Components of Participating Organizations
   
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

The purpose of the U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Collaborative Research is to stimulate collaborative basic, translational, and applied research between United States (U.S.)-based researchers and Chinese researchers in the areas of allergy, immunology, and infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS and its co-morbidities and co-infections, cancer, mental health, Parkinson’s disease (PD), and stroke.

Letter of Intent Due Date  August 18, 2012 
Application Due Date(s)  September 18, 2012, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization.

Background

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supports international collaborative biomedical research to advance science and expand biomedical knowledge. Scientific cooperation between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China was initiated over 30 years ago and has grown rapidly in recent years. Recognizing that enhanced cooperative biomedical research would be of mutual benefit to the U.S. and China, the NIH Director and the President of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in October 2010.

NIH and NSFC signed an Implementing Arrangement (IA) in December 2010 to develop a new U.S.-China Program for Biomedical Research Cooperation. A Joint Working Group (JWG), made up of members from both NIH and NSFC, will develop strategic plans for collaboration, review and clearance of proposed U.S.-China projects. Both the NIH and NSFC have allocated funds to support joint activities pursued under this program.

U.S. and Chinese collaborating investigators should work together to submit corresponding applications to NIH and NSFC.  U.S. investigators will respond to this announcement from NIH, and Chinese investigators will respond to a separate funding announcement from NSFC. By sending an application to NIH, the applicant agrees to provide a complete copy of their submitted NIH application to their Chinese counterpart.  Potential U.S. applicants concerned about confidentiality or proprietary information should take this requirement into account before deciding what information to submit in their application to NIH.  NIH will not consider for funding any application that has not met this sharing requirement. 

Eligibility for NSFC funding under these collaborative projects is limited to scientists who are current or former NSFC grantees.  NSFC will publish a corresponding funding announcement (in Chinese) for partnering Chinese investigators to apply for funding under the joint U.S.-China Program in Biomedical Research Cooperation (see http://www.nsfc.gov.cn/Portal0/InfoModule_396/More.htm). Applications from Chinese investigators responding to the NSFC announcement will be reviewed in parallel by NSFC using review criteria that are harmonized with NIH review criteria. Applicants responding to the NSFC announcement will also be required to submit as part of their applications a copy of the NIH application provided by their U.S. collaborator. Therefore, it is expected that the Chinese collaborator will contact the U.S. Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s)) and request a copy of their application in response to this announcement for submission. This application will also be reviewed confidentially during the NSFC review process.

Funding decisions for applications submitted to NIH will be made by NIH with consideration of the research priorities of the U.S. China program. Both the U.S. and Chinese applications must be determined to be eligible and responsive (in the parallel processes conducted by the NIH and NSFC) to be considered for funding under the program.

NIMH – Mental Health:

Research focused on systems and cellular neuroscience as they relate to mental disorders, including:

• Studies of non-human primate neurobiology;
• Research to increase the sophistication of data analyses, especially in neuroimaging studies;
• Development of novel tools and methodologies, including imaging tools and assays, that allow high throughput phenotyping in cell model systems;
• Improvements in stem cell techniques to study the molecular and cellular basis of mental disorders.

Research focused on risk and resilience for mental disorders within a developmental framework, including:

• Studies of the prodrome of major mental disorders (e.g. schizophrenia and bipolar disorder);
• Studies of the early risk factors for depression and anxiety;
• Identification of biomarkers with predictive values for diagnosis and treatment;
• Studies of autism, particularly those focused on genomics, early detection, and/or treatment development.

NINDS – Research on Parkinson’s disease (PD) and stroke include

The NINDS will support novel collaborative research projects in the areas of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and stroke. Research topics include, but are not limited to:

• Comparative studies in animal models or human to distinguish genetic or epigenetic mechanisms, and the impact of environmental risk factors for disease or for specific disease subtypes (e.g., early-onset PD, intracerebral hemorrhage, intracranial stenosis, small vessel disease or vascular cognitive impairment);
• Collaborative research that develops, characterizes, validates and utilizes large and naturally aged animal models, such as non-human primate and transgenic animal models of PD or stroke in the following areas:
  • Biomarkers of disease mechanisms and progression;
  • Therapeutic targets;
  • Pathophysiological basis of diseases.
• Collaborative neuroimaging studies for early diagnosis and progression of PD or cerebrovascular diseases and recovery after stroke;
• Prospective studies on non-motor and cognitive changes in PD or cognitive impairment and dementia due to cerebrovascular disease ;
• Collaborations in database comparison and data sharing (e.g., hospital-based and community-based studies of PD or stroke).

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

National Institute of Mental Health:

Phuong Kim Pham
Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
301-443-3724 (P)
pp64n@nih.gov

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke:

Yuan Liu
Chief, Office of International Activities
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
301 496-0012
liuyuan@ninds.nih.gov

http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-12-021.html