| FY 2006 House Appropriations
Committee Report Language (H. Rpt. 109-143)
Item
Anesthesiology research -
The Committee urges NIGMS to continue to support and enhance research
opportunities focused on discovering the mechanisms of anesthesia,
perfecting agents for regional and general anesthesia, improving
the safety of anesthesia, monitoring and protection of specific
organs of patients under anesthesia and optimizing post-surgery
prognosis. The Committee encourages NIGMS to continue to work with
other appropriate Institutes to promote improvements in pain research.
The Committee believes that NIGMS should strongly support training,
innovation and scientific inquiry in these crucial areas of medical
research.
(p. 80)
Action taken or to be taken
NIGMS continues to support a portfolio of research grants dedicated
to understanding the underlying mechanisms of anesthetics, both
general and local, and their effects on integrated organ systems.
The overall goal of this research is to improve the effectiveness
and safety of these important drugs, and to help develop novel anesthetics.
This long-standing research program includes individual investigator-initiated
grants, multi-component program project grants, and small business
awards. In FY2005, NIGMS awarded $26,683,053 in total direct costs
to grants in this research program. In addition, NIGMS is committed
to the training and career development of young clinician scientists
in the field of anesthesiology and offers career development (K)
awards and institutional training grants specifically for this purpose.
NIGMS cooperates with other NIH institutes, centers and offices
on the NIH Pain Consortium, whose goal includes developing a comprehensive
pain research agenda for NIH, and identifying key opportunities
in pain research.
Item
Cystic fibrosis (CF) - The Committee
commends NIGMS for the renewal and expansion of its large-scale
collaborative project awards. These cross-disciplinary, multi-institutional
collaborative projects are important for moving burgeoning fields
faster than through traditional investigator-initiated grants. The
Committee encourages NIGMS to consider support for research on the
barriers to productive protein folding and the creation of tools,
reagents and advances in techniques for precision monitoring of
folding. These tools will support ongoing research efforts to understand
the underlying mechanisms of disease caused by improper protein
folding, as well as efforts to develop therapies to correct this
defect for CF and other diseases.
(p. 80)
Action taken or to be taken
When scientists, like Jacinto Steinhardt, Charles Tanford and Nobel
laureate Christian Anfinsen, studied protein folding fifty years
ago, the goal was simply to understand how proteins went from a
more or less random, extended rope-like structure to a discreet
compact folded conformation. In recent years, researchers supported
by NIGMS have determined that protein folding is a process fundamental
to life. Understanding protein folding has taken on new urgency
because of the involvement of misfolded proteins in a number of
common diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease and cystic
fibrosis.
The most common form of cystic fibrosis is caused by the deletion
of a single amino acid in a protein that is responsible for the
transport of chloride through membranes. Absence of this transporter
causes problems in mucous secretion in many parts of the body, with
especially damaging effects in the lungs and pancreas. Research
has shown that the defective transport protein produced in individuals
with cystic fibrosis is not completely folded into its proper shape,
although it is still partially capable of doing its job, if it reaches
the right part of the cell. Unfortunately, the body’s own
quality control system, meant to ensure that only perfect proteins
survive, considers the improperly folded cystic fibrosis protein
to be defective and destroys it before it can be put to use. For
the past several years, several NIGMS grantees have been studying
this process at the level of basic biology. For example, NIGMS grantee
Douglas Cyr has recently shown that it may be possible to block
the degradation pathway of the defective channel protein, allowing
the partially functional cystic fibrosis protein to survive and
do its job.
Understanding how the cystic fibrosis protein normally folds, and
how the protein interacts with the quality control machinery when
it fails to fold, provides new routes to possible treatments. Especially
for a genetic defect like cystic fibrosis, research is focused on
finding drugs that can either increase the proper folding of the
protein or increase or decrease the action of the quality control
machinery as needed.
Item
Training Programs - The Committee continues
to be pleased with the quality of NIGMS's training programs, particularly
those that have a special focus on increasing the number of minority
scientists such as the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
and Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) programs. The Committee
encourages NIGMS to continue to support these important initiatives,
and is particularly pleased that NIGMS has supported biomedical
career opportunity programs for high school and undergraduate college
students in conjunction with historically black health professions
schools. The Committee urges continued, long-term support of this
program. (p. 80)
Action taken or to be taken
NIGMS, through its Division of Minority Opportunities in Research
(MORE), continues to support a portfolio of research training grants
dedicated to the development of underrepresented minority scientists.
The overall goal of MORE is to significantly increase the number
of individuals from minority groups underrepresented in biomedical
sciences that participate fully in the biomedical research enterprise
of this country. MORE does this through programs of its Minority
Access to Research Careers (MARC) and its Minority Biomedical Research
Support (MBRS) Branches. In order to increase the enrollment of
competitively trained underrepresented minority students in Ph.D.
or M.D./Ph.D. programs to prepare for research careers in the biomedical
sciences, the MARC Branch focuses on undergraduate research training,
supporting both institutional research training grants and grants
for ancillary training activities. In FY 2005, the MARC institutional
research training grants supported approximately 648 undergraduate
students, many of whom attended historically black colleges and
universities (HBCUs) or historically black health professions schools.
The MBRS Branch supports undergraduates through its Research Initiative
for Scientific Enhancement (RISE). The purpose of the RISE program
is to enhance the research training environment at minority serving
institutions, such as HBCUs, and to increase the numbers of students
who pursue and attain the Ph.D. degree. In FY 2005, the RISE program
supported the research development of approximately 1,079 underrepresented
minority students, most of whom were undergraduates. NIGMS and MORE
remain committed to supporting programs to engage underrepresented
undergraduates in preparing for careers in biomedical research.
