NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases plans to fund up to four new Centers of Research Translation, and renewals of earlier grants, with $6 million in 2011 and another $6 million in 2012.
These CORTs should focus on translational research projects that are relevant to the NIAMS mission, and they may request up to $100,000 per year for up to five years.
The disease-targeted centers will include an administrative structure that will facilitate clinical translation of knowledge about the disease.
These projects could involve human gene and genome studies or research and could be based on tissues, specimens, or cells. So long as the research is directed toward generating new knowledge about humans, it can be non-clinical or clinical in nature and it could be most useful to individuals, families, or populations that are at risk for specific diseases.
The CORTs should not be generic in focus, such as on the general areas of autoimmune diseases, skin diseases, or musculoskeletal disorders, but should approach one disease, and the principal investigators working with the centers must be drawn from different research disciplines. PIs may be based in different departments, divisions, and even institutions, although there must be an existing research base supporting the projects.