IDCRC Newsletter: August 2022

Memorable IDCRC Moment & VTEU PI Profile: 

Robert W. Frenck, Jr. MD

Dr. Frenck, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit PI, recently threw the first pitch at the Cincinnati Reds baseball game versus the St. Louis Cardinals.

Event

                Save the Date: IDCRC Meet & Greet

IDCRC Meet & Greet at ID Week

Date: October 19, 2022
Location: Marriott Marquis Washington DC 
901 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20001 ​​​
Scarlet Oak Room 
Time: 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Contact: Monica Farley

News

Leading Women Under 40: Dr. Meagan Deming

Dr. Meagan Deming, Assistant Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine found it incredibly humbling to impact the course of the pandemic through her role in COVID-19 vaccine research. She served as vice chair of the mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccine trial,  a collaboration between investigators at the UMSOM’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health and the Institute of Human Virology.

“I’m truly honored to have been named amongst this exceptional group of young female leaders,” Deming said. “These women are trailblazers who will have a lasting impact professionally and within their communities.”

Emory VTEU PI, Nadine Rouphael, MD explains ‘Next-generation vaccines’

The Hope Clinic of Emory Vaccine Center is participating in a clinical study of second-generation COVID-19 vaccines developed by Gritstone Oncology. The work is being conducted through the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC). Gritstone’s investigational COVID-19 vaccines incorporate elements of the SARS-CoV-2 virus beyond the spike protein, which is what currently available vaccines target. “This research is an important test of approaches that could help us manage SARS-CoV-2 viral variants and possibly provide flexible immunity,” says Nadine Rouphael, executive director of the Hope Clinic and professor of medicine in the SOM.

Booster Protection Against Omicron Wanes After 3 Months, Study Finds

According to the June study, most boosters—whether from Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson—did offer strong protection against Omicron. Specifically, they elicited high levels of neutralizing antibodies against an early strain of Omicron, BA.1. However, by three months after the booster shot, antibody levels decreased between 2.4- and 5.3-fold.

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Training

Mentee Profile:

Erin Scherer, PhD DPhil

Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases; Director, Hope Clinic VTEU Research Laboratory, Emory University

Dr. Scherer's research centers on studying immune mechanisms that underlie durable and protective antibody and B cell responses to human pathogens, so that we and others may more reliably develop vaccines that provide long-lasting immunity and therapies that prevent disease. Her laboratory also sustains a human immunology program to support clinical studies for vaccine and therapeutic development. 

2022 IDSA Med Ed Community of Practice Clinician Educator Coaching Program – Applications due September 6

Please see the mentee application and application link for the Coaching Program. If you are a faculty member looking to grow your career as a medical educator, this is a great tool to support you.

NOT-OD-22-200 - Free NIH Virtual Events for Early Career Scientists

• Navigating Early Career Funding Opportunities - September 15 | 1:00-3:30 p.m. ET
• NIH Grants Conference culminating with the two-day Grants Conference February 1-2, 2023. (Previously called the NIH Virtual Seminar)

Job Postings

• Joint ID/EIS Fellowship

• Post-doctoral Fellow - HIV Cure- Chahroudi Lab

• Postdoctoral Fellow - HIV/SIV persistence and cure – Chahroudi Lab

• 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.   

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Towards Developing a Cure for HBV in HIV/HBV Co-Infection – Due September 5
The purpose of this NOSI is to encourage applications for support of innovative basic, translational, and clinical research to identify and address the unique challenges to achieving HBV cure in the presence of HIV. 

NIAID Investigator Initiated Program Project Applications (P01) – Due September 7
The proposed programs may address scientific areas relevant to the NIAID mission including the biology, pathogenesis and host response to microbes, including HIV; the mechanisms of healthy immune system development and function across the lifespan; and immune dysfunction resulting in autoimmunity, immunodeficiency, allergy, asthma and transplant rejection; and translational research to develop vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics to prevent and treat infectious and immune-mediated diseases.

NIH Director's Pioneer Award (DP1-Clinical Trial Optional): RFA-RM-22-018 – Due September 9
The NIH Common Fund announces the FY2023 funding opportunity for the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award in the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program. The Pioneer Award supports scientists with outstanding records of creativity proposing pioneering approaches to major challenges in any area of science relevant to the broad mission of NIH.

A Multi-omics Approach to Immune Responses in HIV Vaccination and Intervention (P01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – LOI Due September 13
The purpose of this FOA is to support multi-disciplinary, multi-component applications proposing the use of omics technologies to advance preventative and/or therapeutic vaccinations, and/or immunomodulatory cure interventions for HIV. Projects will integrate omics, computational and hypothesis-driven experimental approaches to interrogate immune responses to HIV vaccination and/or cure strategies.

Partnerships for Development of Vaccines Against Select Enteric Pathogens (R01) – Due September 14
The purpose of this FOA is to solicit research applications focused on advancing the development of vaccine candidates against Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Salmonella enterica serotype Paratyphi A, and two Shigella species, Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei.

Career Awards for Medical Scientists – Due October 4
The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 awards over five years for physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career, to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service.

Identification & Characterization of Bioactive Microbial Metabolites for Advancing Research on Microbe-Diet-Host Interactions (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due October 10
The purpose of the FOA is to invite applications to identify and characterize microbial metabolites that will establish causal associations between microbial metabolism and host health and disease.

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Clinical Data and Safety Management Center (CDSMC) (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due October 30
This FOA supports a broad range of critical support services, including data management and processing, safety and pharmacovigilance management, and processing, and sample tracking systems for NIAID-funded clinical trials, integrated studies of underlying mechanisms, clinical studies (e.g., longitudinal studies, genetic studies, etc.), and studies to identify and validate surrogates/biomarkers of immune-mediated diseases in the areas of asthma and allergic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and transplantation.

Ecology & Evolution of Infectious Disease – Due November 16
Supports research on the ecological, evolutionary, organismal and social drivers that influence infectious diseases and increase quantitative and/or computational understanding of pathogen transmission dynamics.

Identifying Host Cell Death Pathway Targets for Host-Directed Therapies for Treatment of Mtb & Mtb/HIV Co-Infection (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due December 7
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support mechanistic studies on host cell death pathways and their effect on immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and Mtb/HIV co-infection to identify immune targets for the development of host-directed therapies.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Opportunities for HIV Cure Interventions at the Time of ART Initiation – Due January 7
The purpose of this NOSI is to identify new opportunities for cure interventions administered during active HIV infection at or near the start of antiretroviral therapy (ART) or as a potential replacement for conventional ART, with the ultimate goal of achieving a sustained ART-free HIV remission.

IDCRC Studies

IDCRC Concept Quick Stats

NOTE:

• Protocols Transitioned to IDCRC for Protocol Implementation: 5
• Status: Protocol Dev/Pre-implementation: 3; Active Study: 2
• 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.