FY 2006 Senate Appropriations Committee Report Language
(S. Rpt. 109-103)
Item
Basic Behavioral Research – The
Committee notes the lack of a positive response to Congressional
requests that the NIH establish a basic behavioral research and
training program within the NIGMS as authorized within the statutory
language establishing the Institute. The Committee notes that this
recommendation was also made to the Director of NIH by a special
task force created by the NIH to review this matter. The Committee
believes that this research will support important advances in understanding
the wide range of fundamental behavioral topics relevant to a variety
of diseases and health conditions. The Committee strongly urges
the NIGMS to consider establishing a basic behavioral research and
training program as part of its portfolio, especially in the areas
of learning, memory, and cognition; behavioral neuroscience; behavioral
genetics; the biological basis of behavior; behavior change; stress;
psychophysiology; social psychology; methodology and evaluation;
and experimental psychology. (p. 121)
Action Taken and to be Taken
In October, 2005, the NIGMS issued a program announcement, Collaborative
Research for Molecular and Genomic Studies of Basic Behavior in
Animal Models (PA-06-038), to stimulate basic behavioral research
in model systems. Research funded through this announcement will
support collaborations between behavioral scientists and investigators
with expertise in state-of-the-art genetics, molecular biology,
and genomics. NIGMS has also taken the lead in developing plans
for a trans-NIH research training program to promote interdisciplinary
research at the interface of the behavioral and biological sciences.
At least 12 institutes have expressed interest in joining NIGMS
in this effort.
In the House Appropriations Committee Conference Report 109-300
(p. 78), the NIH is urged to “…develop a structural
framework for managing support of NIH basic behavioral science research…
The conferees request a report to the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees describing the new framework and its relationship to
the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives by May
1, 2006.” This report will address similar issues raised in
Senate Report 109-103. The NIGMS, along with other NIH institutes
and centers, will work cooperatively with the NIH Office of Behavioral
and Social Sciences Research to prepare this report by the May deadline.
Item
Basic Behavioral Research in Roadmap
– The Committee requests that NIGMS study the feasibility
of developing one or more funding initiatives specific to basic
behavioral and social sciences research, which is significantly
underrepresented in the New Pathways to Discovery segment. (p. 121)
Action Taken
Although it is not considered part of the New Pathways to Discovery
portion of the NIH Roadmap, the NIGMS took a leading role in developing
Collaborations with National Centers for Biomedical Computing
(PAR-05-063), a solicitation for projects to collaborate with the
recently-formed NIH Roadmap for Medical Research National Centers
for Biomedical Computing (NCBCs). The major goal of this program
announcement is to provide the resources for a wide range of biomedical,
behavioral, and computational researchers to establish new collaborations
with the NIH NCBCs. Areas of research cited in the announcement
include, but are not limited to, behavioral science, decision-making,
cognitive science, and substance abuse research.
In the House Appropriations Committee Conference Report 109-300
(p. 78), the NIH is urged to “…develop a structural
framework for managing support of NIH basic behavioral science research…
The conferees request a report to the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees describing the new framework and its relationship to
the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives by May
1, 2006.” This report will address similar issues raised in
Senate Report 109-103. The NIGMS, along with other NIH institutes
and centers, will work cooperatively with the NIH Office of Behavioral
and Social Sciences Research to prepare this report by the May deadline.
Item
Training Programs - The Committee continues
to be pleased with the quality of NIGMS's training programs, particularly
those that have a special focus on increasing the number of minority
scientists such as the Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC)
and Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) programs. The Committee
encourages NIGMS to continue to support these important initiatives,
and is particularly pleased that NIGMS has supported biomedical
career opportunity programs for high school and undergraduate college
students in conjunction with historically black health professions
schools. The Committee urges continued, long-term support of this
program. (p. 121-122)
Action taken or to be taken
NIGMS, through its Division of Minority Opportunities in Research
(MORE), continues to support a portfolio of research training grants
dedicated to the development of underrepresented minority scientists.
The overall goal of MORE is to significantly increase the number
of individuals from minority groups underrepresented in biomedical
sciences that participate fully in the biomedical research enterprise
of this country. MORE does this through programs of its Minority
Access to Research Careers (MARC) and its Minority Biomedical Research
Support (MBRS) Branches. In order to increase the enrollment of
competitively trained underrepresented minority students in Ph.D.
or M.D./Ph.D. programs to prepare for research careers in the biomedical
sciences, the MARC Branch focuses on undergraduate research training,
supporting both institutional research training grants and grants
for ancillary training activities. In FY 2005, the MARC institutional
research training grants supported approximately 648 undergraduate
students, many of whom attended historically black colleges and
universities (HBCUs) or historically black health professions schools.
The MBRS Branch supports undergraduates through its Research Initiative
for Scientific Enhancement (RISE). The purpose of the RISE program
is to enhance the research training environment at minority serving
institutions, such as HBCUs, and to increase the numbers of students
who pursue and attain the Ph.D. degree. In FY 2005, the RISE program
supported the research development of approximately 1,079 underrepresented
minority students, most of whom were undergraduates. NIGMS and MORE
remain committed to supporting programs to engage underrepresented
undergraduates in preparing for careers in biomedical research.
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