Abstract
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced the appointment of seven individuals to the Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD), a body that has counseled the NIH director on matters pertaining to planning and policy since 1966. The five new members are Catherine D. DeAngelis, MD, MPH, of Chicago, Illinois; Karen A. Holbrook, PhD, of Columbus, Ohio; Ralph I. Horwitz, MD, of Stanford, California; Mary-Claire King, PhD, of Seattle, Washington; Alan I. Leshner, PhD, of Washington, DC; John C. Nelson, MD, MPH, FACOG, FACPM, of Chicago, Illinois; and Barbara L. Wolfe, PhD, of Madison, Wisconsin. The ACD serves to advise the NIH director on policy and planning issues pertaining to the NIH missions of conducting and supporting research training and biomedical, behavioral, and translational research. Catherine D. DeAngelis earned her MD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and her MPH from the Harvard Graduate School of Public Health. Dr. DeAngelis, professor of pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is editor-in-chief of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association. Karen A. Holbrook received her PhD in biological structure from the University of Washington School of Medicine. She currently serves as president of The Ohio State University, as well as professor of physiology and cell biology and medicine (dermatology) in the Ohio State College of Medicine. Ralph I. Horwitz earned his MD from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. Dr. Horwitz is the Arthur Bloomfield Professor and chair of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University. Mary-Claire King completed her PhD in genetics at the University of California, Berkeley. She is the American Cancer Society Professor in the departments of Medicine and Genome Sciences at the University of Washington. Alan I. Leshner earned his MS and PhD in physiologic psychology from Rutgers University. He is chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of its journal, Science. Dr. Leshner has also served as director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH and deputy director of the National Institute of Mental Health. John C. Nelson earned his MD from the University of Utah School of Medicine. Dr. Nelson formerly served as deputy director of the Utah Department of Health and as the one hundred fifty-ninth president of the American Medical Association. Barbara L. Wolfe received her PhD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Wolfe is a professor of economics, population health sciences, and public affairs and faculty affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also serves as director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs.
Oregon Health & Science University Receives $40 Million Gift
The Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and the OHSU Foundation recently received a pledge of $40 million from an anonymous donor, the largest outright gift in OHSU history. The donation will go toward construction of a new medical school facility on OHSU's planned Schnitzer Campus located on Portland's South Waterfront. Plans for the expansion of OHSU are still in the preliminary phases. OHSU is the only school of medicine in the state of Oregon, and OHSU officials said that the latest gift will help significantly to deal with the decline in Oregon's health care workforce by educating more medical students in the state. OHSU President Joe Robertson, MD, MBA, said that the donation “has redefined what is possible to achieve”; however, he acknowledged that the Schnitzner Campus would require tremendous efforts by both private and public donors. In his recommended budget for 2007-2009, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski called for $11.2 million to fund programs to expand OHSU's capacity to teach and train medical students at various sites throughout Oregon, such as Portland, Eugene, and Corvallis. Chairman of the OHSU Foundation Board of Trustees Robert Kraus said that the most recent donation will allow OHSU to fulfill its promise to educate health professionals, enlarge the research enterprise, and improve the health and well-being of the citizens it serves.
National Institutes of Health Awards Yale Child Study Center $3.5 Million
The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development recently awarded the Yale Child Study Center a 5-year, $3.5 million grant in support of an ongoing, multidisciplinary research project on autism and associated developmental disorders. The program concentrates on developmental aspects and outcomes for affected patients. The program includes a prospective study on the earliest manifestation of autism in at-risk infants. Additional components are dedicated to the study of predictors and determinants of consequent functioning and communication skills. The genesis of such initiatives is that basic information on the earliest developmental aspects of autism in children continues to be limited despite the high frequency of the disorder. The study is led by the director of the Yale Child Study Center, Dr. Fred R. Volkmar, Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry and professor of pediatrics and psychology at Yale School of Medicine. Other Yale investigators involved in the research program include Dr. Ami Klin, Dr. Rhea Paul, Dr. Kasia Chawarska, Dr. Katherine Tsatsanis, and Dr. Robert Schultz.
