BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network

The purpose of the EUREKA (Exceptional Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration) initiative is to foster exceptionally innovative research that, if successful, will have an unusually high impact on the areas of science that are germane to the mission of one or more of the participating NIH Institutes. EUREKA is for new projects, not for continuation of existing projects. Nor is EUREKA for support of pilot projects, i.e., projects of limited scope that are designed primarily to generate data that will enable the PI to seek other funding opportunities. Rather, it is anticipated that EUREKA projects will begin and be completed during the funding period.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement issued by the National Institutes of Health, solicits grant applications that propose to provide infrastructure support in order to foster and enhance the research capabilities of established population research centers that are highly productive and influential in the areas of research within the mission of the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch, Center for Population Research NICHD.
Applicants may request funds to support infrastructure development and/or research designed to:
• enhance the quality and quantity of population research conducted at an institution; and
• develop new research capabilities to advance population research through innovative approaches.
NOTE: Although foreign institutions are not eligible to submit applications in response to this FOA, consortium arrangements between foreign and domestic institutions are permitted.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health, solicits Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R01) applications that propose to translate basic findings from Behavioral Economics into behavior change interventions targeting health behaviors associated with chronic health conditions of mid-life and older age. Applications will propose small pilot clinical trials or demonstration projects based on collaborations between individuals with expertise in behavioral economics and psychologists or clinicians with expertise in aging or implementing behavioral interventions.

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to support research that will contribute to the overall understanding of vaccine safety. This research opportunity invites studies that address scientific areas potentially relevant to vaccine safety such as:
• physiological and immunological responses to vaccines and vaccine components
• how genetic variations affect immune/physiological responses that may impact vaccine safety
• identification of risk factors and biological markers that may be used to assess whether there is a relationship between certain diseases or disorders and licensed vaccines, or
• the application of genomic/molecular technologies to improve knowledge of vaccine safety.

The purpose of this initiative is to support studies that address basic aspects of the persistence of HIV or SIV infection in individuals receiving highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART). It is expected that proposals supported under this FOA will involve cellular, structural and systems biology, host and viral genetics, immunology, or virology. All aspects of the challenge of so-called latent viral infection are encouraged including mechanisms responsible for creation, maintenance, and removal of residual viral infection, new assay development, mathematical, cell, and animal model development, and development of new technologies needed for expansion of our understanding of HIV persistence. Applicants are encouraged to show how proposed studies that will explore the mechanisms underlying persistence will inform the future investigation and design of therapeutic strategies for long term remission without treatment (functional cure) or complete eradication of persistent virus and achievement of a full cure for HIV infection and AIDS.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), invites applications to participate in a research program that will provide a multidisciplinary approach that integrates clinical and field aspects with laboratory, molecular and genomic methods for malaria control and prevention. The objective of the International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMR) program is to create a group of research centers in malaria-endemic settings that will provide the necessary knowledge, tools, and evidence-based strategies to support intervention and control programs of government organizations and health care institutions. Ultimately, such a broad-based, multidisciplinary and integrated approach is expected to enhance the research underpinnings for effective malaria elimination and possibly eradication. Data and findings generated by these Centers are expected to provide input critical to inform future research design and evaluation of new interventions and control strategies.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports extramural research focused on understanding, controlling and preventing diseases caused by virtually all infectious agents. In response to threats presented by bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases, the NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) has established research programs to facilitate development of countermeasures for select pathogens and toxins.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) invites applications that propose multidisciplinary research on potential reduced-exposure tobacco products, both smoked and smokeless. The multidisciplinary studies can span basic, biological, behavioral, surveillance, and epidemiology research. The tobacco industry is currently promoting several new products with claims that they: a) are less either harmful or less addictive; and b) purportedly deliver lower amounts of toxic, carcinogenic, and/or addictive agents to the user compared with conventional products. However, to date, the scientific evidence is insufficient to evaluate whether these new products actually reduce the users’ exposure or risk for tobacco-related diseases. The overarching goal of this FOA is to determine whether potential reduced-exposure tobacco products provide a truly, less-harmful alternative to conventional tobacco products, both at the individual and population level.

