Funding News - Applications for CounterACT Research Centers of Excellence Requested

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) requests grant applications for countermeasures against chemical threats (CounterACT) research centers of excellence.  This announcement is made together with 5 other components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).*

The increased risk of a terrorist attack in the United States involving chemical agents has created new challenges for many departments and agencies across the federal government.   Within the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the NIH is taking a leadership role in developing new and improved medical countermeasures designed to prevent, diagnose, and treat conditions caused by potential and existing chemical agents of terrorism.

Examples of research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:  therapies based on acute toxicity of the chemical threat agent; alternate routes of administration for new or approved therapies that are safe, effective, and easy to administer during a mass casualty scenario; improved rapid diagnostic techniques/technologies used for differential diagnosis, triage, detection of subclinical exposures, prognosis, and prediction of tissue damage; identification of biomarkers (genomic, proteomic, metabonomic) of exposure and disease progression for individual chemicals or classes of chemicals with similar signatures; identification of segments of the general population that are more sensitive to chemical threats; safe and effective therapies and diagnostic techniques for pediatric and elderly segments of the civilian population or for those individuals with pre-existing medical conditions; and short- and long-term pathophysiology from acute exposures to threat agents for developing medical countermeasures.

LETTERS OF INTENT RECEIPT DATE:  March 10, 2006.

APPLICATION RECEIPT DATE:  April 11, 2006.

For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. David Jett, Program Director, Technology Development Group, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2177, Bethesda, MD  20892; telephone: 
301-496-6035; fax:  301-402-1501; e-mail:  dj140o@nih.gov.

*For a full list of supporting NIH components and a more detailed description of this request for applications, please visit the NIH web site at:  http://grants2.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-06-005.html.