Training and Infrastructure
The NIH supports several intramural and extramural research resource programs. Included in these programs are grants for training AIDS researchers, support of animal facilities for animal model research, and constructing or improving existing facilities and equipment for AIDS-related research.
Numerous NIH-funded programs have increased the number of training positions in AIDS-related research. In addition, much of the predoctoral and postdoctoral training supported by the NIH from non-AIDS funds provides broad interdisciplinary training that prepares investigators to undertake AIDS-related research.
The NIH offers several programs designed to attract committed, highly qualified students and scientists to careers in HIV/AIDS related research.
NIH offers high school students opportunities including summer internship and career experience programs and research awards for participation in NIH-funded research projects at off-NIH campus sites.
NIH offers college students opportunities, both intramural and extramural, including internship and training appointments and grants and awards for research, course work, and travel.
NIH offers graduate trainees opportunities, both intramural and extramural, including full-time and summer training appointments in NIH laboratories and scholarships, grants, and awards for research and course work.
NIH offers postdoctoral trainees opportunities, both intramural and extramural, including:
The Fogarty International Center (FIC) sponsors a highly successful program, the AIDS International Training and Research Program, for training scientists in developing countries to undertake epidemiologic and postdoctoral research, with the goals of expanding scientific capabilities in the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of HIV/AIDS throughout the world and of facilitating the evaluation of AIDS drugs and vaccines internationally. Established in 1987 at the request of Congress, the program has since provided training in the United States for approximately 1,000 health scientists from 75 countries and supported over 400 in-country training courses for more than 28,000 health professionals in 46 countries. In 1993, the program added and advanced an in-country research component, which provided support for reentry grants for scientists returning home after completion of their training. In 1994, this program was expanded to include a Fogarty International Research Collaboration Award (FIRCA) for AIDS, which provides support for collaboration between U.S. and foreign scientists through a grant to a U.S. investigator who is already funded to conduct HIV-related research. Funds are provided for support of research in the foreign collaborator's laboratory and for visits between the U.S. and foreign collaborators. The FIC investment in research training has facilitated the conduct of many research and intervention studies supported by many ICDs and has resulted in numerous studies authored or coauthored by trainees in the highest quality peer-reviewed journals.
The NIMH research training program currently fully supports 16 programs that are focused exclusively on issues of HIV infection and AIDS and partially supports 10 other research training programs to allow components of the program to focus on HIV infection and AIDS. In addition, the NIMH AIDS Research Center in San Francisco supports an international scholar training program.
To address the relationship between drug abuse and the spread of HIV, NIDA has taken steps to diversify the expertise of researchers in this area so that future researchers will possess a broad array of biological and behavioral research skills. NIDA's research training program supports 49 predoctoral and postdoctoral investigators through individual and institutional awards. Spanning basic, clinical, and epidemiological research areas, trainees are commonly found in community-based prevention and treatment settings as well as molecular biology or basic neuroscience facilities.
NIAID-sponsored programs increased the number of trainee slots by 121 percent (from 81 to 179 slots) between 1990 and 1995. Recognizing the link between HIV and the reemergence of tuberculosis (TB), NIAID initiated a research grant administrative supplement program to encourage young scientists and scientists working in other areas to enter careers in TB and TB-related research. Approximately 10 supplements will be distributed to ongoing research projects in basic and clinical aspects of TB-related research to support scientists new to the field of TB. The research experience is intended to provide opportunities for individuals to develop as independent, competitive research investigators.
The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have several successful programs designed to produce primate models for use in the evaluation of potential SIV/HIV vaccines and to ensure adequate supplies of these animals. These programs include the Specific Pathogen Free Rhesus Breeding and Research Program for the SIV/macaque model system and the successful Chimpanzee Breeding and Research Program (CBRP) for AIDS studies. The CBRP has been approved for renovation of a primate facility in New Iberia, Louisiana, to accommodate chimpanzees that have been used in previous studies and are occupying valuable laboratory space. The transfer of these chimpanzees to these facilities for extended care will allow for the use of uninfected chimpanzees in new studies. The NCI produces in large scale and maintains the viral stocks for AIDS vaccine trials in chimpanzees. In addition, the Regional Primate Research Centers (RPRC) Program provides specialized facilities, scientific and technical personnel, animal models research and breeding, and a wide variety of non-human primate species to support diverse requirements for AIDS-related research. Development of the severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse model continues, for analysis of vaccine candidates and for use in screening potential therapeutics. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) currently supports studies on transfusion-associated HIV infection and AIDS and on the development and evaluation of blood products for the prevention or treatment of HIV/AIDS. Examples include: (1) the use of HIV hyperimmune globulin as passive immune therapy to prevent or slow progression of HIV disease and the development of AIDS and (2) the evaluation of the safety and efficacy of hyperimmune plasma derivatives. The NHLBI Chimpanzee Colony at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas, has been used to conduct this type of research. Future plans include the use of the colony to evaluate the efficacy of HIV-specific monoclonal antibody preparations.
