- Presentation: Recent Basic Discoveries in Chemistry and Their Interface With Biology
- Presentation: The Concept of Challenge Grants
- Presentation: Enhancing Reproducibility and Transparency of Research Findings
- Concept Clearance: Pharmacogenomics Research Network
- Concept Clearance: Regional Consortia for High-Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy
- Concept Clearance: Competitive Revision for Emerging Technologies Within Biomedical Technology Research Centers
- Concept Clearance: Encouraging Partnerships Between Biomedical Technology Research Centers and Small Business
- Presentation: Research to Understand and Inform Interventions That Promote the Research Careers of Students in Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences: Lessons Learned
- Public Comment Period
Until the official minutes of the September 19-20, 2013, meeting of the National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council are posted on this Web site, we are providing this summary of the major topics covered during the Council’s open session on September 20.
NIGMS Director’s Report
NIGMS Director Dr. Jon Lorsch opened the meeting by introducing himself, thanking outgoing Council members for their service, and expressing appreciation to Dr. Judith Greenberg for her exceptional dedication to the Institute as acting director. He announced new scientific staff at NIGMS and within the federal government, and alerted the Council to three upcoming events: the 10th annual MIDAS symposium, the 2013 Stetten lecture and the second annual Cell Day. Dr. Lorsch then provided an overview of the recently launched NIH Big Data to Knowledge initiative. He concluded by discussing budget-related issues and upcoming plans for Institute strategic planning.
Contact: Dr. Jon R. Lorsch, jon.lorsch@nih.gov, 301-594-2172
Presentation: Recent Basic Discoveries in Chemistry and Their Interface With Biology
Basic chemistry research, primarily synthetic chemistry, has made important contributions to human medicine. Council member Dr. Scott Miller of Yale University presented an overview of the historical impact of chemistry on biomedicine, noting the real-life importance of the discovery of new reactions, catalysts and strategies on both the identification of new drugs and production scale-up. He provided several case studies highlighting the challenge of achieving selective chemistry in complex molecular environments, and he presented existing challenges related to the discovery of complex, potentially selective, bioactive molecules.
Contact: Dr. Scott J. Miller, scott.miller@yale.edu, 203-432-9885
Presentation: The Concept of Challenge Grants
One of the goals of the NIGMS strategic plan is to “advance awareness and understanding of the basic biomedical research enterprise, including its value, requirements, and potential impact.” This can be a challenge because connecting basic, non-disease-targeted discoveries to their later applications can be a lengthy, time-consuming endeavor. Dr. Darren Sledjeski discussed a potential crowd-sourcing approach to access the collective wisdom and knowledge of a broad and diverse group of people. He proposed using a challenge-prize model, authorized for federal agency use by the America COMPETES Act 
, to encourage the broader NIGMS stakeholder community of interested scientists, science writers, students and others to submit examples that fall into one or both of two categories:
- Major NIGMS-funded breakthroughs that led to improvements in health and well-being
- Applications in medicine, industry, technology, or elsewhere that have their roots in NIGMS-funded research
Contact: Dr. Darren Sledjeski, darren.sledjeski@nih.gov, 301-594-0943
Presentation: Enhancing Reproducibility and Transparency of Research Findings
Recently, the NIH director formed an ad hoc group of NIH senior leadership to confront underlying problems with the reproducibility of research results. Key issues include poor training, poor evaluation and perverse reward incentives. NIH Deputy Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak updated NIGMS staff and the Council on several principles for addressing these issues. He outlined planned next steps linked to improving scientific rigor, especially in pre-clinical biomedicine, and he described collaborative efforts with scientific journals and the broader research community. Dr. Jon Lorsch then provided examples of NIGMS plans related to this trans-NIH initiative. These include an assessment of inter- and intra-cell line variability and development of training modules addressing experimental design and data interpretation and the role of the current scientific reward system in generating potentially inappropriate emphases on publication and other progress metrics.
Contact: Dr. Rashada Alexander, rashada.alexander@nih.gov, 301-443-7975
Concept Clearance: Pharmacogenomics Research Network
The Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN) has achieved its goal of stimulating this area of investigation. As a result, the network has “raised the level of play” in the field with a demonstrable scientific and health impact. Dr. Rochelle Long stated that the upcoming cycle of the PGRN in FY 2015 offers an opportunity to support the highest quality investigator-initiated research, and to provide the added benefit of core resources for the research community. Dr. Long requested, and received, Council approval to proceed with PGRN-related funding opportunities for Research Centers, Network Resources, a Knowledge Base and a small Coordinating Center, as part of a plan for transitioning these research activities into the regular NIH granting system.
Contact: Dr. Rochelle Long, longr@nigms.nih.gov, 301-594-3827
Concept Clearance: Regional Consortia for High-Resolution Cryo-Electron Microscopy
The state of cryo-electron microscopy (EM) has advanced radically as a result of innovations in electron-detector technology, which enables superior resolution, nearly noiseless electron counting and high frame rates. Dr. Paula Flicker reported that the new technology and its required skilled personnel are both complex and expensive, suggesting the need for an NIGMS-sponsored initiative of limited scope to ensure investigator access to state-of-the-art detection capabilities. Dr. Flicker requested, and received, Council approval to support consortia of established, independently-funded cryo-EM laboratories.
Contact: Dr. Paula Flicker, flickerp@nigms.nih.gov, 301-594-0828
Concept Clearance: Competitive Revision for Emerging Technologies Within Biomedical Technology Research Centers (P41)
NIGMS-funded Biomedical Technology Research Centers (BTRCs) develop and disseminate advanced technologies for use by the national research community. In some instances, a relatively modest, temporary funding stimulus can enable an emerging opportunity with significant potential impact. Dr. Amy Swain requested, and received, Council approval to solicit applications from NIGMS BTRCs to support emergent, cutting-edge technological development projects to meet the evolving needs of NIH-funded researchers. She noted that at least one NIH-funded Driving Biomedical Project must serve as a test bed for the proposed technology development projects.
Contact: Dr. Amy L. Swain, swaina@mail.nih.gov, 301-435-0752
Concept Clearance: Encouraging Partnerships Between Biomedical Technology Research Centers and Small Business
Some technologies developed and disseminated by NIGMS-funded BTRCs are well-suited for commercialization or licensing. Because of the high level of technical and biomedical expertise in BTRCs, these centers have served very effectively as test beds for emerging technologies. Encouraging the private sector to approach BTRCs as partners in technology development and commercialization has the potential to move these tools into the research community more quickly and successfully. Dr. Doug Sheeley requested, and received, Council approval to promote awareness of the BTRC program to the small-business community, and to encourage small businesses to collaborate with BTRCs to enhance technology dissemination.
Contact: Dr. Douglas Sheeley, sheeleyd@mail.nih.gov, 301-594-9762
Presentation: Research to Understand and Inform Interventions That Promote the Research Careers of Students in Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences: Lessons Learned
In 2003, NIGMS established a Research on Interventions program. This research investment aims to test assumptions and hypotheses regarding social and behavioral factors that affect interest, motivation and preparedness for careers in biomedical and behavioral research. Dr. Clifton Poodry provided an update on this program, highlighting interventions designed to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups entering biomedical careers.
Contact: Dr. Clifton Poodry, poodryc@nigms.nih.gov, 301-594-3900
Public Comment Period
Dr. Stefano Bertuzzi, executive director of the American Society for Cell Biology , presented a brief update of the group’s current activities related to promoting basic biomedical research.