IDCRC Newsletter: May 2023

IDCRC Admin Profile: Barbara Walsh

Barbara Walsh has served as the IDCRC program manager since December 2019 and will be retiring from Emory this month after 10 years of service. Barbara is an integral part of the IDCRC team and was a part of the original group that helped put together the initial proposal and built the IDCRC from the ground up. We thank her for her dedication and commitment to the IDCRC. The IDCRC team wishes her all the best in her future endeavors.

2023 Annual Meeting

A Look Back at the 2023 Annual Meeting

From April 24 to 26, the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC) hosted its Annual Meeting in Bethesda, Maryland at the NIH Main Campus, bringing together 280 stakeholders from the IDCRC, Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEU), and NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) partners in person and virtually. This year's program highlighted the numerous scientific accomplishments of the IDCRC and VTEUs and provided ample networking opportunities for members.

“It was terrific to get together in person to review and celebrate all that the IDCRC team has accomplished since our last in-person meeting in 2020. For me, the highlights were meeting the mentees, hearing about exciting science, and getting to know some of the VTEU teams I’ve met only on Zoom. It was energizing and inspiring,” shared by Jeanne Marrazzo, LOC co-director, Leadership Group Performance Evaluation co-chair (University of Alabama at Birmingham).

Click below to read more about the meeting, hear from attendees, and save the date for next year's event!

2023 VTEU Highlight: Baylor College of Medicine

This new monthly series will show VTEU highlights from the last grant year, These were created by the IDCRC Leadership Operations Center and are not intended to be a comprehensive list. These infographics were shared as a part of the 2023 IDCRC Annual Meeting Program. 

Event

Save the Date: NFID Women Leaders in Vaccinology
Online Panel Discussion 

Join the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) on Tuesday, June 6, from 10:00-11:00 a.m., for an inspiring and interactive panel discussion featuring influential women leaders in vaccinology working in a variety of professional settings. Panelists will share personal anecdotes and discuss their career paths, successes, and lessons learned while addressing obstacles faced throughout their careers.

Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, NFID Board of Directors, will moderate the discussion with panelists including:

• Donna M. Ambrosino, MD
• Maria E. Bottazzi, PhD
• Julie Morita, MD
• Georgina Peacock, MD, MPH

There is no fee to participate in this activity, but pre-registration is required. Click here to register.

Publications

NOTE: Please include the following citation in any publications resulting from direct or indirect IDCRC support: 

"Supported by the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium through the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, under award number UM1AI148684. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health."

View recent publications below:

• Meningococcal ACWYX Conjugate Vaccine in 2-to-29-Year-Olds in Mali and Gambia
• A Deferred-Vaccination Design to Assess Durability of COVID-19 Vaccine Effect After the Placebo Group Is Vaccinated
• Durability of mRNA-1273 vaccine–induced antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants
• Heterologous SARS-CoV-2 Booster Vaccinations - Preliminary Report
• A Novel Recombinant Influenza Virus Neuraminidase Vaccine Candidate Stabilized by a Measles Virus Phosphoprotein Tetramerization Domain Provides Robust Protection from Virus Challenge in the Mouse Model

Training

Mentee Profile: Elizabeth Hammershaimb, MD

Clinical Fellow, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Dr. Hammershaimb's clinical focus is on antimicrobial stewardship, and research interests in vaccine development and vaccine acceptance/hesitancy. She is interested in developing pediatric vaccines and vaccines against biothreat agents and malaria and in evaluating acceptance of novel vaccines and the role of vaccine hesitancy in vaccination program implementation. 

Mentoring Lectures Series

How to Write a Proposal

Presenter: Dr. Hana El Sahly, MD | Baylor College of Medicine 

Job Postings

• University of Alabama at Birmingham - Program Manager II

• Emory School of Medicine Faculty Position, Pediatric Immunology and Infectious Diseases

• University of South Florida, Research Support Specialist - Infectious Disease

• Northwestern University, Research Study Coordinator, Infectious Diseases

• Cedars Sinai, Postdoctoral Fellow -Infectious and Immunological Diseases Research Center (IIDRC) Arditi Lab

• Joint ID/EIS Fellowship

• Senior Medical Science Liaison – Immunology

• Southern Research Available Positions in Birmingham, AL

Visit the IDSA Career Center to browse over 200 ID/HIV Medicine job postings.