This is a funding opportunity announcement for a research training program related to chronic, non-communicable diseases to help build capacity for future local research in LMICs. The research areas include cancer, cerebrovascular disease including stroke, lung disease including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), obesity as well as genetics, environmental factors including indoor air pollution, and lifestyle factors related to these conditions. The research that these trainees would be associated with is expected to be of importance in the participating LMICs.

This RFA seeks proposals to develop innovative and advanced statistical methods to appropriately analyze the forthcoming complex data sets to assess the influence of genetic variation on tissue-specific gene expression and regulation. Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the availability of the SNP and tissue specific gene expression data (both chip- and next-generation sequencing based RNA expression data) from multiple tissues generated by the GTEx pilot project. However, since the data generated from the GTEx pilot may not be available until very late in the funding period, if at all, analyses based on existing human genotype-gene expression datasets, and simulation-based studies, are also appropriate. In terms of the data resources, applicants are encouraged to use the data generated by GTEx if/when it is available; they may also use existing data through collaborative efforts, the GTEx portal of NCBI (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gtex/), or simulated data sets. All proposed analyses must have relevance to human eQTL mapping, and those that focus entirely or predominantly on human data, or those that involve direct comparison of human data to other mammalian systems, have the highest programmatic priority.

The purpose of this FOA is to solicit research grant applications to conduct time-sensitive ancillary studies related to heart, lung, and blood diseases and sleep disorders in conjunction with ongoing NIH- or non-NIH-supported clinical trials. The ancillary study can address any research question related to the mission of NHLBI for which the parent study (which can also be an observational study or registry that can provide a sufficient cohort of well-characterized patients) can provide participants, infrastructure, and data. All ancillary study applications must demonstrate the time-sensitive nature of their proposal and must explicitly address why an expedited review is essential to its feasibility.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), invites applications to participate in a research program that will provide a multidisciplinary approach that integrates clinical and field aspects with laboratory, molecular and genomic methods for malaria control and prevention. The objective of the International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (ICEMR) program is to create a group of research centers in malaria-endemic settings that will provide the necessary knowledge, tools, and evidence-based strategies to support intervention and control programs of government organizations and health care institutions. Ultimately, such a broad-based, multidisciplinary and integrated approach is expected to enhance the research underpinnings for effective malaria elimination and possibly eradication. Data and findings generated by these Centers are expected to provide input critical to inform future research design and evaluation of new interventions and control strategies.

The purpose of this initiative is to support a broad range of research in basic disciplines including immunology, virology, cellular and structural biology and host genetics that potentially can lead to new discoveries, expanded knowledge, and novel concepts and approaches applicable to the design of an effective prophylactic HIV-1 vaccine. Applications must clearly demonstrate how the proposed research will directly contribute to the design of an effective prophylactic HIV-1 vaccine that prevents infection and/or substantially ameliorates the progression of disease.

The intent of this FOA is to stimulate collaborative research among foreign investigators from the same geographic regions to address regional issues on the intersection of HIV/AIDS and drug use in international settings. NIDA’s objective is to expand research capacity in resource limited areas where HIV associated with injection and /or non-injection drug use is an emerging or prevalent epidemic. This FOA seeks to foster international partnerships among researchers with expertise in epidemiology, the basic biomedical and clinical sciences, behavioral and social sciences, health services, treatment and prevention, or implementation science, with a focus on addressing regional issues. The overall goal of this FOA is to enhance availability of evidence-based biomedical and behavioral strategies which will improve public health approaches to the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS associated with drug use. This FOA seeks projects that address prevention and treatment research issues utilizing special collaborative opportunities, expertise, resources, populations or settings to address regionally-focused international issues.

