NIH - Modeling of Infectious Disease Agent Study Research Projects (R01)

Purpose

To support innovative research that will develop and apply computational tools and methods for modeling interactions between infectious agents and their hosts, disease spread, prediction systems and response strategies. 

The models should be useful to researchers, policymakers, or public health workers who want to better understand and respond to infectious diseases. 

This research opportunity encourages applications from institutions/organizations that propose to provide the scientific and public health communities better resources, knowledge, and tools to improve their ability to prepare for, identify, detect, control, and prevent the spread of infectious diseases caused by naturally occurring or intentionally released pathogens, including those relevant to biodefense.


Details 

Deadline   - June 5th 2016

Budget available - budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project.

Full information - http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-16-107.html 

Grand Challenges - Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are seeking innovative ideas to assess the burden of disease, to develop better vaccines, and to develop new diagnostics, specifically to:

• Develop methods for simple preparation and preservation of stool samples for room-temperature transport and remote-analysis;
• Better understand cause of death from tissue samples;
• Develop point-of-care nucleic acid diagnostics to below $2 per test;
• Enable self-testing for cervical cancer;
• Develop malaria diagnostics to accelerate toward eradication.

Successful proposals will:

• Clearly describe how the idea, if successful, would help solve one of the challenges described in the call;
• Be directly relevant to the developing world (e.g. low-cost, useful across multiple geographical and cultural settings, self-sustaining);
• Have a clear and testable hypothesis and include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated;
• Yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding

The Details

Deadline - 11 May 2016

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/explore-new-solutions-global-health-priority-areas-round-17

FAQs - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities/faq/gce

Grand Challenges - Novel Approaches to Characterizing and Tracking the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are soliciting innovative ideas for models, tools, analytics, surveillance platforms, technologies, and other high impact approaches to generating evidence about the burden and impact of antimicrobial resistance in low and middle income settings, and improving its translation into practice. We are particularly seeking transformative and innovative approaches which identify and fill knowledge and practice gaps currently limiting progress in AMR surveillance and epidemiology.


A few examples of work that would be considered for funding:

• Proposals that quantify the contribution of various drivers and/or interventions on the global emergence and spread of AMR.
• Novel metrics and analytic approaches (e.g. using previously unappreciated data/sources or new analytical methods) to provide a more complete picture of the scale, impact, or dynamics of global AMR.
• Integrated approaches to understanding and describing the association between resistance patterns, anti-microbial use, access, and health and economic burden.
• Proposals focused on creating novel high-level, scalable systems architecture (e.g. data sources and streams) and activities necessary to transform global AMR epidemiology.
• Proposals that provide a detailed analysis of the economic and health systems impacts of AMR.
• Non-incremental innovative technology and surveillance platforms capable of accelerating the generation of robust evidence to document and track the burden of AMR. To be relevant to this call, the proposal should be scalable to a large number of contexts and/or provide generalizable insights.
• Methods to improve surveillance capacity and reporting of AMR beyond enhanced routine surveillance and targeted surveys (e.g. the application of genomics and machine learning)

The Details

Deadline - 11 May 2016

Full details - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/novel-approaches-characterizing-and-tracking-global-burden-antimicrobial-resistance-0

FAQs - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities/faq/gce

Grand Challenges- Design New Analytics Approaches for Malaria Elimination

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are looking for proposals of innovative solutions for improving data availability and use in decision-making for malaria elimination that focus on ONE of the following areas - 

• Innovation in interoperability
• Innovation in analytics 

Winning proposals should:

