5. Institute-Initiated Programs
Starting in FY 2009
More than two-thirds of the research supported by the
NHLBI is initiated by individual investigators; the remainder is initiated by
the Institute. Institute-initiated programs are developed in response to
evolving national needs, Congressional mandates, and advances in scientific
knowledge. Each initiative represents the outcome of extensive
discussions and thorough reviews by representatives of the scientific
community, Institute advisory committees, the Board of Extramural Experts
(BEE), and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council (NHLBAC).
The advisory committees and the BEE, together with professional societies and
NHLBI staff, continually review the progress of research within the NHLBI
program areas, assess newly acquired knowledge, and identify research topics
that offer the best opportunities or constitute the greatest needs. This
planning process contributes to policy development at the national level by
setting priorities among programs and establishing budgets for individual
programs and projects.
Initiatives generally emanate as Requests for
Applications (RFAs) for grants, including cooperative agreements, or Requests
for Proposals (RFPs) for contracts. Other initiatives take the form of
Program Announcements (PAs). Applications and proposals submitted in
response to RFAs and RFPs compete among themselves for specific "set-aside"
funds. Applications submitted in response to PAs generally compete with
other investigator-initiated applications for funding.
RFA, RFP, and PA concepts prepared by the Institute
are presented to the BEE, which reviews and prioritizes them. The
concepts, along with the comments from the BEE, are then sent to the NHLBAC for
review, comment, and concurrence. Initiatives that receive the
concurrence of the NHLBAC are considered further by the NHLBI Director in the
context of the Institute's budget, program priorities, review workload, and
proposed mechanisms. These considerations guide the Director's subsequent
decisions to approve initiatives for release. RFAs, RFPs, and PAs are
announced in the NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts.
Applications and proposals submitted in response to
RFAs and RFPs are reviewed by the NHLBI. Applications submitted in
response to PAs are reviewed by the NIH Center for Scientific Review.
Descriptions of the Institute-initiated programs that
began or were renewed (i.e., were funded) in FY 2009 are presented below
according to NHLBI scientific programs. Also described are trans-NIH,
trans-PHS, and interagency initiatives in which the NHLBI participates.
Heart and Vascular Diseases Program
Initiatives Being Renewed
Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults
(CARDIA) Study
The purpose of this renewal is to conduct the Year 25
clinical exam of the CARDIA cohort. The study assesses the effect of CVD
risk factors and lifestyle throughout young adulthood on the development of
subclinical vascular and ventricular function abnormalities in early middle
age.
New Initiatives
Stress Management Interventions To Reduce Risk of
Coronary Artery Disease
The purpose of this PA is to determine whether stress
management interventions can slow the progression of coronary artery disease or
reduce major adverse cardiac events in patients with confirmed coronary artery
disease.
Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial
(SPRINT)
The purpose of this RFP is to determine whether
intensive treatment to achieve a systolic blood pressure goal lower than the
one currently recommended will reduce cardiovascular morbidity and
mortality.
Targeted Approaches to Weight Control for Young
Adults
The purpose of this RFA is to develop and evaluate
innovative behavioral and environmental approaches for weight control in young
adults at high risk for weight gain.
Lung Diseases Program
New Initiatives
Airway Smooth Muscle Function and Targeted
Therapeutics in Human Asthma
The purpose of this RFA is to investigate the complex
role that airway smooth muscle plays in the development of asthma and to use
the resultant knowledge to identify innovative therapeutic targets.
Asthma Network (AsthmaNet)
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct Phase II and
Phase III clinical trials to identify optimal therapies for a variety of asthma
phenotypes and genotypes among individuals of diverse racial and ethnic
backgrounds.
Circadian-Coupled Cellular Function in Heart, Lung,
and Blood Tissues
The purpose of this RFA is to stimulate Phase I
translation of recent advances in understanding the molecular basis of
endogenous, self-sustaining daily (circadian) cycles in cellular function and
gene expression to improve understanding of heart, lung, and blood disease
pathogenesis.
Developmental Origins of Altered Lung Physiology and
Immune Function
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct research to
improve understanding of the effects of pre- and postnatal environments on the
developing lung and immune system and the resulting sustained changes in lung
physiology and immune function that lead to suboptimal respiratory health and
outcomes.
Microbiome of the Lung and Respiratory Tract in
HIV-Infected Individuals and HIV-Uninfected Controls
The purpose of this RFA is to characterize the
microbiome of the lung in HIV-infected individuals and matched HIV-uninfected
controls to create a dataset of sufficient quality and depth to allow analysis
of the effects of changes in the respiratory microbiome on the pathogenesis and
progression of HIV disease, HIV-related respiratory complications, and anti-HIV
therapies.