Large-Scale HIV Vaccine Clinical Trial Opens in South Africa
The largest African human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine clinical trial to date recently opened in South Africa, conducted jointly by the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will support the study, which is a phase IIb “test-of-concept” trial. The trial is designed to determine the feasibility of a larger phase III efficacy trial. The candidate HIV vaccine, provided by Merck & Co. Inc., uses an attenuated adenovirus to deliver three clade B HIV genes. The vaccine has shown the ability to stimulate cellular immune responses against HIV in more than half of the volunteers in smaller trials. The first phase IIb trial of the vaccine is ongoing in the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, and the Caribbean, locales where the clade B subtype of HIV is prevalent. The main goals of the South African study, called Phambili (“moving forward” in the Xhosa language) or HVTN 503, are to assess the vaccine's ability to prevent HIV or lower HIV early on in infected individuals and to determine if the candidate vaccine, which is based on the clade B subtype of HIV, has the potential to protect against the HIV clade C subtype prevalent in South Africa. Immune responses to the clade C virus will be assessed in the first several hundred study participants before continuing to full enrollment. The study will enlist as many as 3,000 men and women, who must be healthy, sexually active, HIV negative, and between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Researchers expect to recruit participants from five sites in South Africa: Cape Town, Durban, Medunsa, Klerksdorp, and Soweto. Glenda Gray, MBBCH, FCPaeds (SA), of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand, is head of the trial in South Africa. Dr. James Kublin, of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, is cochair of the study. The trial has been reviewed and allowed to proceed by the South African Medicines Control Council, the South African Department of Agriculture, and the US Food and Drug Administration. NIAID Director Anthony S. Fauci, MD, said that the South African trial demonstrates “the model of collaboration needed to defeat HIV/AIDS.”
National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council Gains New Members
Three new members have been named to the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council, the primary advisory committee to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS). The responsibilities of the Council include offering recommendations on policy and program development and implementation and performing and conducting the second tier of peer review for research and research training grant applications assigned to the NIGMS. The council members, who are appointed to 4-year terms, are leaders in the biologic and medical sciences, education, health care, and public affairs. The Council meets three times yearly. In addition to the three new members, a new ex officio representative to the Council from the US Department of Veterans Affairs was also named. The new members are Clifford W. Houston, PhD; Steven L. McKnight, PhD; W. James Nelson, PhD; and Timothy O'Leary, MD, PhD (ex officio representative to the Council from the US Department of Veterans Affairs). Dr. Clifford W. Houston completed his PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. He currently serves as associate vice president for educational outreach and Herman Barnett Distinguished Endowed Professor in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Steven L. McKnight received his PhD in biology from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. He is professor and chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dr. W. James Nelson earned his PhD in genetics/radiation biology from the Chester Beatty Institute of Cancer Research in England. He currently serves as professor of molecular and cellular physiology and Rudy J. and Daphne Donohue Munzer Professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr. Timothy O'Leary received his MD from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and PhD in physical chemistry from Stanford University. He is the director of Biomedical Laboratory Research and Development at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School Receives S$160 Million Gift
The Duke University-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School (GMS) recently received a donation of S$80 million (approximately $52 million US dollars) from the estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat, which the government of Singapore plans to match. Dr. Sanders Williams, dean of the Duke University School of Medicine and of the GMS, said that the funds will enhance the capability of the GMS to train excellent physician-scientists and eventually “reduce the burden of disease in Singapore and around the world.” The gift will support research in the GMS's four signature research programs in infectious diseases, cancer and stem cell biology, neurobehavioral disorders, and cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. In honor of the donation, the main building of the GMS, which is scheduled for completion in 2009, will be named the “Khoo Teck Puat Building.” Following a recent decision by the Duke University Board of Trustees, the GMS also announced that graduates of the 4-year GMS program will be awarded a joint medical degree conferred from Duke University and the NUS. In April 2005, Duke University and the National University of Singapore established a 7-year agreement to develop a curriculum and infrastructure very similar to those of the Duke School of Medicine at the GMS. The GMS will enroll its first class, expected to total 25 students, in August 2007.
