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Daniel Rotrosen, M.D., Director, DAIT
Dr. Rotrosen announced the following new staff: Susan C. Schafer, R.N.C., M.S. joined the Division as a Nurse Consultant to assist in the coordination and management of the Immune Tolerance Network. Ms. Schafer has many years of experience in the design, implementation, coordination and analysis of clinical research, serving most recently as Clinical Trial Coordinator at Boston University's Schools of Medicine and Public Health in connection with a cooperative study sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Mary C. Smolskis, B.S.N., M.A., joined the staff of the Genetics and Transplantation Branch as Nurse Coordinator for the clinical research programs in transplantation. Ms. Smolskis has had extensive experience in the NIAID Division of Intramural Research with respect to a broad scope of activities relating to the implementation and coordination of clinical trials, including patient recruitment and monitoring, regulatory affairs and interactions with pharmaceutical companies and the Food and Drug Administration, as well as data collection, quality control and analysis.
Dr. Kristy Kraemer, Ph.D., joined the Asthma, Allergy and Inflammation Branch as a Program Officer in January 2000. Dr. Kraemer comes to the Branch after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where she also received her Ph.D. degree in immunology. Prior to her graduate studies she held managerial research and production positions in industry. Her research experience includes the development and mechanistic evaluation of HPV E7 vaccines, gene therapy, studies of MHC class Ib biogenesis and antigen presentation, and protein chemistry. Dr. Kraemer will be responsible for the Branch's inflammation and host defense portfolio.
Dr. Rotrosen announced the following scientific activities:
Asthma and Allergic Diseases Research Centers: In September 1999, the Division awarded a 7-year contract to the University of Chicago to establish the Immune Tolerance Network (ITN). Under the direction of This Request for Applications (RFA), co-sponsored by NIAID and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), was published on April 3, 2000. The RFA will continue support for this long-standing research program with special emphasis on studies of immunologic and other mechanisms underlying human asthma and allergic diseases.
"Action Against Asthma": DHHS Secretary's Asthma Initiative: NIAID, with the support of other NIH Institutes, and other agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services has participated for several years in a working group chaired by Dr. William Raub, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science Policy. In May 2000, this working group published "Action Against Asthma," which defines plans for coordinating DHHS efforts in asthma research, surveillance and public health practice.
The Allergy Report: The NIAID has been collaborating with the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, and other professional allergy organizations, on a task force on clinical practice guidelines for diagnosis, management and prevention of allergic diseases and asthma. In March 2000, the task force published a final document, entitled "The Allergy Report."
Advances in Immunodeficiency Diseases Research: The NIAID, in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the NIH Office of Rare Diseases, the Jeffrey Modell Foundation, and the Immune Deficiency Foundation sponsored the meeting: "Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Immunodeficiency Diseases and their Relationship to Cancer." This meeting, focused on advances in biomedical research that have led to new insights into the etiology and treatment of primary immune deficiency diseases and on the etiology of cancer in patients with primary immune deficiencies.
American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Annual Meeting: The sixteenth annual Symposium on Contemporary Topics in Immunology, was held in Seattle, Washington on May 12-16, 2000, cosponsored by NIAID, AAI and the Clinical Immunology Society. This year's symposium focused on mechanisms of immune tolerance, and included presentations on peripheral T cell tolerance biochemical mechanisms of T cell anergy, and clonal deletion as a requirement for transplant tolerance. The NIAID and AAI cosponsored a workshop on grantsmanship to provide an overview of funding strategies for all levels of investigators and students.
A focus group was organized to discuss NIAID/NIH policies and issues of concern to basic and clinical extramural investigators. Topics of discussion included NIH training policies, the impact of managed care on the ability of universities to sustain quality clinical research, the use of different funding mechanisms to promote research in selected scientific areas, and the importance of supporting translational and clinical research.
Vaccine Immunology Basic Research Centers: a special panel reviewed twelve program project applications solicited by the RFA "Vaccine Immunology Basic Research Centers" in March 2000. From these applications, four projects were recommended for funding in FY 2000. These centers will bring together basic immunologists and clinical researchers to address fundamental issues of human protective immune mechanisms.
PROGRAM REVIEW: TRANSPLANTATION AND IMMUNE TOLERANCE
Ad hoc Council members, guests and staff presented a highly stimulating discussion on current issues in transplantation and immune tolerance. Moderator, and discussant Shiv A. Prasad, Ph.D., Program Officer, Genetics and Transplantation Branch discussed the International Histocompatibility Working Group and Bridging the Gap: Integration of the Nonhuman Primate Cooperative Study Group (NHPCSG) with the Immune Tolerance Network to Facilitate Pre-clinical Approaches to Donor-Specific Tolerance; Stephen Rose, Ph.D., Chief, Genetics and Transplantation Branch discussed an overview of the Immune Tolerance Network. Dr. Prasad introduced the speakers for the topic Current Tolerogenic Approaches in the NHPCSG: an Investigator's Perspective: Dr. Judith Thomas, Ph.D. University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Christian Larsen, M.D., Emory University, and Dr. Alan Kirk, M.D., Naval Medical Research Institute.
Concept Review
Two concepts were presented, and approved.
Cooperative Study Group for Autoimmune Disease Prevention: This initiative is to establish a Cooperative Study Group to develop strategies for the prevention of autoimmune diseases in humans, particularly type 1 diabetes. The program will: 1) advance the understanding of immune homeostasis in diseased and non-diseased states; and 2) develop interventions to prevent human autoimmune diseases, with special emphasis on type 1 diabetes.
Statistical and Clinical Coordinating Center for Stem Cell Transplantation for Autoimmune Diseases clinical Trials (SACCC-STAD):: This initiative will establish a Clinical and Statistical Coordinating Center to support NIAID clinical trials in stem cell transplantation for autoimmune diseases. NIAID is initiating three 5-year contracts that will support consortia of investigators conducting phase II/III efficacy trials of stem cell transplantation for various autoimmune diseases using various conditioning regimens and integrated mechanistic studies.
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