May 2012 DAIT Council-Approved Concepts
Concepts represent early planning stages for program announcements, requests for applications, or solicitations for Council's input. If NIAID publishes an initiative from one of these concepts, we link to it below. To find initiatives, go to the Opportunities and Announcements portal.
NB: Council approval does not guarantee that a concept will become an initiative.
Table of Contents
National Swine Research and Resource Center
Request for Applications
Contact: Nasrin Nabavi
Objective: To continue cosponsorship of the National Swine Research and Resource Center (NSRRC). The NSRRC was established by the National Center for Research Resources in 2003 and renewed in 2008 for the purpose of depositing, maintaining, preserving, and distributing swine models for studies of human diseases. The NSRRC will eliminate the requirement for individual laboratories to maintain and distribute swine strains thereby ensuring the highest-level quality and uniformity of genetic and microbiological monitoring. The NSRRC is now administered by the NIH Office of the Director, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), Comparative Medicine Program.
Description: The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is for the continued support and advancement of the National Swine Research and Resource Center. The award provides support for a repository and distribution center for valuable swine models, as well as other swine resources such as reagents and cultures (cells, tissues, and organs) that serve the biomedical research community at large. The NSRRC collects, maintains, characterizes, and distributes defined strains of swine and related biological materials to biomedical researchers in a variety of research areas on a local, regional, and national basis. The overall objective of this limited competition FOA is to support the continued availability of swine strains to biomedical researchers in the U.S. This FOA will use the U42 cooperative agreement mechanism to continue support for this resource.
Cooperative Centers on Human Immunology
For the published request for applications, see the March 21, 2013, Guide announcement.
Immune Mechanisms of Virus Control
For the published request for applications, see the December 12, 2012, Guide announcement.
Immunity in the Elderly
For the published request for applications, see the September 28, 2012, Guide announcement.
B Cell Epitope Discovery and Mechanisms of Antibody Protection
For the published broad agency announcement, see the March 15, 2013, solicitation.
Large Scale T Cell Epitope Discovery
Broad Agency Announcement
Contact: Brandon White
Objective: To continue support of a contract program for the discovery of novel T cell epitopes. This program emphasizes epitope discovery for most NIAID Category A, B, and C priority pathogens and emerging/reemerging infectious diseases. T cell epitope discovery of pox viruses and development of novel or improved MHC class I epitope prediction algorithms are excluded from this program because these areas were covered extensively under a previous epitope discovery program.
Description: The goals of this program remain unchanged in the renewal and will consist of identifying immunodominant and subdominant T cell epitopes, which bind class I, class II, or non-classical MHC/HLA molecules. Epitope discovery methods must be accompanied by validation studies in appropriate animal models or using human cells to confirm the contribution of the epitopes to generating protective immunity. Investigators supported under this program will be required to submit their epitope data to the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (www.immuneepitope.org). In the new initiative, prediction algorithms for MHC class I molecules with AUC predictive scores greater than 0.9 will be excluded.
Advanced Development of Medical Countermeasures for Platelet Regeneration and Survival Following Radiation Exposure From a Radiological/Nuclear Incident
For the published broad agency announcement, see the April 2, 2013, solicitation.