Funding Opportunities

NIH Funding Opportunities Specific to COVID-19
This page contains a listing of active and expired funding opportunities.   

Fundamental Research to Understand the Mechanisms of Neurotropic Virus-mediated Disease (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due July 25, 2023
The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to promote basic research to better understand the mechanisms underlying viral invasion of the central nervous system (CNS), virus- and/or host immune-mediated neuropathogenesis, and the associated clinical manifestations for emerging and re-emerging neurotropic viruses. 

International Research in Infectious Diseases (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
– Due 30 days prior (LOI); Wednesday, August 2, 2023; 2024; 2025 (Full application)
The purpose of this FOA is to support applications for high-priority, regionally relevant infectious diseases research by international investigators in resource-constrained countries.

NIAID Resource-Related Research Projects (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) –
Due 30 days prior (LOI); September 25, 2023; 2024; 2025 (Full application)
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to propose resources that provide significant benefit to currently funded high priority projects in need of further coordination and support in the areas specified. Under rare circumstances, this mechanism may be used to support development of a new resource to the broader scientific community of the NIAID.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Halting Tuberculosis (TB) Transmission – Due January 08, 2026
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to highlight NIAID’s interest in accepting applications that aim to understand the critical drivers of Tuberculosis (TB) transmission at the individual and population levels in high-burden settings. Applicants are encouraged to develop effective methods to measure rates of TB transmission that rely on an increased understanding of the biomedical basis of transmission and related risk factors and to develop and assess potential interventions, including low-cost and low-tech options, to prevent TB transmission.

Advancing Research Needed to Develop a Coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever) Vaccine –Due January 15, 2026
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to highlight NIAID’s interest in supporting research in the areas outlined in the  NIAID Strategic Plan For Research To Develop A Valley Fever Vaccine. The proposed research should have clear relevance to the strategic priorities defined in the strategic plan, which encompasses three major research areas: 1) address gaps in Coccidioides basic research to support the development of a vaccine; 2) develop tools and resources to support vaccine development; 3) develop and advance vaccines to prevent coccidioidomycosis.

News

NEJM Editorial: Global Control of Meningococcal Disease

By David S. Stephens, MD

Building on the work and partnerships that led to the development of the MenAfriVac vaccine, Haidara et al. report in this issue of the Journal on the immunogenicity and safety of an investigational pentavalent (capsular serogroups A, C, W, Y, and X) meningococcal conjugate vaccine, NmCV-5, in 2-to-29-year-olds in sub-Saha- ran Africa. This phase 3, double-blind, randomized, active-controlled trial was conducted in Mali and Gambia and enrolled 1800 African persons. The trial showed the noninferiority of immune responses with the pentavalent vaccine as compared with the licensed quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine MenACWY-D (Menactra; covering capsular subgroups A, C, W, and Y), a diphtheria toxoid conjugate vaccine that was introduced in the United States in 2005.

FDA approves first RSV vaccine, a long-sought scientific achievement

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday, May 3, licensed the first-ever vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, completing an elusive quest that has been decades in the making. The product, GSK’s Arexvy, was approved for adults ages 60 and older.

Experts who have eagerly awaited the advent of RSV vaccines acknowledge there is work to be done to persuade older adults and their doctors of the value of protection against this virus. 

[Ann] Falsey said that while healthy, active people in their early 60s may not need to be vaccinated, for others, the vaccine would offer important protection. “[If] you’re out running marathons and biking 20 miles, and you’re not a smoker, you’ll probably do just fine with RSV. You won’t get terribly sick,” she said. “But there’s a lot of people in that age group that have underlying heart and lung disease. They have [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease]. They have heart failure. And those people are at markedly elevated risk for having a bad outcome.”

IDSA President's Podcast:
Lifting the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

IDSA President Carlos del Rio MD, FIDSA, discusses the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) with White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha, MD, MPH.

IDCRC Studies

IDCRC Concept Quick Stats

NOTE:

• Protocols Transitioned to IDCRC for Protocol Implementation: 5
• Status: Protocol Dev/Pre-implementation: 1; Active Study: 3; Halted 1
• Other studies in process (not from an IDCRC concept): 5

Communication Resources

Please submit IDCRC news to epthomp@emory.edu for inclusion in the monthly newsletter and IDCRC.org.