Program areas at FNIH
See schedule o, program one, research programsprogram one - research programs -accelerating medicines partnership program (amp) the fnih manages the accelerating medicines partnership (amp) program with the interests of the collective scientific and medical research communities in mind. Our mission is to improve understanding of disease pathways, facilitate better selection of targets for treatment, and identify platforms and processes to accelerate new and effective therapies to patients.all amp projects operate under the broad principle of delivering pre-competitive advancements to the research and medical fields and enabling the broadest possible access and use of amp research discoveries. A critical component of each public-private partnership in the amp program is an agreement among partners to make data and analyses arising from the collaboration publicly accessible to benefit the broader biomedical community. Individual amp projects frequently establish public portals to rapidly disseminate data from their research efforts, and amp-funded publications are required to be made available publicly within specific timeframes.at the center of the amp program is a common goal of accelerating new and effective therapies to patients. Amp projects work towards this goal by identifying clinically relevant disease targets, improving identification of patients most likely to respond to a particular treatment, and safely reducing the development timelines for life-saving therapies and improvements in patient outcomes.activ in march 2020, as the rapidly developing threat of the covid-19 pandemic became clearer, officials of the nih and the fnih speedily assembled a government-industry-academia coalition to coordinate research and clinical testing efforts to counter the virus. the resulting partnership is called activ (accelerating covid-19 therapeutic interventions and vaccines) and includes eight u.s. government agencies, 20 biopharmaceutical companies, and several nonprofit organizations, with the mission of developing a research strategy for prioritizing and speeding development of the most promising covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics.activ replaced a plethora of small individual trialsmany too small or inadequately designed to produce meaningful resultswith a National research agenda for developing therapeutic countermeasures to the pandemic and provided support for vaccine development efforts. Activ stands as a model for how the biomedical research community can be effectively mobilized in response to a global public Health crisis.biomarkers consortium the biomarkers consortium convenes government, industry, patients and patient advocacy groups, and not-for-profit organizations to address one of the most pressing needs in the diagnosis and treatment of disease: the development and the seeking of regulatory approval for disease biomarkers and surrogates. the biomarkers consortium creates and leads cross-sector efforts that validate and qualify biomarkers and other drug development tools to accelerate better decision making for the development of new therapeutics and Health technologies.the core operations of the biomarkers consortium are supported through contributing membership. Organizations representing private industry (including the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, and information technology industries) and not-for-profit organizations (including associations, advocacy groups, trade organizations, and philanthropic organizations) that wish to support biomarkers development are eligible to become contributing members.geneconvene the geneconvene global collaborative advances best practices and informed decision making for development of genetic biocontrol technologies to improve public Health. Geneconvene offers technical information, advice, training, and coordination for research on gene drive and other genetic biocontrol technologies technologies that use genetic variants of a target species, like a disease-transmitting mosquito, to control its undesirable impacts. Efforts to control the spread of mosquito-borne diseases save hundreds of thousands of lives every year, but the tools and resources available are not sufficient to protect everyone. Gene drive is recognized as a potentially powerful tool to help control malaria. Genetic biocontrol has been used on disease-transmitting mosquitoes for over 60 years, but scientific advances in the past 20 years have dramatically improved the ability of researchers to engineer new genetic biocontrol approaches, including gene drives. Geneconvene was created to support informed decision making on the open scientific, regulatory, and policy questions raised by these new technologies.research programs for accelerating new therapiesimproving heart Health with the amp heart failure programthe accelerating medicines partnership program in heart failure amp hf, launched on september 29, 2022, seeks to address a critical unmet need in cardiovascular Health by better understanding the phenotypic diversity of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (hfpef) that will allow for the identification of novel proteins or genes with the potential to serve as therapeutic targets.bringing together resources from the nih's National heart, lung, and blood institute (nhlbi), u.s. food and drug administration (fda), and seven industry and non-profit partners, the amp hf launched with combined commitments totaling $37 million. the amp hf inauguration preceded the heart failure society of america's annual meeting at National harbor, Maryland, with representation from 17 stakeholders from industry, academia, government, and non-profit organizations.at the inauguration, the nhlbi's heartshare program