• Focus on simplicity of methods using routinely available data
• Explain rationale for targeting specific countries or regions
• Describe approach for interoperability with country data systems including DHIS2
• Provide evidence that the activity is aligned to relevant national strategies on eHealth
• State the expected improvements over existing solutions, including streamlining of communications and reporting burden
• Address cost of the solution and a description of how it can be brought to scale and be sustainable in the malaria-endemic developing world context, including any computing resources
• Explain online and offline capabilities and limitations
• Explain how ease of use will be measured – i.e. back end analytics that show improvement in timeliness of data collection to analysis, and from analysis to decision-making
• Include user performance metrics (i.e. completeness and timeliness of analysis conducted with the information available)
• Explain how the solution will be strengthening existing health systems instead of building a parallel system
• If the solution involves building on or integrating a reporting system for additional disease areas, explain how it will strengthen malaria elimination decision-making
• Explain how the solution will improve key malaria elimination indicators
• If a proposal recommends new data be collected, it must provide details on what information will become routine surveillance data and what is expected to be uniquely collected for the analysis

The Details 

Deadline: 11 MAY 2016

Full Details :  http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/design-new-analytics-approaches-malaria-elimination-round-17

FAQs - http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities/faq/gce

NIH Priorities in Zika Virus (ZIKV) Research

Purpose

NICHD, NINDS, NIDCR and NIAID are issuing this Notice to highlight interest in research on Zika virus (ZIKV) as it relates to the mother-infant dyad and sequelae of infection.  

Areas of high priority include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Demonstrate causative role of infection in pregnancy with Zika virus (ZIKV) in the etiology of fetal microcephaly
• Basic research to understand the ZIKV infection pathogenesis and transmission to the fetus, whether in-utero, postpartum, or breastfeeding
• Population-based studies to characterize the epidemiology of ZIKV infection in the mother-infant dyad
• Clinical studies to improve the understanding of the mechanisms and risks of maternal to child transmission of ZIKV
• Determine the timeline for when and how women transmit ZIKV to the fetus
• Strategies to prevent transmission of ZIKV to the fetus after infection in the mother
• Studies to determine the optimal screening for and management of ZIKV infection in pregnant women and in exposed fetuses
• Studies to understand the mechanisms by which ZIKV affects the developing nervous system and other organ systems
• Research to develop lab-based or point-of-care diagnosis for ZIKV using saliva as a biofluid
• Studies to characterize the outcome of viral infection on craniofacial skeletal and dental phenotype with or without microcephaly
• Studies to understand pregnancy outcomes in women infected with ZIKV
• Studies to identify sequelae in infants infected with ZIKV as well as potential sequelae in exposed but uninfected infants
• Strategies to identify neurologic and other manifestations in infants with and without microcephaly such as developmental delays and other neurologic or physical disorders
• Studies to assess and characterize the natural history and long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of ZIKV infection in children
• Strategies to identify effective treatments for exposed infants with and without microcephaly as they develop into childhood.  Such strategies must take into account cultural acceptance and resources
• Investigations of mediating and moderating factors affecting variability in neurodevelopmental, behavioral, and socio-emotional impact of ZIKV exposure on infants prenatally and postnatally
• Develop novel, simple, feasible and cost-effective testing methods and/or strategies for infection screening during pregnancy
• Develop novel, simple, rapid, feasible and cost effective testing methods and/or strategies for infection screening in the infant
• Research to develop lab-based or point-of-care diagnosis for ZIKV using saliva as a biofluid
• Develop culturally sensitive strategies to increase knowledge about the relative efficacy of contraceptive methods, and use that knowledge to plan for pregnancy
• Strategies to integrate the discussion of risk of ZIKV infection into contraceptive counseling and pre-pregnancy and prenatal care at medical facilities in ZIKV endemic areas
• Determine long-term implications of ZIKV infection in non-pregnant women and men including impact on fertility and subsequent pregnancy
• Studies to ascertain if ZIKV is present in reproductive fluids such as semen, cervical mucus, vaginal secretions and/or follicular fluid; persistence of ZIKV in these fluids; and the mechanisms by which ZIKV enters the reproductive tract
• Studies on effects of ZIKV on in vitro fertilization
• Studies on whether ZIKV can be transmitted by direct sexual contact or artificial reproductive technology procedures
• Once causality is demonstrated, studies on vaccine development in pregnant women and children
• Once causality is demonstrated, development of methods to explain risk of ZIKV infection and risk of harm to the fetus to pregnant women and women who are planning to become pregnant

