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Analytic tools that can screen for particular characteristics at high rates are crucial to discovery science, and increasingly valuable in both basic research (e.g., phenotyping) and applied research (e.g., drug discovery). As such, they are in demand and represent a commercially viable technology, appropriate for funding under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The intent of this Program Announcement (PA) is to invite applications by small businesses for the commercial development of technologies for high throughput data acquisition and analysis that could aid the research fields of basic behavioral science or neuroscience relevant to the mission of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Only SBIR Phase I, Phase II and Fast Track grant applications are solicited; small business technology transfer (STTR) grant applications are not solicited by this PA.

Many brain tumors are highly invasive and therefore extremely difficult to treat. Cells from the primary tumor often infiltrate into surrounding brain tissues, so that removal of the main tumor mass is not sufficient to prevent recurrence. The goal of this Program Announcement with set-aside funds (PAS) is to promote studies that: (1) identify the properties of brain tumor cells that cause them to migrate; (2) determine how interaction of tumor cells with normal brain elements affects migration; and (3) translate understanding of these parameters into interventions that target invading tumor cells. Interdisciplinary studies that apply new concepts and methodologies from developmental neuroscience, genomics, precursor cell biology and other related fields are particularly encouraged.

Note: The following website has been established as an information resource for this RFA: http://www.niams.nih.gov/rtac/funding/grants/muscular_dystrophy_2004.htm The information will be updated periodically. The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to establish Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Centers (MDCRCs),in order to increase basic and clinical research on all forms of muscular dystrophy. The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS),the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)invite applications for MDCRCs that promote side-by-side basic, translational, and clinical research; provide resources that can be used by the national muscle biology and neuromuscular research communities; and provide training and advice about muscle diseases for researchers and physicians who provide initial diagnosis and treatment, including rehabilitation, care for cognitive and behavioral concerns, and therapy for other system complications. Taken together, the centers will constitute a cohesive program, the MDCRC Program, operating under guidelines for NIH cooperative agreements. The primary goal of this initiative is to establish research centers, each of which will bring together expertise, infrastructure and resources focused on major questions about muscular dystrophy. Centers should use innovative research designs and state-of-the-art technologies. Achieving high levels of expertise and resources may require multi-institutional consortia. Centers are expected to provide an environment and core resources that will enhance collaborations of established basic, clinical, and behavioral science investigators to study muscular dystrophy research questions. Further, the environment should promote cross-disciplinary research training. Each center should develop in accordance with available expertise, interests, and resources, but should also be responsive to national needs related to muscular dystrophy. Although the types of activities that should be included are indicated in these guidelines, specific approaches to accomplish them are left to applicants. In addition to the self-contained activities of individual centers, the MDCRCs will collaborate with other centers, overseen by a Steering Committee involving representation from each center and from NIH. The centers will be funded through NIH Cooperative Agreements with the goal of maximizing collaborative utilization of the unique resources in infrastructure, expertise, and clinical recruitment that will be created. This is a re-issuance of RFA AR-03-001, Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Centers. In FY 2003, NIAMS, NINDS, and NICHD awarded grants supporting three MDCRCs based on responses to the earlier RFA (see http://www.niams.nih.gov/ne/press/2003/10_14.htm) Investigators interested in applying for support of muscular dystrophy research using mechanisms other than this RFA should see NIH PAS-01-041, Therapeutic and Pathogenic Approaches for the Muscular Dystrophies at http://www.niams.nih.gov/rtac/funding/grants/pa/pas_01_041.pdf.

Participating Institutes and Centers (ICs) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invite applications for R01 awards to support Research Partnerships for Improving Functional Outcomes (RPIFO) for basic, applied, and translational multi- disciplinary research that addresses important biological, behavioral, medical, and/or psychosocial research problems related to rehabilitation or health maintenance of individuals with acute or chronic disease. In the context of this program, a “partnership” is a multi-disciplinary research team that applies an integrative, systems approach to develop knowledge and/or methods to improve functioning, promote health, and increase participation in community life. The partnership must include appropriate individuals with clinical expertise related to rehabilitation in combination with biomedical, psychosocial-behavioral, engineering, epidemiological, and/or health services researchers. The Principal Investigator (PI) also serves as the project manager and must be capable of leading the proposed research and partnership. An RPIFO may propose outcomes-directed, developmental, discovery-driven, translational or hypothesis-driven research at universities, national laboratories, medical or nursing schools, large or small businesses, or other public and private entities or combinations of these entities. It is expected that an RPIFO will have a well-defined, public health-related goal that can be assessed based on objective milestones.

The goal of this Program Announcement with set-aside funds (PAS) is to invite applications for studying the integration of neurobiological and cerebrovascular mechanisms in the adult, aged and pediatric brain in health and disease. This PAS encourages studies focused on improving our understanding of the dynamic interactions within the neurovascular unit (NVU), a construct consisting of brain microvascular endothelium, glia, neurons and the extracellular matrix that maintains spatial relations among them. Knowledge of these interactions has the potential to stimulate new strategies for basic, translational and clinical research in many neurological disorders, including stroke, vascular dementia, and intracerebral hemorrhage. Among the challenges to be addressed are: generate new hypotheses and conduct exploratory work on microvessel–neuron communication; increase our knowledge about cell-cell signaling and how insults to the endothelium affect parenchymal cell damage, which applies not only to stroke, but may also contribute to understanding neurological disorders in which vascular changes are observed; and, elucidate mechanisms by which neurons communicate with blood vessels through interactions with non-neuronal cells in the microenvironment including endothelium, pericytes, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia.