hosted a workshop highlighting the progress of six clinical centers in its program. the amp hf builds on the infrastructure created by heartshare whose goals closely align with the amp hf project: deconstruction of hfpef syndrome leading to the discovery of potential therapeutic targets. Since the amp hf launch, the heartshare website has been rebranded bringing together all resources and knowledge under a single, unified portal. To learn more about the amp hf study design, please visit this article by nature reviews drug discovery.revolutionizing liver disease diagnosis and treatment with the nimble initiativenonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or nash, is a serious liver condition associated with obesity and type 2 diabetes. It impacts between 9 and 15 million people in the united states. the condition, which is a progressed version of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, is caused by a buildup of fat in the liver, leading to inflammation and scarring. Individuals with nash often show very few early symptoms. As a result, this elusive disease frequently remains undiagnosed. Many patients only discover they have the condition after it has progressed to cirrhosis, a late-stage, irreversible form of liver scarring, or deadly liver cancer.currently, an invasive and painful liver biopsy is the only method available to diagnose nash. Unfortunately, patients tend to balk at undergoing repeated biopsies or enrolling in drug development trials that employ biopsies. With these concerns in mind, fnih's noninvasive biomarkers of metabolic liver disease (nimble) initiative is working to standardize and compare the best tools for diagnosing nash, including noninvasive and more accurate blood-based and imaging biomarkers. the completed first stage of the nimble project has successfully made advancements towards noninvasive liver testing. the fda has accepted letters of intent (lois) for 10 noninvasive biomarkers being tested in nimble both blood-based and imaging-based to serve as enrichment tools for diagnosing "at risk" nash.nimble stage 1 findings demonstrate that noninvasive biomarkers can diagnose "at risk" populations that are likely to progress to cirrhosis. This will reduce the number of patients who need to be confirmed through biopsy procedures, which then reduces the risk of morbidity resulting from biopsies, enhances patient safety, and boosts the efficiency of clinical trials.this identification of patients who are likely in the "at risk" category also increases the potential for them to be recruited to clinical trials for developing disease-altering therapies. This reduces the use of clinical trial resources significantly, resulting in substantial cost savings for clinical trial sponsors.
See schedule o, program two, awards, events, education/training programsprogram two - awards, events, education/training programs - powering science: 2022 fnih awards the lurie prize in biomedical sciencesin 2022, the lurie prize in biomedical sciences recognized the outstanding achievements of two researchers studying the aging process, each of whose work has paralleled and complemented the other's over the past 20 years. Both winners of the 10th annual lurie prize in biomedical sciences have achieved incredible milestones in biomedical science, and the fnih is proud to honor their efforts.the award included a $100,000 honorarium, split between the two winners and made possible by a donation to the fnih by philanthropist ann lurie, president of the ann and robert h. lurie Foundation, president of lurie holdings, Inc., and honorary fnih board member. A distinguished jury of biomedical researchers, chaired by fnih board member solomon h. snyder, md, selected the 2022 winners.2022 award recipient: anne brunet, phd, is the michele and timothy barakett professor of genetics at stanford university. Dr. brunet employs a unique multi-organismal approach to investigate the ability of enzymes to regulate genes implicated in aging and has identified genes and pathways critical for maintaining neural stem cells that may help preserve brain function during aging. 2022 award recipient: andrew dillin, phd, is a howard hughes medical institute investigator and the thomas and stacey siebel distinguished chair in stem cell research at the department of molecular and cell biology at the university of California, berkeley. Dr. dillin explores the ability of organisms to sustain proper protein production processes essential to maintaining cellular structure and function in agingtrailblazer prize for clinician-scientiststhe fnih trailblazer prize for clinician-scientists recognizes the outstanding contributions of early career clinician-scientists whose work has the potential to, or has led to, innovations in patient care. In searching for potential winners, we seek to highlight true scientific innovators and this year was no exception. Congratulations went to two 2022 trailblazer prize winners.this $10,000 honorarium and prize, split between the two winners, celebrates the transformational work of individuals whose research translates basic scientific observations into new paradigm-shifting approaches for diagnosing, preventing, treating, or curing disease and disability. the trailblazer prize is made possible by a generous donation from john i. gallin, md, and elaine gallin, phd.2022 award recipient: eliezer van allen, md is associate professor of medicine at harvard medical school, chief of the division of population sciences at the dana-farber cancer institute, and associate member of the broad institute. Dr. van allen has made significant contributions to the advancement of the science of personalized cancer care. Using innovative computational approaches, dr. van allen's research is helping