The NCRR, through the General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs), provides research infrastructure for multidisciplinary studies on both children and adults. Specifically, the GCRCs provide patient research facilities, computerized data management and analysis, and specialized laboratories as well as research nurses, dietitians, and biostatisticians for the translation of basic and clinical research into medical practice. These facilities support a variety of studies focused on the area of HIV infection and therapy. The NIH-sponsored Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program provides for the development of biomedical research infrastructure at minority institutions. Awards have been made to Howard University, the University of Puerto Rico, and the University of Hawaii for the development of infrastructure necessary for conducting ACTG trials.
Special facilities and equipment are required for the performance of AIDS-related research. The NIH has provided funding for the improvement of biomedical research facilities and instrumentation. As part of the plan for improving physical infrastructure at the NIH, numerous projects are currently being designed, improved, or constructed for AIDS-related research on the NIH campus.
In FY 1994, NIAID awarded grants for three new and eight continuing Centers for AIDS Research (CFARs) at leading research institutions in the United States. In addition, NIMH funded one new CFAR. The CFAR grants, lasting 5 years, provide shared core support for facilities, research techniques, and staff at institutions conducting high-quality, multi-disciplinary research on HIV and AIDS. NIAID established the CFAR program in 1988 to enhance substantially the yield of scientific information about HIV and AIDS that could lead to improving the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of the disease. Each CFAR is organized into core areas reflecting the research priorities and capabilities of the institution. The cores are responsible for providing support including space, equipment, personnel, and technical expertise to many individually funded scientific projects in a given research area, such as molecular biology or animal studies.
Computers and high-speed computer networks play an increasingly important role in facilitating the understanding of HIV-related pathophysiology at a molecular level and providing rapid communication among basic and clinical investigators. The NCI Biomedical Supercomputer Center facility was a key resource for the prediction of the secondary structure of the entire 9,433 bases of HIV RNA. NCRR-supported supercomputing centers at Pittsburgh, Illinois, Cornell, and Columbia universities provide similar facilities for investigators nationwide. In addition, the NCRR supports several synchrotron and NMR facilities that provide the technology to determine the structure of candidate HIV-related proteins, and the NIGMS supports a Protein Data Bank located at Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is a repository for the three-dimensional coordinates of all proteins whose structures have been determined. Specific drugs are being developed on the basis of known molecular structures to block virus action and provide new therapies for HIV infection and its consequences.
A multiagency High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) Initiative includes NIH participation by the NLM, the NCRR, the Division of Computer Research and Technology, and the NCI. This initiative permits the development of faster computers and better algorithms for predicting molecular structure and function from genetic sequence, which is an important area of research.
The HPCC Initiative will create a National Information Infrastructure (NII) linking academic and commercial research centers. Nearly 10 million users worldwide are connected to the current Internet at this time. NLM provides support for connecting medical centers and community hospitals to the Internet and for developing prototype biomedical digital image libraries that use the Internet as a high-speed distribution channel. The NII will provide an increasingly fast communication line for sharing data among laboratories on an international scale.
Repositories play an important role in providing resources for basic science research. The NHLBI maintains a repository of blood specimens from individuals with transfusion-associated HIV infection and from AIDS patients who have pulmonary disease. NIAID supports the AIDS Research and Reference Reagent Program, which provides a wide range of reagents such as antibodies, cell lines, recombinant DNA clones, peptides, viruses, and chemicals to investigators worldwide and is one of the WHO AIDS Collaborating Centres. In addition, NIAID maintains a centralized repository for specimens from clinical trials and epidemiologic cohort studies.
For more information contact:
Paul Gaist, M.P.H.
Office of AIDS Research
National Institutes of Health
Building 31, Room 4C06
Bethesda, MD 20892
(301) 402-3555 TELEPHONE
(301) 496-4843 FAX
Last Update: October 4, 1996
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