Possible funding opportunities that can be used to pursue these research activities include:

• PA-16-031, Advancing Understanding, prevention, and management of Infections Transmitted from Women to their Infants (R21)
• PA-16-032, Advancing Understanding, prevention, and management of Infections Transmitted from Women to their Infants (R01)
• NOT-TW-16-001, Parallel Funding Initiative for Collaborative Research Between Investigators in the USA and in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil
• PAR-16-061, Natural History of Disorders Identifiable by Screening of Newborns (R01)
• PAR-14-331, Global Brain and Nervous System Disorders Research Across the Lifespan (R21)
• PAR-14-332, Global Brain and Nervous System Disorders Research Across the Lifespan (R01)
• PAR-15-192 , Immune System Plasticity in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Complex Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Diseases (R01)
• PAR-15-193, Immune System Plasticity in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Complex Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial Diseases (R21)
• PA-13-302,  R01 Research Project Grant  
• PA-13-303, R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant  

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to: 

Nahida Chakhtoura MD, MsGH
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Telephone: 301-435-6872
Email: nahida.chakhtoura@nih.gov

May Wong, Ph.D. 
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Telephone:  (301) 496-1431 
Email:  wongm@ninds.nih.gov

Lillian Shum, Ph.D.
National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR)
Telephone: 301-594-0618
Email:  ShumL@mail.nih.gov

Walla Dempsey, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone:  240-292-4197
Email: wdempsey@niaid.nih.gov

NIH- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute - Phase II and phase III randomized clinical trials

The purpose of this grant is to fund investigator-initiated multi-site randomized controlled clinical trials. The trials may address any research question related to the mission and goals of the NHLBI and may test clinical or behavioral interventions. The grant is appropriate for studies to conduct phase II and phase III randomized clinical trials where participants are recruited from multiple sites.

Examples of diseases covered NHLBI - 
Anaemia
Bronchitis 
Diabetic Heart Disease
Metabolic Syndrome

Deadline - June 5th 2016

More details - http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-13-128.html

Foreign Institutions are eligible to apply

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Call for Proposals

14th Call for proposals

MMV welcomes proposals in the following three areas:

1. Compounds addressing the key priorities of the malaria eradication agenda

Novel families of molecules in the hit-to-lead or lead optimization stages are sought without G6PD deficiency liabilities that either:

• Kill or reactivate hypnozoites for use as part of a P. vivax radical cure; or  
• Have dual activity against asexual and sexual stages (gametocytes) for treatment and transmission blocking.

2. Asexual liver and blood stages

Novel chemical series with EC50<500nM and which have one or more of the following key features:

• A novel mechanism of action
• A long half-life (ideally >4h in rodents) and confirmed in vivo efficacy.

For advanced series, we are seeking novel compounds with, ideally, a predicted human half-life >100h and a predicted single human dose <500mg or three day human dose of <50 mg.

Please see the published MMV Target Candidate Profiles for more information.  Early target validation falls outside of our mandate.

3. Novel approaches for screening

To help identify new phenotypic and/ or target based hits, as well as confirm activity of MMV compounds on all human malaria asexual blood stages, new screening proposals are sought amongst the three categories below:

• Validated Plasmodium target-based assays, ideally with evidence of target essentiality beyond asexual blood stages.  Biological validation should be supported by a biological target based screening assay suited for identification of novel chemical series.
• Novel whole-cell phenotypic screening paradigms to potentially identify new relevant chemistry.
• Asexual blood-stage assays for vivax, malariae and ovale malaria.

The template and instructions for the 3-page Letter of Interest can be found in the right-hand column of this page.

All applications using the specified templates should be sent to proposals@mmv.org(link sends e-mail) by 12 noon CET 25 March 2016.