determine the impact of both inherited and environmental factors on cancer and the influence of genes on an individual's response to cancer treatment.2022 award recipient: nikhil wagle, md, is associate professor of medicine at harvard medical school, institute member of the broad institute, and an oncologist specializing in breast cancer at the dana-farber cancer institute. Dr. wagle developed novel gene sequencing approaches to profiling cancer mutations that affect treatment response and drug resistance. In addition, dr. wagle directs count me in, an innovative partnership between patients and researchers that empowers patients to actively participate in cancer research and speed the discovery of new treatments. Charles a. sanders, md, partnership awardin honor of former fnih chairman of the board, charles a. sanders, md, we celebrate our partners and their contributions through the annual partnership award. In keeping with dr. sanders' vision, the award recognizes persons and/or organizations that have made significant contributions to our work in creating, implementing, and nurturing private-public partnerships that build bridges to breakthroughs in improved therapeutics, diagnostics, and potential cures. A committee comprised of fnih board members selected two partners for 2022, amgen and francis s. collins, md, phd, who have supported and accelerated the work of the fnih for many years.2022 award recipient amgen: amgen's partnership over many years has had a strong impact on a diverse slate of fnih initiatives, from clinical trials to mentorships to educational programs. Generous financial and scientific support from amgen, a member of the fnih biomarkers consortium, has advanced fnih research initiatives in cancer, immunotherapy, cardiometabolic disease, and precision medicine. 2022 award recipient francis collins, md, phd: as nih director from 2009 to 2021, dr. francis s. collins robustly supported the mission of the fnih, advancing a remarkable list of initiatives to expand scientific knowledge and pave the way for human rights, privacy issues, and ethics. Dr. collins partnered with the nih's National human genome research institute and the genetic association information network (gain) to create a significant resource for genetic researchers. He helped establish the National center for advancing translational sciences (ncats), providing a critical venue for precompetitive public-private collaboration to speed the transformation of basic research into patient therapeutics. This led to the launch of the fnih-managed accelerating medicines partnership (amp) programa powerful collaboration between the nih, the u.s. food and drug administration (fda), and public and private organizations. He also managed two of the largest crises challenging human Health via fnih initiatives: the helping to end addiction long-term initiative (heal) and activ (accelerating covid-19 therapeutic interventions and vaccines).events and educationthe meetings and events department conceptualizes, plans, executes and evaluates high-quality, productive, innovative and economical convenings that advance the organization's mission. These convenings include, but are not limited to, research project team meetings and conferences, donor stewardship lectures and symposia and special events. the department oversees the management of fnih highly respected awards and prizes. Some of the fnih's marquee events in 2022 included: the fnih awards ceremony, the cancer steering committee's annual symposium, and the geneconvene virtual institute webinars series.in partnership with nih and our philanthropic supporters, we fund and administer training programs that provide opportunities to students of science, from high schoolers to post-doctoral scholars. Here are a few examples of these programs in action:-annually, the medical research scholars program enrolls 50 medical, dental, and veterinary students in a year-long research training and mentorship program, including lectures, clinical teaching rounds, and a research symposium.-the National institute of neurological disorders and stroke's Health disparities in tribal communities summer internship program (hdtc-sip) provides stem exposure to students from underrepresented populations.-the amgen scholars program offers summer training for undergraduates to participate in cutting-edge research.-the pew latin american fellows program provides post-doctoral training to young student scientists from latin america.we support scientists and promote them through annual lectures at the National eye institute, the National institute of neurological disorders and stroke, the National institute of allergy and infectious diseases, the National center for complementary and integrative Health, and elsewhere.meanwhile, legacy funds from individual benefactors, such as the james t. wendel fund that supports neurological research in the lab of nih's dr. carsten bonnemann, help move scientific achievement farther, faster, giving hope to future patients. the william and buffy cafritz family Foundation is also moving the needle on novel research through the pamela anne cafritz renal cell carcinoma award, which seeks to attract new investigators-particularly women-to kidney cancer research at the center for cancer research, National cancer institute.individual programs, such as the sallie rosen kaplan fund for women scientists in cancer research and the deeda blair research initiative for disorders of the brain, provide financial support, mentoring, and recognition to promising young scientists.in 2022, the 2021 recipients of the deeda blair research initiative for disorders of the brain used their award and recognition to make significant inroads in both their research and their professional standing.