The principal purpose of the research supported through this initiative is to support a broad array of translational studies linking developmental neuroscience and behavioral treatments for drug abusing adolescents (with and without co-morbid psychiatric disorders) across the spectrum of abused drugs. Findings from research on adolescent brain development and the neurobiological, neurocognitive, and neurobehavioral processes that are associated with adolescent development and with substance abuse may provide drug abuse treatment researchers with important data and new approaches for developing and/or adapting treatment interventions for substance use disorders among adolescents. Similarly, a clearer understanding of the specific neurobiological effects and the mechanism of action of treatments may lead to the modification of existing therapies or to the development of more efficacious treatments for drug-addicted individuals that translate into sustainable changes in behavior and improved functioning.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA), issued by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health, aims to promote innovative research across multiple disciplines to better understand the etiology of pancreatic cancer and to facilitate its early detection, prevention, and treatment. Proposed projects may center on the biology, etiology, detection, prevention, and treatment of pancreatic cancer. This FOA focuses on different types of projects including pilot and feasibility studies; secondary analysis of existing data; small, self-contained research projects; development of research methodology; and development of new research technology. The R03 is intended to support small research projects that can be carried out in a short period of time with limited resources.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications from applicant organizations that propose to:
• identify and assess biological or biobehavioral interactions among two or more related and co-occurring symptoms;
• characterize mechanisms and pathways underlying the symptom interactions;
• elucidate the level of interaction necessary for categorization as a symptom cluster; and/or
• design and test interventions targeted to interacting or clustered symptoms that are hypothesized to lead to beneficial patient outcomes.
A rationale for the choice of symptoms is needed, not just co-occurrence of two or more symptoms. The symptoms must be associated with a target disease or syndrome, or the treatment of this disease or syndrome. Studies at any point in the disease trajectory, or during the survivorship period are encouraged. Further, this FOA seeks to stimulate research on the impact that interacting symptoms have on patient experience and quality of life. Interacting symptoms may or may not be characterized as true symptom clusters. The FOA particularly encourages the design and testing of interventions addressing symptoms that have demonstrated interactions and/or common pathways. For situations where the knowledge base remains insufficient for intervention design, mechanistic and methodological studies are encouraged. In this way, knowledge can be developed and applied to the management of multiple interacting symptoms or symptom clusters in relation to a variety of physiological, psychosocial, and demographic factors.

The specific objectives of the research are to understand the determinants of epigenetic changes, the role of DNA methylation in cancer risk and factors that modify DNA methylation and cancer relationship in existing human population studies.
Specific research areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following themes:
• Determinations of the roles of physical, chemical, and infectious agents and behavioral factors on the types and levels of DNA methylation changes in human populations of different races and ethnicities;
• Determination of the role(s) of DNA methylation changes in the risk of cancer in human populations; and
• Identifications of genetic, environmental, and host susceptibility factors that modify the risk of cancer associated with DNA methylation alterations in different races and ethnic groups.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for R01 applications is to encourage clinicians, epidemiologists, geneticists, statisticians, and translational cancer control and prevention researchers to improve existing models for cancer risk, prognosis, or response to therapy by developing innovative research projects that: use existing data; develop new models for cancer risk and prognosis; and validate new models and evaluate their utility in research and clinic settings. This FOA is designed to provide a mechanism under which investigators can address two major challenges in model development, which are: integrating diverse types of data (e.g., clinical, demographic, pathologic, environmental, epidemiologic, outcomes, and genetic data from varied data marts or warehouses); and ensuring adequate validation (i.e., using multiple separate populations to define sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values). Using the NIH Research Project Grant R01 funding mechanism, this FOA focuses on well developed projects supported by preliminary data.

The purpose of this FOA is to solicit applications to develop and validate new and innovative engineering approaches to address clinical problems related to energy balance, intake, and expenditure. Novel sensors, devices, imaging, and other technologies, including technologies to detect biochemical markers of energy balance are expected to be developed and evaluated by collaborating engineers, physical scientists, mathematicians, and scientists from other relevant disciplines with expertise in obesity and nutrition. Basic and applied scientific applications with rigorous hypothesis-testing designs or for design-directed research are encouraged. The goal is to increase the number of useful technologies and tools available to scientists to facilitate their research in energy balance and health. Eventually these research tools should facilitate therapeutic advances and behavioral changes to address such problems as weight control and obesity.