P30AI168386

Emory/Georgia TB Research Advancement Center (TRAC) - Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading infectious cause of death worldwide. Although the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy sets ambitious goals to reduce TB incidence by 90% by 2035, we are not on track to achieve them. We will need to "accelerate basic, translational, and clinical research to improve understanding of TB and expedite the development of innovative new tools and strategies to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment to end the TB pandemic," as stated in the NIAID Strategic Plan for TB.

We propose the Emory/Georgia TB Research Advancement Center (TRAC) to catalyze and elevate multidisciplinary basic, translational, and clinical TB research at Emory University and partner institutions: University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, and Morehouse School of Medicine. The Emory/Georgia TRAC builds upon the strong foundation established by the Emory TB Center, created in 2020 in response to the growing number of investigators engaged in TB research.

Across all the Emory/Georgia TRAC institutions, there is a critical mass of 72 investigators engaged in TB research, and TB PI/MPIS have received a total of over $104 million in TB research funding since 2010. Expertise in our TRAC represents the full spectrum of TB science: TB transmission and epidemiology, human immunity to TB, pathogenesis of TB using animal models (including non-human primates [NHP]), TB diagnostics, vaccines and host-directed therapies, pharmacokinetics, drug-resistance, and TB comorbidities (HIV, diabetes).

The Emory/Georgia TRAC will create added value by leveraging the scientific strengths at TRAC institutions to catalyze and expand multidisciplinary TB research. The TRAC will provide financial, logistical, and intellectual resources, pilot grants, and mentoring via a Developmental Core, Clinical & Population Science Core, Basic & Translational Science Core, and Bioinformatics & Integrated Systems Biology Core. These cores will provide training and access to human study populations in high burden countries and the US, resources for BSL3 laboratory-based MTB and animal model research, including NHP, and opportunities to utilize cutting-edge technologies and systems biology that can be leveraged for new multidisciplinary and translational TB studies.

Furthermore, the TRAC will provide mentorship and support for early-stage and non-TB investigators and create shared data and specimen biorepositories that will be a resource for new study ideas and preliminary data. The Emory/Georgia TRAC, through its core activities and resources, will achieve these overarching aims:

AIM 1: To catalyze and expand collaborative multidisciplinary TB research among established basic, clinical, and translational TB investigators and collaborators in the US and internationally.

AIM 2: To capitalize on the strengths of the Emory/Georgia TRAC universities to grow and diversify TB research in new directions.

AIM 3: To identify, train, and mentor the next generation of TB researchers and scientific leaders.

Emory University

TO ASSIST PUBLIC AND PRIVATE NONPROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND INDIVIDUALS TO ESTABLISH, EXPAND AND IMPROVE BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS, TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS. TO ASSIST PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND COMMERCIAL INSTITUTIONS TO CONDUCT DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH, TO PRODUCE AND TEST RESEARCH MATERIALS, TO PROVIDE RESEARCH SERVICES AS REQUIRED BY THE AGENCY FOR PROGRAMS IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES, AND CONTROLLING DISEASE CAUSED BY INFECTIOUS OR PARASITIC AGENTS, ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES AND RELATED AREAS. PROJECTS RANGE FROM STUDIES OF MICROBIAL PHYSIOLOGY AND ANTIGENIC STRUCTURE TO COLLABORATIVE TRIALS OF EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS AND VACCINES, MECHANISMS OF RESISTANCE TO ANTIBIOTICS AS WELL AS RESEARCH DEALING WITH EPIDEMIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS OR COMMUNITY POPULATIONS AND PROGRESS IN ALLERGIC AND IMMUNOLOGIC DISEASES. BECAUSE OF THIS DUAL FOCUS, THE PROGRAM ENCOMPASSES BOTH BASIC RESEARCH AND CLINICAL RESEARCH. SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM EXPANDS AND IMPROVES PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH. THE SBIR PROGRAM INTENDS TO INCREASE AND FACILITATE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. RESEARCH CAREER DEVELOPMENT AWARDS SUPPORT THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTISTS DURING THE FORMATIVE STAGES OF THEIR CAREERS. INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS (NRSAS) ARE MADE DIRECTLY TO APPROVE APPLICANTS FOR RESEARCH TRAINING IN SPECIFIED BIOMEDICAL SHORTAGE AREAS. IN ADDITION, INSTITUTIONAL NATIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE AWARDS ARE MADE TO ENABLE INSTITUTIONS TO SELECT AND MAKE AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS TO RECEIVE TRAINING UNDER THE AEGIS OF THEIR INSTITUTIONAL PROGRAM.

93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) [HHS - NIH]

Atlanta, Georgia 30322 United States

Single Zip Code

Tuberculosis Research Advancement Centers (P30 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) (RFA-AI-21-001)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 296% from $986,410 to $3,903,261.