NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Institute of Nursing Research plans to award $2 million to fund studies that will connect genomics discoveries to the prevention and alleviation of symptoms in patients with chronic disorders.
NINR plans to use the funding to support studies of the role genomic variants play in the individual variation in the onset, sensitivity, duration, and severity of symptoms, or studies that measure responses to therapies that are designed to alleviate symptoms of chronic disorders.
The grants also will fund research into the roles of non-genomic influences that potentially could moderate the effects of genomic variants in the manifestation of symptoms or in response to treatment.
The institute expects that the research will develop knowledge that will be helpful in identifying individuals who are at high risk for developing severe symptoms and be useful in developing customized therapeutics and interventions that will be tailored to individual genomic profiles.
The program will use two funding mechanisms to support the grants, including RO1 grants that will provide up to $300,000 per year over a three-year period, and R21 grants that will give up to $275,000 over a two-year period.
The studies could include a range of research approaches, such as studies to: identify associations of genomic variants with the onset and manifestation of symptoms related to chronic diseases; validating genotype-phenotype association studies to strengthen the association of genomic variants related to treatment response; replicating genotyping studies in order to test earlier findings; elucidating functional properties of genomic variants identified through GWAS and other genotyping studies; evaluation of variants for risk profiles for expression of symptoms that can be used as a basis for genome-based interventions; developing models that use variants to predict individual risk for developing symptoms and treatment response, and other approaches.