BC Environmental and Occupational Health Research Network

The IMVC program will support research using appropriate human and animal studies to address basic immunological questions leading to the discovery of novel immune-based mechanisms relevant to the prevention or control of human virus infection. Successful applicants will justify their choices of experimental systems and approaches in the context of their ultimate physiological relevance to human disease. Proposed research must be focused on the analysis and characterization of host immune mechanisms to address basic scientific questions on the immunology of anti-virus responses, generated either to infection or vaccination. Immune recognition of infected cells, anti-virus defenses, and mechanisms of virus clearance in different tissues are among the major research areas in need of further study; several specific areas of interest and examples are briefly described below. These and other research areas may be addressed in response to this FOA in the context of defining new immune mechanisms relevant to viral disease in humans.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) solicits grant applications for research to develop innovative approaches to personalizing treatment for patients suffering from depression. While effective treatments of depression are available, there is considerable individual variation in treatment response. Progress has been made in identifying potential predictors and moderators of treatment effects, but no specific model for individualizing care has been developed or tested for efficacy. The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to advance research on individualizing the treatment of depression by developing models and testing new approaches that, by accounting for patient characteristics, aim to be more specific and thus potentially leading to more effective and efficient treatment interventions. Consistent with the current state-of-the-science in this relatively new area of research, this FOA is meant to support relatively small projects or preliminary investigations, rather than large studies that definitively test intervention effectiveness. This FOA is therefore an initial step toward advancing research on personalization of care in mental health.

This NCI-sponsored Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications for research projects focused on the development and application of comparative (cross-species) systems genetics approaches to address key cancer-relevant problems. The NCI requests applications for research projects that will use these approaches to enhance the understanding of the mechanisms that underlie: (i) human cancer susceptibility and (ii) heterogeneity of human tumors. The NCI expects that, to meet these goals, the proposed projects will involve appropriate interdisciplinary collaborations providing expertise in such areas as human genetics, statistical genetics, model organism genetics, systems biology, mathematical or computational modeling of biological processes, and computer sciences. The NCI requires that all projects propose to use two species, one of which must be human, and that the projects adhere to the cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid standards.