Features

Funding opportunity at NIH, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
http://www.nigms.nih.gov/

Modeling Infectious Diseases
http://www.nigms.nih.gov/research/midas.html

Preventing, detecting, and responding to new infectious diseases, either natural or human-made, is a national public health priority. NIGMS has responded by issuing two announcements to encourage researchers to develop computational models that improve the detection, control, and prevention of emerging infectious diseases, including those relevant to biodefense. The Institute has also held two meetings on the topic of modeling infectious diseases. Descriptions of the initiatives and reports from the meetings are available below.

(1)
Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study (MIDAS)
http://www.nigms.nih.gov/research/midas_summary.html
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-GM-03-008.html

Facts at a Glance:

Letter of Intent Receipt Date: May 19, 2003
Application Deadline: June 18, 2003
Earliest Funding: July 2004
Funding Mechanism: U01 (Collaborative Research Grant)
Project Period: 5 Years
Budget for Research Group: $500,000/year direct costs
Budget for Informatics Group: $3 million/year direct costs
Awards: up to 3 Research Groups and 1 Informatics Group

This initiative, composed of collaborative research groups and one informatics group, will develop user-friendly computational models of host-pathogen interactions, disease epidemiology, forecasting systems, and response strategies. These models will assist policy makers, public health workers, and other researchers to understand and respond to new infectious disease outbreaks.

MIDAS Summary:

MIDAS is an integral component of the overall NIH biodefense plan. MIDAS is a network of scientists who will produce user-friendly computational models for policymakers, public health workers, and other researchers to assist them in making better-informed decisions about emerging infectious diseases. The network will consist of one informatics group and several research groups.

Research groups will design, build, and validate computational models to better understand (1) host-pathogen systems, (2) disease epidemiology and forecasting systems, and (3) response systems. Working collaboratively with other members of the network, the research groups will focus on information-driven research rather than hypothesis-driven investigations.

The informatics group is responsible for data management. The research groups may require a wide variety of information, including climate records, morbidity and mortality statistics, and molecular biology data. The informatics group will assist the research groups, as appropriate, in obtaining this information. The informatics group will also develop methods to organize and provide this data to the research groups in consistent, usable formats. Eventually, this group will serve as a central resource to collect, test, and develop user-friendly Web-based interfaces for the computational models and tools developed by the research groups.

MIDAS may play a role in national emergencies. If there is a disease outbreak, whether intentional or natural, NIH may call upon the MIDAS investigators to develop specific models to help public officials understand what is happening and how best to respond.

(2)
Evolutionary Mechanisms in Infectious Disease
Program Announcement PA-02-113, June 7, 2002
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-02-113.html

These research groups seek to understand processes such as the evolution and population dynamics of pathogen spread, host response, and drug resistance. The goals are to predict events including when and where new infectious diseases will emerge, what will happen in response to therapeutic interventions, and how ecological changes will impact the fitness of a disease agent or the course of an epidemic. We encourage investigator-initiated research projects involving interdisciplinary collaborations.

Meetings

Modeling the Emergence and Intentional Release of Pathogens Meeting Report, August 5, 2002 http://www.nigms.nih.gov/news/reports/biodefense.html

Evolution of Infectious Diseases Meeting Report, August 28-29, 2002 http://www.nigms.nih.gov/news/reports/evolution_infectious.html