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Awards $45 Million to Fund Stem Cell Research
The Independent Citizens Oversight Committee (ICOC), the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, recently approved 72 grants totaling $45 million over 2 years in support of human embryonic stem cell research. The awards come more than 2 years after California voters approved a $3 billion initiative to fund stem cell research in the state. The Scientific Excellence through Exploration and Development (SEED) grants are aimed at attracting novel ideas and new researchers to the field of human embryonic stem cell research. Investigators at 20 academic and nonprofit research centers throughout the state were chosen to receive funding out of an application pool of 231. The ICOC voted to name the grants in honor of the late Dr. Leon J. Thal, former professor and chair of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Thal, a governor's appointee to the ICOC and leading expert on Alzheimer's disease, died recently when the plane he was piloting crashed. The ICOC is slated to approve another 25 grants totaling $80 million in March of 2007. These grants will support established scientists in the field of human embryonic stem cell research. A complete listing of principal investigators, along with their home institutions and project descriptions, to receive Leon J. Thal SEED grants can be found at <http://www.cirm.ca.gov/>.
President George W. Bush Announces National Institutes of Health Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2008; Fiscal Year 2007 Joint Funding Resolution Becomes Law
On February 5, 2007, President George W. Bush sent to Congress a fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget request for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $28.9 billion. Should Congress approve the President's NIH budget request, it would mark the fifth consecutive year that NIH funding has failed to keep up with the rate of biomedical inflation, estimated at 3.7% for FY 2008. With the recent passage of the FY 2007 joint funding resolution, approval of the president's proposed budget for FY 2008 would also mean a drastic reduction in the NIH budget of over $500 million. The resolution, which was enacted into law on February 15, 2007, provides for an additional $620 million in NIH funding, a 2.2% increase over FY 2006 levels. Congressional hearings commenced immediately on the president's new budget request and are expected to evolve substantially. In 2006, lawmakers failed to approve FY 2007 budgets for the NIH, which was left to operate at FY 2006 levels. Although the president's request would have represented a 0.8% increase of $232 million over the FY 2006 levels, $200 million of the additional funds were earmarked to cover the entire US government's contribution to the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The majority of NIH institutes and centers were to receive budget increases of only between 0.2 and 0.4% over FY 2006 levels, with the exception of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases funding, which would grow by 4.8%, $210 million, mostly due to the funds assigned to the Global Fund. Over half of the proposed budget, $15.2 billion, would support approximately 10,188 new and competing research project grants (RPGs), approximately 26,098 noncompeting RPGs, and small business awards. Similar to President Bush's NIH budget request for FY 2007, physical sciences would receive increased funding under the proposed budget for FY 2008. Funding for the National Science Foundation would increase by 6.8% over FY 2006 levels, $408.8 million, with an increase of 7.7%, $365.7 million, slated for research and related activities and a planned increase of 4.1% in funding for the Biological Sciences Directorate (BIO). According to the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, a 6% increase in the NIH budget would be necessary during each of the next 3 years to make up for funds lost to inflation.
Niddk Appoints Seven Members to Its Advisory Council
Seven new members were recently appointed to the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) by Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt. The NIDDK Advisory Council meets three times annually to advise the NIDDK on its research portfolio. The Council members serve as an important link between the NIDDK and the research communities the members represent. The Council also provides second-level peer reviews of grant applications that have already been scored by scientific review groups. The Advisory Council members are appointed for 4-year terms and are chosen from scientific and lay communities. The new members of the Advisory Council are Charles O. Elson III, MD; James W. Freston, MD, PhD; Mark A. Magnuson, MD; William E. Mitch, MD; Lisa H. Richardson; Anthony J. Schaeffer, MD; and Patrick Tso, PhD. Dr. Charles O. Elson III earned his MD from the University of Washington in St. Louis School of Medicine. He currently serves as vice chair for research in the Department of Medicine and the Basil I. Hirschowitz Chair in Gastroenterology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. James W. Freston received his MD from the University of Utah and his PhD from the University of London. He is the Boehringer Ingelheim Chair of Clinical Pharmacology and professor emeritus at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington. Dr. Mark A. Magnuson received his MD from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. He currently serves as the Earl W. Sutherland, Jr., Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics and director of the Center for Stem Cell Biology at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. William E. Mitch earned his MD from Harvard Medical School. He is the Gordon A. Cain Professor of Medicine and director of the Division of Nephrology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Lisa H. Richardson has served as a volunteer with the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, Inc. (CCFA) since 1989. She currently serves as national emeritus chairperson of the Board for the CCFA. Dr. Anthony J. Schaeffer received his MD from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. He currently serves as the Herman L. Kretschmer Professor and chairman of the Department of Urology at the Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Patrick Tso received his PhD from the University of Western Australia in Nedlands, Australia. He is professor of pathology, associate director of the Cincinnati Obesity Research Center, director of the Cincinnati Mouse Diabetes Phenotyping Center, and director of the Center for Lipid and Atherosclerosis Research at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Ohio. The new members attended the February 21, 2007, meeting of the Advisory Council.
