NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The National Institutes of Health announced that it has earmarked more than $96 million over the next six years to fund various research centers that will support its Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC), a program launched this summer that aims to identify, characterize, and catalog human biological molecules affected by physical activity.
With the money, the NIH specifically aims to fund sites supporting the consortium's efforts in the areas of genomics, epigenomics, and transcriptomics chemical analysis; metabolomics and proteomics chemical analysis; and bioinformatics. In support of that goal, the agency has issued three funding announcements seeking applications from research organizations interested in participating as a MoTrPAC site.
As part of its effort to create a map of the molecular changes that occur in response to physical activity, the MoTrPAC plans to collect various biospecimens from male and female volunteers with active and sedentary lifestyles, both before and after episodes of exercise. Analysis of these samples will enable the characterization of the molecules that are altered after physical activity and potentially contribute to mediating the effects of such activity.
The NIH said that it will fund one to two sites with expertise in next-generation nucleic acid sequencing and related technologies for DNA sequencing, transcriptional profiling of coding and non-coding RNA, and epigenomics to help identify these molecules. The agency has set aside $150,000 in funding for the sites in fiscal year 2016, and approximately $31 million in fiscal years 2017 through 2021.
These so-called Genomics, Epigenomics, and Transcriptomics Chemical Analysis Sites are expected to conduct whole-genome sequencing on all of the consortium's approximately 3,000 study volunteers, the NIH said. These sites will also, among other things, perform transcriptomic analysis to monitor coding and non-coding RNAs in plasma and solid tissues, as well as measure epigenomic changes such as DNA methylation and histone binding in human skeletal muscle and adipose tissue.
The NIH noted that these sites are expected to work closely with a planned two to four Metabolomics and Proteomics Chemical Analysis Sites, which are eligible for $150,000 in fiscal year 2016 funding and around $54.5 million in total funding during fiscal years 2017 through 2021.
Metabolomics and Proteomics Chemical Analysis Sites are expected to monitor lipids, modified amino acids, peptides, and other small molecules, as well as a limited set of proteins in plasma, obtained from study participants. They will also be responsible for analyzing metabolites and proteins in human skeletal muscle and adipose tissue, among other things.
These sites will particularly focus on the metabolic and post-transcriptional changes induced directly by physical activity and those that occur in response to circulating or other signals from exercising tissues. Researchers at these sites will also measure histone modifications to complement the epigenetics analyses done at the Genomics, Epigenomics, and Transcriptomics Sites, the NIH noted.
Additional details about the Genomics, Epigenomics, and Transcriptomics Chemical Analysis and Metabolomics and Proteomics Chemical Analysis Sites can be found here and here.
To further support the MoTrPAC, the NIH is also looking to fund one site that will act as a bioinformatics hub to provide consortium research groups with database and associated tools for storage and integration of clinical physiological, metabolic, and chemical analysis data.
The bioinformatics center is also expected to coordinate implementation of data and ontology-based metadata standards, provide tools for analysis and visualization of data, provide rapid access to accumulated data and tools through the use of cloud-based computing, and conduct preliminary data analysis of the datasets submitted by other MoTrPAC sites, the NIH said.
The bioinformatics site will be eligible for $144,000 in funding in fiscal year 2016, and $10.6 million in funding over fiscal years 2017 through 2021.
Details about this funding opportunity can be found here.
Over the next six fiscal years, the NIH is also planning to allocate nearly $60 million to fund various other MoTrPAC sites including two or three preclinical animal study sites, one center to coordinate the activities of the consortium members, and up to seven clinical centers where study participants will be recruited and evaluated.
Additional details about these funding opportunities can be found here, here, and here.