This PA is designed to solicit research projects that anticipate, analyze and address the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of the discovery and use of new information and technologies resulting from human genetic and genomic research. Of particular interest are studies that examine issues and, where appropriate, develop policy options in the following areas: 1) intellectual property issues surrounding access to and use of genetic information; 2) the ethical, legal and social factors that influence the translation of genetic information to improved human health; 3) the issues surrounding the conduct of genetic and genomic research; 4) the use of genetic and genomic information and technologies in non-health care settings; 5) the impact of genetics and genomics on concepts of race, ethnicity, kinship and individual and group identity; 6)the implications, for both individuals and society, of uncovering genetic and genomic contributions to not only disease, but also ‘normal’ human traits and behaviors; and 7) how different individuals, cultures and religious traditions view the ethical boundaries for the uses of genetics and genomics. This Program Announcement is complemented by PA-04-051, the ELSI Small Grant (R03) Program (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-04-051.html). The R03 program is limited to applications requesting up to $50,000 in direct costs per year for no more than two years, makes use of a streamlined application process, and is designed to encourage the development of small, focused research projects by legal, historical, ethics and social sciences scholars. It is also designed to support smaller exploratory studies that may provide preliminary findings for larger research proposals.

The goal of this program announcement is to invite research applications investigating the role of diet composition in energy balance, including studies in both animals and humans. Both short and longer-term studies would be encouraged, ranging from basic studies investigating the impact of micro-or macronutrient composition on appetite, metabolism, and energy expenditure through clinical studies evaluating the efficacy of diets differing in micro- or macronutrient composition, absorption, dietary variety, or energy density for weight loss or weight maintenance.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) provide Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards (Kirschstein-NRSA) to individuals for doctoral-level training. These Institutes award Kirschstein-NRSA individual predoctoral fellowships (F31) to promising applicants with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in their scientific mission areas. Each Institute has a unique scientific purview and different program goals and initiatives that evolve over time. Therefore, it is critical that all applicants consult the appropriate Institute website and contact the appropriate Institute office, both listed under “Where to Send Inquiries,” prior to preparing an application to obtain current information about each Institute's program priorities and policies with regard to fellowships. This action is of utmost importance since applications with marginal or no relevance to NIAAA, NIBIB, NIDCD, NIDA, NIMH, or NINDS programs will not be accepted for review or funding by the participating Institutes.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) invites cooperative agreement applications from qualified institutions for support of a Parkinsons Disease Data Organizing Center (PD-DOC), designed to serve as a shared research resource to facilitate research in Parkinsons disease (PD). This resource is intended to compile clinical data, as well as to provide virtual catalogues for both basic scientific and clinical research in PD. Parkinsons disease research would benefit from analysis of combined data collected systematically from existing PD Centers (Udall Centers, NIEHS centers, NIA Alzheimers Disease Centers) and, eventually, from other sources where longitudinal data are collected. Such data on patients and unaffected, age-matched controls would support 1) clinical, molecular and pathological research on disease natural history, heterogeneity, diagnosis, and clinical-pathological correlations; and 2) epidemiological research related to the identification of risk factors, neuroprotective factors or biomarkers. As clinical components are built into the Morris K. Udall Parkinsons disease Centers of Excellence and other PD Centers, the advance funding of this data coordination initiative will function to systematize data collection and analysis across centers. In addition, existing databases should be assessed as to their relevancy and incorporation into this national resource. Data from all PD center resources can thus be combined, coordinated, and made available to researchers from PD centers as well as the wider PD research community. The primary objectives will be to: 1) Establish, maintain, and disseminate a data base of clinical, pathological and biochemical information collected at Udall Centers, Collaborative Centers for Parkinsons Disease Research (CCPDER), or other PD centers, from persons with Parkinsons disease and related disorders and from unaffected age-matched controls; 2) Assess availability and potential use of existing databases and how they could be incorporated or made compatible, as well as provide training and data quality control across all participating sites. 3) Provide assistance to investigators in planning and conducting research studies using the database; 4) Make available virtual data and a catalog of tissues and other biological samples collected from PD patients and controls for use in epidemiological, clinical, molecular and pathological studies by qualified investigators, and 5) Coordinate annual meetings of its steering committee and the annual Udall (and other) PD Centers meeting to discuss progress and collaborations. With the establishment of this data coordinating center, important and novel research issues can be addressed which would not be possible with the individual resources available at any one individual center. Research activities that use PD-DOC resources may be supported through the usual National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other federal and non-federal sources for the funding of investigator-initiated applications.

The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), along with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), invites applications to stimulate and support innovative, interdisciplinary research studies to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying orofacial pain, particularly the discovery of proteins and protein networks critical to processing nociceptive information. The purpose of this RFA is to encourage the use of genomic and proteomic approaches and imaging techniques to clarify the molecular events involved in: 1) acute orofacial pain, 2) the transition from unrelieved acute pain to chronic pain (i.e. neuroplasticity), 3) neuronal hyperexcitability as manifested by hyperalgesia and allodynia, and 4) chronic orofacial pain disorders of an inflammatory and neuropathic origin. This improved understanding could lead to new therapeutic interventions to effectively treat chronic pain conditions. Collaborative projects involving interdisciplinary teams of investigators are strongly encouraged. This Request for Applications contributes to the goals of the NIH Pain Consortium, which is co- chaired by NIDCR, NINDS, and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR).