic level inside living cells.
— DAVID A. RELMAN, M.D., STANFORD UNIVERSITY associate professor of microbiology and immunology and of medicine, who will explore the roles in health and disease of microbial communities indigenous to humans.
— ROSALIND A. SEGAL, M.D., PH.D., DANA-FARBER CANCER INSTITUTE associate professor of neurobiology, who will focus on identifying the way complex sugars work to maintain neural stem cells in the developing and adult brain.
— JAMES L. SHERLEY, M.D., PH.D., MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY associate professor of biological engineering, who will work to develop routine methods for the production of human adult stem cells from liver, pancreas, hair follicles, and bone marrow.
— YOUNAN XIA, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, professor of chemistry, who will develop nanomaterials as new tools for understanding and controlling cell communication.
NIH selected the 2006 Pioneer Award recipients through a special application and evaluation process. After NIH staff determined the eligibility of each of the 465 applicants, the first of three groups of distinguished experts from the scientific community identified the 25 most highly competitive individuals in the pool. The second group of outside experts then interviewed the 25 finalists at NIH in August 2006.
The Advisory Committee to the Director, NIH, performed the final review and made recommendations to Zerhouni based on the evaluations by the first two groups of outside experts and programmatic considerations.
"In addition to supporting outstanding research, the Pioneer Award is an innovation in its own right. It is one way we are exploring of funding unconventional ideas that are promising but might not fare well in the traditional peer review system," Zerhouni noted.
"I am pleased that enthusiasm for the Pioneer Award program led a record number of NIH components -- 11 in all -- to contribute their own funds to the program this year, allowing us to support nearly twice as many awards as the NIH Roadmap budget provided," Zerhouni added.
Biographical sketches of the 2006 NIH Director's Pioneer Award recipients are available at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer/Recipients06.aspx. More information on the Pioneer Award, including details on the 22 scientists who received awards in the first two years of the program, is at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov/pioneer.
The NIH Roadmap for Medical Research is a series of far-reaching initiatives designed to transform the nation's medical research capabilities and speed the movement of research discoveries from the bench to the bedside. It provides a framework of the priorities the NIH must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio and lays out a vision for a more efficient and productive system of medical research. For more information about the NIH Roadmap, please visit the Web site at http://nihroadmap.nih.gov.
The Office of the Director, the central office at NIH, is responsible for setting policy for NIH, which includes 27 Institutes and Centers.
This involves planning, managing, and coordinating the programs and activities of all NIH components. The Office of the Director also includes program offices which are responsible for stimulating specific areas of research throughout NIH. Additional information is available at http://www.nih.gov/icd/od/.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) – The Nation's Medical Research Agency – is comprised of 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 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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NIH Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program Application Now Available
The NIH Clinical Research Loan Repayment Program applications are now available on the NIH website. This year's Deadline for submissions is December 1, 2006.
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Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08)
The objective of the Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award (K08) is to continue the long standing NIH support of didactic study and mentored research for individuals with clinical doctoral degrees. This award provides support and “protected time” for an intensive, supervised research career development experience in the fields of biomedical or behavioral research, including translational research. For the purpose of this award, translational research is defined as application of basic research discoveries toward the diagnosis, management, and prevention of disease.
An award is for a period of 3 to 5 years and provides support for salary and research-related costs. The amount funded as salary for a career development award varies among the NIH participating Institutes and Centers (ICs). Therefore, the applicant is strongly advised to contact the relevant IC for any distinct guidelines, requirements, and allowable funds. Candidates for K08 award must have a clinical doctoral degree. Applications must contain a career development plan as well as a research plan. The participating NIH Institutes and Centers may have distinctive guidelines, requirements, and funding amounts for this announcement in order to accommodate the career needs of researchers working in fields related to their specific research missions.
For more information, please go to: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-512.html#SectionI
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Read Dr. Zerhouni's latest update on the NIH Roadmap and the CTSA.
Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (LRP) (PA-06-517)
The NIH announces the availability of educational loan repayment under the NIH Extramural Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers (LRP-CR). The Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers provides for the repayment of up to $35,000 of the principal and interest of the extant educational loans of such health professionals for each year of obligated service. Payments equal to 39 percent of total loan repayments are issued to the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of program participants to offset Federal tax liabilities incurred.
The purpose of the Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers is the recruitment and retention of highly qualified health professionals as clinical investigators. Through this announcement, the NIH invites qualified health professionals who contractually agree to engage in clinical research for at least two years, and who agree to engage in such research for at least 50 percent of their work schedule (not less than 20 hours per week based on a 40-hour work week), to apply for participation in the NIH Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Researchers.
The NIH intends to commit approximately $42 million in Fiscal Year 2007 to fund approximately 930 LRP-CR individuals.
LRP-CR applications will be accepted September 1 through December 1, 2006. They must be submitted via the NIH Loan Repayment Website, www.lrp.nih.gov.
To read the program announcement in full, please go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-517.html.
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NIH Reissues the Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Award
Issued by
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
The purpose of this Notice is to announce NIH's intention to reissue a Request for Applications (RFA) soliciting applications for Institutional Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSAs) with a receipt date of January 17, 2007. The RFA is expected to be published after August 14, 2006. The intent of the CTSA program is to enable institutions to engage in innovative and transformative efforts that will develop and advance clinical and translational science as a distinct discipline within a definable academic home and for institutions to work together at a national level to advance clinical and translation science.
This Notice encourages institutions that believe that they have the necessary expertise and resources to consider applying for this initiative. The NIH intends to hold a pre-submission webcast/videoconference on October 5, 2006 from 2-4 PM at which NIH staff will answer questions concerning the CTSA program and the RFA. Additional information on webcasting and videoconferencing will be available in the RFA.
In the course of reissuing the CTSA RFA, NIH is interested in receiving comments from interested parties that could result in clarifications of the CTSA program. Comments should be sent to haywarda.nih.gov and should be received by 1 July 2006.
Applications Are Not Being Requested At This Time.
Inquiries
Interested parties may contact:
Anthony Hayward M.D., Ph.D.
Division for Clinical Research Resources NCRR
6701 Democracy Blvd, Rm 906
Bethesda, MD 20892-4874
Telephone: (301) 435 0790
FAX: 301 480 3661
Email: haywarda@mail.nih.gov
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NCRR News
The National Center for Research Offers Clinical and Translational Science Awards
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NIH 2006 Budget
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Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act
The AFMR and The Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research, along with others, have recently supported H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2005. Click here to view the letter to Representatives Michael Castle (R-DE) and Diana DeGette (D-CO).
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