The Institute of Translational Health Science (ITHS) and the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) are pleased to sponsor an Ignition Award, focusing on the use of nonhuman primate models of human disease. The purpose of this Ignition Award is to explore innovative areas of nonhuman primate research and generate preliminary data to serve as a basis for submission of new research grant applications (e.g. R01-type grant to NIH or other funding agency) and/or subsequent clinical studies.  Please pay close attention to the submission instructions and due dates, as there are several important differences from the standard ITHS opportunities.

Key Dates:

• Feb 17, 2012 – Full application due to the WaNPRC
• April 2, 2012 – Notice to awardees and other applicants
• May 1, 2012 – Budget initiation

All faculty members or those with equivalent titles are eligible to apply.
Note:  All applicants must join ITHS prior to submitting an application.

The WaNPRC intends to award one or two separate awards of up to $75,000 for one year.  These funds must be used for Primate Center costs only, including animal costs, per diem, and procedures.  Costs of supplies and salaries must be administered by the Primate Center.

Purpose

This program is designed to support innovative studies utilizing resources within the WaNPRC. Nonhuman primates are the preeminent animal model of the human condition. This award program will facilitate use of NHP models and services of the WaNPRC and resources within the ITHS to provide information applicable to subsequent grant and/or clinical studies. This program will advance research programs through the translational process of therapeutics, diagnostics or device development.

Examples of types of projects include, but are not limited to:

1.   The development of clinical tests/diagnostics/therapeutics that have the potential to

a.    speed translational research (i.e., new outcome measures)

b.    develop highly relevant model systems

c.    improve clinical treatments (i.e., new therapeutics or new indications for approved drugs)

2.   Advanced neuroscience applications

3.   Reproductive / developmental studies

Eligibility and review criteria

All faculty members (or those with equivalent titles) are eligible to apply, except those who have received an ITHS/Primate Center Ignition Award within the previous three years.

Applicants are encouraged to contact the WaNPRC [Ann Schmidt (Research Liasion) or Pat Jobe (Pre-Award Aide)] at: PrimateITHS@wanprc.org to discuss the scientific components of their projects and general costs of the services to be provided.  Complete budgets are required for the Full Applications and must be developed in collaboration with the WaNPRC. The budgets for the NHP studies may only be used for costs within the WaNPRC.

1. It is the PI’s responsibility to clearly demonstrate how the proposed research has the potential to positively impact the quality or the conduct of clinical and translational research.
2. The PI should clearly describe how the proposed evaluation methodology provides an innovative approach to conducting the proposed research.
3. Up to $75,000 per selected applicant will be directly applied to the costs at the WaNPRC.
4. No additional funds will be provided for indirect costs.  The budgets associated with these awards will be administered by the WaNPRC.

Anyone in the WWAMI region is eligible to apply, provided that all costs are incurred at the Primate Center.

Review committee

The combined Research Review Committee (RRC) for the Ignition Award applications will consist of members of the WaNPRC, and the ITHS Drug and Device Advisory Committee (DDAC).  Members of the committee are selected to provide interdisciplinary insight into the proposed research.  The committee is composed of core and affiliate scientists.  If potential conflict of interest exists, ad hoc members will be appointed.

As needed, the WaNPRC will also invite representation from the Technology Transfer Office of the applicants’ institution for guidance on innovation represented by the technology.

Note: In order to expedite the review and award of the NHP Ignition awards, the WaNPRC has instituted an accelerated review process for this announcement.  There is only one review step – the fullapplication.  No pre-application process is involved.

Full applications will be critiqued and scored by the RRC. It is anticipated that the projects with the lowest score/highest priority will be funded. Based on funding levels, it is anticipated that two or three projects will be funded during this 2012 review cycle.
Reviews are performed according to the following standards:

1. Applicability to the WaNPRC and ITHS missions
2. Scientific merit
3. Proposed activities conducted on site at the WaNPRC
4. Innovation
5. Potential impact on human health
6. Probability of future grant funding and/or clinical studies

Application form and process

Key Dates:

Feb 17, 2012 – Full application due to the WaNPRC

April 2, 2012 – Notice to awardees and other applicants

May 1, 2012 – Budget initiation

Step 1 – Submit the full application to WaNPRC by February 17, 2012 (PrimateITHS@wanpr.org).

Step 2 – Review of Applications

Reviews are performed utilizing the standards described above

Applicants will be notified of their status by April 2, 2012.

