Funding News - Applications Sought to Develop PET and SPECT Ligands for Brain Imaging

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) encourages small business innovation research (SBIR) and small business technology transfer (STTR) grant applications to develop novel radioligands for positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging of the human brain.  This announcement is made together with 4 other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).*

Tremendous opportunities exist for using PET and SPECT imaging in studies of the pathophysiology and treatment of brain disorders, but relatively few radioligands are currently available for functional imaging of target molecules implicated in normal brain function and in brain and behavioral disorders.  This initiative is intended to stimulate the development of radioligands for molecular targets that are of broad interest to the scientific community.

The widespread availability and use of these radioligands are expected to accelerate research on identifying and characterizing the neural circuits and pathways implicated in the pathophysiology of brain disorders, and to facilitate the identification of new therapeutic targets and the development of new compounds as potential therapeutic agents.

For more information, potential applicants should contact  Dr. Daofen Chen, Program Direct or, Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2175, Bethesda, MD  20892; telephone:  301-496-1917; fax:  301-402-1501; e-mail:   dc342b@nih.gov

*For a full list of supporting NIH components and a more detailed description of this program announcement, please visit the NIH web site at:  http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-05-122.html.