National Cancer Institute Scientists Gain Insight into Human T-Cell Leukemia Virus Type 1
Researchers at the HIV Drug Resistance Program in the Center for Cancer Research of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently discovered how human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is able to avoid inhibition by one of the body's natural defense mechanisms, the enzyme APOBEC3G (apolipoprotein B messenger ribonucleic acid-editing enzyme, catalytic polypeptide-like 3G or hA3G). In a study that appeared on-line in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, NCI investigators detailed how hA3G, an enzyme that normally prevents viral replication, is prevented from being packaged into viral particles. A number of human and nonhuman viruses that result in cancer or acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) are vulnerable to hA3G-mediated destruction, although some viruses, such as HTLV-1 and the AIDS virus, have developed ways to evade this natural defense mechanism. In the case of HTLV-1, the packaging of hA3G into viral particles can initiate a process that will degrade and deactivate the virus itself. Dr. David Derse led the research team, which discovered that mutating certain amino acids in the virus capsid, or core protein, resulted in increased levels of hA3G being incorporated into virus particles. Mutated virus particles demonstrated a heightened ability of hA3G to inactivate the virus, whereas nonmutated virus particles preserved their resistance to hA3G. The study offers the potential for treatments of HTLV-1-associated leukemia by boosting the cell's natural defense mechanisms or by interfering with viral resistance to those defenses early in infection. T-cell leukemia results from an active infection with HTLV-1 in up to 5% of all cases worldwide.
University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center Receives $1 Million Gift
Dr. Ward Bullock recently awarded the University of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center $1 million to establish the Ward E. Bullock Endowment Fund for Research and Education in Infectious Diseases. Dr. Bullock received his MD from the Temple University School of Medicine and completed his residency at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Bullock completed fellowships in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Yale University Medical Center. Dr. Bullock is an emeritus professor of medicine at UC. He has held a variety of appointments at UC throughout his 45-year career, including director of the Infectious Diseases Division and Arthur Russell Morgan Professor of Medicine, associate chair for research, senior associate dean of the College of Medicine, and adjunct professor of molecular genetics, biochemistry, and microbiology. Dr. Bullock has also served as dean of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Dr. Bullock has published more than 100 medical and scientific papers and book chapters. The Division of Infectious Diseases hopes to solicit additional funds to eventually create a $1.5 million Ward E. Bullock Endowed Chair in Infectious Diseases.
Columbia University Medical Center Receives $3 Million for Alzheimer's Research
The Merrill Lynch Foundation recently awarded a $3 million grant to investigators at the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) to fund research into the genetics of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases of aging. The Merrill Lynch grant will provide for expansion of ongoing work at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at the CUMC. Investigations will focus on the identification of the genetic basis of Alzheimer's disease in unique, defined populations. It is anticipated that an understanding of the functions of these genes will help us understand the genesis of this disorder in wider populations. Targets will include genes such as SORL1, recently implicated in late-onset Alzheimer's disease. The grant will allow CUMC to develop the infrastructure needed to analyze family studies and identify genetic variants that offer insight into the inheritance of Alzheimer's disease. Additionally, the grant will fund investigations of the biology of amyloid protein processing, believed to be a central culprit in Alzheimer's disease. Other investigators will examine alterations of the tau protein, another known contributor to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.