Blood Diseases and Resources
Program
New Initiatives
Characterizing the Blood Stem Cell Niche
The purpose of this RFA is to advance understanding of
the blood stem cell niche by defining the role of specific cells and the
physiological source of factors or extracellular components that are essential
for stem cell self-renewal and differentiation.
Immunomodulatory, Inflammatory, and Vasoregulatory
Properties of Transfused Red Blood Cell Units as a Function of Preparation and
Storage
The purpose of this RFA is to (a) identify the
molecular and cellular changes that occur during red blood cell unit
preparation and storage and (b) evaluate immunomodulatory, inflammatory, and
vasoregulatory effects of storage lesion elements from red blood cell units on
the blood vessel wall, host cells, and tissue oxygenation.
Transcranial Doppler (TCD) With Transfusions Changing
to Hydroxyurea (TWITCH Trial)
The purpose of this RFA is to compare standard therapy
(transfusion) to alternative therapy (hydroxyurea) for maintenance of TCD
velocities in children with sickle cell anemia who have been receiving chronic
transfusions for abnormal TCD velocities. Additional objectives include
comparison of standard to alternative therapy for incidence of primary stroke,
determination of the frequency of nonstroke neurological events and other
sickle cell-related events, management of iron overload, assessment of growth
and development, recording of adverse events, and measurement of quality of
life.
Trans-NHLBI
Initiative Being Renewed
Ancillary Studies in Clinical Trials
The purpose of this renewal is to conduct
time-sensitive ancillary studies related to heart, lung, and blood diseases
using patient cohorts, data, and biological materials from ongoing clinical
trials.
New Initiatives
Global Health Centers of Excellence
The purpose of this initiative is to establish a
worldwide network of research and training Centers of Excellence to build
institutional and community capacity to prevent and control chronic
cardiovascular and lung diseases. Each Center will be led by a research
institution in a developing country that is paired with at least one partnering
academic institution in a developed country.
NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium
The purpose of this RFA is to establish virtual
research hubs (clusters of synergistic research projects) to identify and
characterize progenitor cell lineages, direct differentiation of stem and
progenitor cells to desired cell fates, and develop new strategies to address
the unique challenges presented by their transplantation.
Trans-NIH
Initiatives Being Renewed
Diabetes Prevention Program Outcomes Study—Phase
II
The purpose of this renewal is to continue following
cohort patients in the original Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) to determine
the long-term effects of the DPP interventions. The DPP was a clinical
trial that examined the efficacy of treatments to prevent or delay the
development of type 2 diabetes in a population at high risk because of impaired
glucose tolerance.
Dissemination and Implementation Research in
Health
The purpose of this PA is to identify and develop
effective methods, structures, and strategies that test models to disseminate
and implement, in public health and clinical practice settings, research-tested
interventions for changing health behavior and evidence-based services for
improving prevention, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and quality of
life.
Effect of Racial and Ethnic Discrimination/Bias on
Health Care Delivery
The objectives of this renewal are to improve the
measurement of racial/ethnic discrimination in health care delivery systems in
the United States, enhance understanding of the influence of such
discrimination and its association with health disparities among disadvantaged
racial/ethnic minority groups, and reduce the prevalence of such health
disparities by developing interventions to reduce the influence of
racial/ethnic discrimination in the delivery of health care.
Mentored Career Development Award To Promote Faculty
Diversity/Re-Entry in Biomedical Research
The purpose of this renewal is to provide an
intensive, mentored research experience to individuals who either (a) are
members of groups that are currently underrepresented on faculty at academic
institutions in health-related research or (b) left a health-related
postdoctoral or faculty position because of nonacademic issues but are
interested in re-entry.
Midcareer Investigator Award in Patient-Oriented
Research
The purpose of this renewal is to enable midcareer
clinician scientists to devote more time to, and augment their capabilities in,
patient-oriented research and to mentor new clinical investigators in the
conduct of patient-oriented research.
Minority Institutional Research Training Program
The purpose of this renewal is to support research
training of health professional students for careers in cardiovascular, lung,
and blood diseases and sleep disorders at minority schools. Trainees will
be selected by the institution and will include racial and ethnic minorities,
individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds, individuals with disabilities, and
women.
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Biology and
Medicine
The purpose of this renewal is to stimulate
nanoscience and nanotechnology research that focuses on problems in biology and
medicine.
New Initiatives
Epigenomics of Human Health and Disease
The purpose of this RFA is to discover and define
global (epigenome-wide) marks or features and their possible interactions in
diseased, aged, or otherwise compromised human primary cells or tissues.