Investigators are offered assistance with their applications and budgets by WaNPRC staff, including Ann Schmidt and Pat Jobe.  They can be contacted via PrimateITHS@wanprc.org

Step 3 – 2012 Awardees

Budget period is anticipated to begin May 1, 2012 and must be spent by April 30, 2013. There will not be any no-cost extensions.
All final applicants will receive a detailed critique of their application

Unsuccessful applicants may resubmit their applications for the next round up to a total of two (2) times.  The RRC may deny the opportunity to resubmit an application if the reviewers determine the application does not meet the intent of the program.

Reporting requirements

Ignition Awards are an investment in translational research to improve human health. Meetings with ITHS representatives to assess the effective utilization of ITHS resources and required progress and results reporting are important aspects that aid in evaluating the success of this funding mechanism.

ITHS and WaNPRC each have specific requirements for reporting.

The ITHS requires the following reports and presentations:

• Pre-award meeting with the DDAC to establish other ITHS resources that would benefit your program.
• A brief semi-annual progress report to the ITHS Center for Scientific Review during the award period, and subsequent annual reports to track impact of the funding.
• Annual report and presentation to DDAC.

The WaNPRC requires an annual report to be included with the grant report to sponsor.

Quarterly in-person meetings with an ITHS representative may be requested to track the progress of funded activities.

Publicity

The WaNPRC and the ITHS reserve the right to publicly disclose information about their granting activities. ITHS communications to the public may include lists of funded applications, the names of principal investigators and applicant institutions and departments, titles of proposed activities and reports about progress and outcomes. Please note that records produced at the University of Washington are subject to the Washington State Public Records Act, Chapter 42.56 RCW

Contact

For more information regarding the application process, please contact:

Preclinical Research Development Network  - ithsprdn@u.washington.edu

WaNPRC staff Ann Schmidt or Pat Jobe - PrimateITHS@wanprc.org

Concurrent with the creation of NCATS, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has been dissolved, and former NCRR grants and contracts along with the scientific and administrative staff that lead and administer those activities have been reassigned to appropriate Institutes or to the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) in the NIH Office of the Director. Dr. Louise Ramm will be joining DPCPSI as the Director of a new Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP), the new home for the grants and contracts that have been reassigned to DPCPSI.

The eight National Primate Research Centers, including the WaNPRC, are now part of ORIP.

Scientists and staff members participated in the Center’s annual gingerbread house-building contest on Dec. 8 as part of the Winter Employee Recognition Event. A team representing the neuroscience laboratories won the contest.

The houses were constructed of edible materials approved by the Center’s veterinary staff. Later, the houses were enjoyed by the Center’s research animals as part of the Behavioral Management Services (BMS) program’s environmental enrichment activities.

Read more about BMS’s environmental enrichment activities.

Shiu-Lok Hu, WaNPRC core staff scientist and Gibaldi Endowed Professor of Pharmaceutics at the UW School of Pharmacy

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded Shiu-Lok Hu a $6.7 million grant that will enable his research team to join the Consortium for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD), an international network of scientists launched by the Gates Foundation to design novel HIV vaccine candidates and advance the most promising candidates to clinical trials. Hu is a WaNPRC core staff scientist and the Gibaldi Endowed Professor of Pharmaceutics at the UW School of Pharmacy.

Hu’s research project is entitled, “Unmasking conserved epitopes on HIV envelope protein for vaccine design.” Two co-investigators on the project are from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania: Jim Hoxie, professor of medicine and director of the Penn Center for AIDS Research, and Drew Weissman, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases. The third co-investigator is Shan Lu, professor of medicine, biochemistry and molecular pharmacology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The goal of their four-year study is to build upon the success of the “prime-boost” immunization method and to explore vaccine designs that may generate protective antibodies targeting the part of the virus it uses to bind to immune cells — the part widely considered the Achilles heel of the virus. Hu’s lab has previously shown that the removal of a specific glycan molecule on the envelope protein used by the virus to enter the host cell resulted in an enhanced ability of the mutant protein to induce neutralizing antibodies. Now Hu and his colleagues seek to uncover ways to further enhance this glycan-modified envelope vaccine design’s ability to provoke an immune response.

In other words, they hope to find a safe, effective vaccine that will help the immune system ward off HIV infection.

For more information, read the UW news release.

The WaNPRC hosted the 29th Annual Symposium on Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS from Tuesday, Oct. 25 to Friday, Oct. 28 in 2011 at Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, Washington.

Beatrice Hahn, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, was the keynote speaker. Review the abstracts for speakers and posters.

This symposium contributed to the knowledge base on nonhuman primate models that will ultimately result in a vaccine to prevent transmission of HIV and enable treatments for those currently living with AIDS. Review the scientific program.

The WaNPRC thanks the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) for supporting this conference.

For more information, visit the symposium website.

