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In response to recent research progress and opportunity, the excellent response to the initial request, and in recognition of continuing Congressional interest to intensify and to expand basic and clinical research in Parkinson"s Disease, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) invites qualified investigators to submit grant applications for the establishment of NINDS Parkinson"s Disease Research Centers of Excellence. The purpose of reissuing this Request for Applications (RFA) is to encourage additional research opportunities and discoveries that will lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of patients with Parkinson"s Disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, based on a better understanding of the fundamental cause(s) of the disease. It is expected that these Centers will foster an environment that will enhance the research effectiveness of investigators in a multi-disciplinary setting, utilizing specialized methods relevant to the study of these disorders. The original RFA was published in the NIH Guide, Volume 26, Number 38, November 21, 1997.

The primary goal of this initiative is to advance our understanding of sleep and wakefulness by developing improved molecular, cellular, and systems approaches to investigate sleep and circadian phenotypes in mice. Better and more extensively-characterized mouse models will help determine the genetic underpinnings of sleep and wakefulness, elucidate the physiological role of sleep, and develop new directions for the treatment of sleep disorders. Establishing inbred mice strains as a platform for sleep studies will advance our understanding of normal sleep phenotypes, facilitate the use of targeted and transgenic gene modification approaches, and lead to a refinement in the definition of sleep state in molecular and genomic terms.

The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to solicit applications for research grants to develop new technologies or refine established technologies for gene discovery and gene expression analysis in the nervous system. The nervous system poses unique challenges to gene expression analysis because of its extreme cellular heterogeneity and complex distributions of messenger RNAs within individual cells. In addition, the nervous system is unusual in the degree to which it uses alternative splicing and RNA editing as mechanisms for regulating the spatial and temporal specificity of gene function. The development of methods suited to the anatomical and molecular complexities of the nervous system is therefore critical for quantifying gene expression in this system, and for understanding how changes in gene expression may correlate with different developmental, pathological, or functional states. Methods of interest would include, but are not limited to: 1) isolation of mRNA from single cells or small cell populations, 2) creation of high quality cDNA libraries from small amounts of tissue, 3) high throughput methods for quantifying the expression of large numbers of genes, 4) methods for quantifying multiple spliced or edited variants of a given transcript, 5) methods for comparing protein levels to corresponding mRNA levels for a given transcript within a cell or tissue sample, and 6) techniques for visualizing RNA distribution within cells and tissues. The development of these methods is expected to improve our understanding of nervous system function in normal and disease conditions, and will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders.

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR), the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) encourage investigator-initiated research grant applications to study tissue engineering. The purpose of this Tissue Engineering Program Announcement (PA) is to inform the scientific community of the NIH"s interests, and to stimulate and foster a wide range of basic and translational studies to: (1) develop optimal materials/designs for matrices/scaffolds, (2) better understand how matrices/scaffolds interact with cells and their surrounding tissues, (3) develop better animal models, and (4) validate and standardize the criteria for a successful repair/replacement of tissues and organs.

The purpose of this biobehavioral pain research program announcement (PA) is to inform the scientific community of the interests of the various institutes at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and to stimulate and foster a wide range of basic and clinical studies on pain as they relate to the missions of these Institutes.

Participating Institutes and Centers (ICs) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invite applications for R24 awards to support Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRPs) to support basic bioengineering research addressing important biological or medical research problems. A BRP is a multidisciplinary research team applying an integrative, systems approach to developing knowledge and/or methods to prevent, detect, diagnose, and treat disease and understand health and behavior, and must include bioengineering expertise in combination with basic and/or clinical investigators. A BRP may propose design-directed or hypotheses- driven research in universities, national laboratories, medical schools, private industry and other public and private entities.

Participating Institutes and Centers (ICs) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) invite applications for Bioengineering Research Grants (BRG) to support basic bioengineering research whose outcomes are likely to advance health or health-related research within the mission of the NIH. A BRG application should propose to apply basic bioengineering design-directed or hypothesis-driven research to an important medical or biological research area.

The purpose of this program announcement (PA) is to encourage basic research on the structures of membrane proteins at (or near) atomic resolution. Considerable research is on-going in the area of membrane protein structure and function, particularly with respect to sequences, topology, and the effects of mutations, however, much of this work is somewhat speculative in that the interpretations depend upon the very limited number of structures that have actually been solved by direct biophysical measurements. Despite several recent landmark solutions of membrane protein structures, there remains a significant gap between the understanding of membrane proteins and that of their soluble counterparts. This gap will likely increase as the facility with which soluble protein structures can be solved continues to increase. Therefore, it is clear that a special effort is needed to promote studies of membrane protein structures. An increase in the number of known membrane protein structures will contribute to an enhanced understanding of many basic phenomena underlying cellular functions essential to human health.

The purpose of this program announcement is to encourage grant applications for the support of research designed to elucidate the diagnosis, epidemiology, etiology, genetics, treatment, and optimal means of service delivery in relation to Autistic Disorder ("autism") and autism spectrum disorders (Rett"s Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger"s Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified, or "Atypical Autism").

In order to promote high-quality research of CAM, the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Disorders (NIAMS), the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) invite applications for Centers for CAM Research using the Specialized Center (P50) grant mechanism. Such Centers will provide the resources necessary for the rigorous scientific investigation of CAM. It is expected that research conducted at these Centers will examine the potential efficacy, effectiveness, safety and validity of CAM practices, as well as the physiological or psychological mechanisms underlying these practices.