The goal is to transform our understanding of human disease, aging, or response
to insult by correlating changes in the epigenome with an altered cellular
state.
Exploratory Studies in the Neurobiology of Pain in
Sickle Cell Disease
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct basic and
translational research into the neurobiology of pain in sickle cell
disease.
Human Pluripotent Stem Cell (hPSC) Research Using
Non-Embryonic Sources
The purpose of this PA, which addresses Executive
Order 13435 issued by President George W. Bush on June 20, 2007, is to conduct
research on hPSCs derived from non-embryonic sources.
Improving Heart Failure Disease Management
The purpose of this PA is to address inadequately
answered questions about the management of chronic heart failure in clinical
practice. The broader goal is to identify and disseminate into clinical
practice clinically effective disease management tools to improve patient
outcomes.
Innovative Computational and Statistical
Methodologies for the Design and Analysis of Multilevel Studies on Childhood
Obesity
The purpose of this RFA is to develop and apply
innovative statistical or computational methods to the analysis or design of
multilevel studies of childhood obesity (i.e., studies that address the range
of factors—biological, family, community, sociocultural, environmental,
policy, and macro-level economic—that influence diet and physical activity
in children). The focus is on methods that can simultaneously examine
factors of energy balance that span more than three levels of influence in
children.
Predictive Multiscale Models of the Physiome in
Health and Disease
The purpose of this PA is to develop more realistic
and predictive multiscale models of health and disease states that include
higher scales of the physiome: multi-cell systems, tissue, organ, multiorgan
systems, organism structure and function, population, and behavior.
Research on Causal Factors and Interventions That
Promote and Support the Careers of Women in Biomedical and Behavioral Science
and Engineering
The purpose of this RFA is to study (a) the causal
factors that explain current patterns observed in the careers of women in
biomedical and behavioral science and engineering and (b) the efficacy of
programs designed to support the careers of women in these disciplines.
Summer Institute for Training in Biostatistics
The purpose of this RFA is to develop, conduct, and
evaluate summer courses for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate
students in the basic principles and methods of biostatistics as used in
biomedical research.
Translating Basic Behavioral and Social Science
Discoveries Into Interventions To Reduce Obesity
The purpose of this RFA is to translate findings from
basic research on human behavior into more effective clinical, community, and
population interventions to reduce obesity and improve obesity-related
behaviors.
Trans-PHS
Initiatives Being Renewed
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
(NHANES)—Cardiovascular, Pulmonary, and Sleep Components
The purpose of this renewal is to continue
collaboration with the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to
collect data on the prevalence of and risk factors for heart, lung, and blood
diseases and sleep disorders.
Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards
for Individual Predoctoral Fellowships To Promote Diversity in Health-Related
Research
The purpose of this renewal is to improve the
diversity of the health-related research workforce by supporting the training
of predoctoral students from groups that are underrepresented in health-related
research.
Understanding and Promoting Health Literacy
The purpose of this renewal is to support empirical
research on health literacy concepts, theory, and interventions as they relate
to public health priorities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
New Initiative
Behavioral and Social Science Research on
Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities
The purpose of this PA is to (a) conduct behavioral
and social science research on the causes of disparities in health and
disability among various populations in the United States and (b) develop and
test more effective interventions for reducing and eventually eliminating
health disparities.
Interagency
New Initiatives
NHLBI Cardiac Development Consortium
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct basic
collaborative research leading to a comprehensive understanding of the
regulatory networks controlling cardiovascular development. The
Consortium is part of a new NHLBI translational program in pediatric CVD, which
includes the companion NHLBI Pediatric Cardiac Genomics Consortium, an
Administrative Coordinating Center, and the existing Pediatric Heart
Network. The NHLBI and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research are
collaborating on the program.
NHLBI–CDC Registry and Surveillance System in
Hemoglobinopathies (RuSH)
The purpose of this RFP is to develop and implement a
national data system and biospecimen repository that will provide data to
describe the epidemiologic and clinical characteristics of people with all
genotypes of SCD, thalassemias, and other hemoglobinopathies. The system
will collect, analyze, interpret, and disseminate state-specific data on the
epidemiology, clinical correlates, health care utilization, and community
resources of patients with these conditions.
NHLBI Pediatric Cardiac Genomics Consortium
The purpose of this RFA is to conduct clinical and
translational research on the genetic causes of congenital heart disease and
genetic contributions to outcome in individuals with congenital heart
disease. The Consortium is part of a new NHLBI translational program in
pediatric CVD. The NHLBI and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research
are collaborating on the program. Back to Top
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