On Friday, July 29, scientists from the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) participated in “Collaborations to Understand Research and Ethics (CURE),” a professional development program designed for science teachers. The program was developed by the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR) and funded by a Science Education Partnership Award grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The goal of the CURE program is to provide teachers with a broad understanding of the context in which science is conducted in our society. It offers an opportunity to explore biomedical research from concept through research to clinical trials and prepares teachers to address research and ethical issues with their students.  As part of the two-week program, the teachers visit various research facilities in order to acquire a first-hand view of how scientific ideas are conceptualized and how they evolve over time as research is conducted.

The WaNPRC site visit centered on the Infant Primate Research Lab (IPRL) and began with a tour of the facility. The group included five science teachers who traveled from as far away as Singapore to participate in the program. A highlight of the tour was the opportunity to view young nonhuman primates, primarily Macaca Nemestrina (pigtail macaques), in social group housing and in a separate playroom. Noelle McKain, WaNPRC research scientist, and Dr. Thomas Burbacher, director of the IPRL, lead the tour and gave in-depth explanations of the facility and various research projects. The group was shown video presentations of developmental research, including experiments based on cognitive development theory, and color and shape discrimination.

The tour was followed by presentations by three research scientists. Dr. Eliza Curnow provided an insightful overview of her specific areas of research, embryonic stem cell and reproductive biology, specifically issues involved with in vitro fertilization. Dr. Sandra Juul, research scientist and Professor of Pediatrics at the UW Medical School, spoke of her work in the UW Medical Center neonatal intensive care unit. Her research is centered on improving the neuro-developmental outcome of premature infants. Dr. Thomas Burbacher specializes in children’s environmental health concerns, including significant studies on maternal methyl mercury poisoning. He explained that environmental effects on cognitive and neurological development are increasingly important as the trend indicates an increase of issues attributable to environmental causes. The visit was summed up by WaNPRC Director, Dr. Dave Anderson, who expressed his thoughts about scientists’ care and concern for the well-being of nonhuman primates, and the greater good that comes from animal research.

CURE is an annual intensive two-week summer program geared toward science educators. For more information, contact NWABR at 206-957-3337 or visit their website: www.nwabr.org.

Please see “How do I apply for a student scholarship?” FAQ and “Apply for a Scholarship” page for more information. For more information on the conference (including an agenda and online registration), visit the conference website.

Eberhard Fetz, WaNPRC core staff scientist, and Chet Moritz, WaNPRC affiliate scientist, will contribute expertise to a new Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) based at the University of Washington (UW). The CSNE, which launches this month in UW Russell Hall, is funded by an $18.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

“The center will work on robotic devices that interact with, assist and understand the nervous system,” said director Yoky Matsuoka, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering. “It will combine advances in robotics, neuroscience, electromechanical devices and computer science to restore or augment the body’s ability for sensation and movement.”

Fetz, a UW professor of physiology and biophysics, and Moritz, a UW professor of rehabilitation medicine, will contribute research on restoring movement to paralyzed limbs using tiny, battery-powered implantable brain-computer interfaces called neurochips. The two researchers and their colleagues have successfully deployed the devices in nonhuman primates.

“The neurochip can be used to bridge lost connections and can also strengthen neural connections by delivering stimulation synchronized with neural activity,” Fetz said. “It operates autonomously during free movements, allowing the adaptive brain to incorporate the artificial recurrent loop into normal behavior and provides ample time to create neural plasticity.”

The neurochip resulted from a productive collaboration between a neuroscientist, Andrew Jackson, and electrical engineering student Jaideep Mavoori. “The new center will provide many new opportunities for such innovative interdepartmental collaborations,” Fetz said.

Partners are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and San Diego State University. Also partnering are historically minority-serving institutions Spelman College and Morehouse College, both in Atlanta, and Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif. International partners are the University of British Columbia and the University of Tokyo.

For more information, read the UW news release.

Group photo including Randall Kyes (top row, far left) and UW and Indonesian students participating in the 2010 field course on Tinjil Island, Indonesia.

By Molly McElroy
News and Information

For 16 years, Randall Kyes, research professor in psychology and director of the UW Center for Global Field Study, has led undergraduate and graduate students on fieldwork expeditions to Indonesia.

Once on Tinjil Island, a biodiversity hotspot and home of one of Southeast Asia’s premier primate natural habitat breeding facilities, students conduct their own field studies while developing research relationships with Indonesian students and researchers.

Now Kyes’ program, International Field Study Program-Indonesia, is getting a financial boost from the feds. The UW is one of six U.S. universities to receive funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to increase the number of American students studying in Indonesia, the fourth most populated country in the world.

Read more in UW Today.