IDCRC Newsletter: June 2024

IDCRC Profile: Jeffrey Lennox, MD

Jeffrey Lennox, MD is the co-director of the IDCRC Clinical Operations Unit and will be retiring, effective June 30, 2024, after a three-decade-long career at Emory University and the Grady Health System in Atlanta, GA. 

“Working with Jeff at the IDCRC Clinical Operations Unit has been both educational and rewarding. His insights and guidance on clinical trial issues, drawn from his experiences, have been invaluable. His questions always targeted the root cause, leading to better solutions. Beyond work, Jeff’s sense of humor brightened our days. And the geological rock pictures he shared added a unique touch to our conversations,” says Noelle Myler, CCRA, FHI 360 project director for the IDCRC.

We thank him for his many contributions to infectious disease research and to the IDCRC network over the years.

Mentoring & Career Development Committee 

Call for Nominations

The Mentoring & Career Development Committee (MCDC) Program is accepting nominations for their third cohort. If you would like to recommend a junior investigator for this program, please communicate with your VTEU PI. Formal nominations will be requested via email and submitted by the VTEU PIs.

The new cohort will be invited to join the current cohort this fall and will have an official start in January 2025.  The deadline for nominations is July 15, 2024.

About the MCDC Program:
The Mentoring and Career Development program fosters the development of junior investigators in clinical and translational infectious diseases research. The IDCRC believes that the success of research leading to new vaccines and therapeutics depends on a vibrant well-trained cadre of young investigators. The program includes up to 20 early-career investigators (faculty and fellows) across ten VTEUs. The program is structured as a two-year program which includes mentoring advisory meetings, lectures and seminars, and other opportunities tailored to the mentee’s career goals.

For questions, please reach out to IDCRC@emory.edu.

Publication

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."

• Seasonal human coronavirus humoral responses in AZD1222 (ChaAdOx1 nCoV-19) COVID-19 vaccinated adults reveal limited cross-immunity

Event

Save the Date: 2025 Annual Meeting

Save the date! Next year’s annual meeting will take place from April 30-May 1, 2025. We look forward to seeing you there.

Date: April 30-May 1, 2025
Location: NIAID Fishers Lane Building
5601 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, MD, 20892 

More details to follow!

News

Lara Danziger-Isakov recognized by
the American Society of Transplantation

Lara Danziger-Isakov, MD, MPH, chair, LG Mentoring, Career Development and Training Committee, was recently honored during the American Society of Transplantation annual meeting on June 3. She received the following awards in recognition of her exceptional leadership and clinical innovation.

• Physician of Distinction Award: recognizes outstanding transplant physicians whose careers are focused on clinical care.
• 2024 Dr. Robert “Bob” Rubin Infectious Disease Community of Practice Award: annual recognition of outstanding achievement and significant contributions to transplant infectious disease.

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Danziger-Isakov on these well-deserved recognitions!

Carlos del Rio elected to the
National Academy of Medicine Council

Training

Monthly Mentoring Lecture Series: June 2024

LOU Support of Clinical Protocols
Presenter: Chris Posavad, LOU Co-Director | Fred Hutch

Job Postings

 Infectious Diseases Research Job Openings

• Boston Medical Center (BMC) - Research Project Manager, Infectious Diseases  *New*

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - Faculty Position, Department of Infectious Diseases - Transplant  *New*

• Northwestern University - Assistant/Associate Professor of Pediatric Infectious Disease – Tenure Track   *New*

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center - Faculty Position: Physician, Infectious Disease Service, Department of Medicine  

• UT Southwestern - Infectious Diseases Research Scientist 

• Yale Ciencia Initiative Research Associate  

• Joint ID/EIS Fellowship

Visit the IDSA Career Center to browse other 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.    

Center of Excellence for Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity across Biological Scales (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)  – Due 30 days prior (LOI); Tuesday, July 30 (Full application)
The purpose of this FOA is to support the establishment of one (1) Center of Excellence (CoE) to coordinate the research community of infectious and immune-mediated disease (IID) computational modelers and advance IID modeling research across biological scales. 

International Research in Infectious Diseases (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due August 2, 2024; 2025
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support applications for high-priority, regionally relevant infectious diseases research by international investigators in resource-constrained countries. Applicant organizations must be headquartered in foreign (non-U.S.) resource-constrained countries (i.e. low-income economies, lower-middle-income economies, and upper-middle-income economies by World Bank Classification).

Small Business Transition Grant for New Entrepreneurs (R43/R44 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) (R41/R42 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)  – Due 30 days prior (LOI); Thursday, September 5, 2024; January 5, 2025; April 5, 2025; 2025; 2026; 2027 (Full application)
The purpose of this FOA is to foster the advancement and accelerate the growth of early-career scientists transitioning to entrepreneurship by simultaneously supporting their entrepreneurial development and the conduct of research and development under their direction.

NIAID New Innovators Awards (DP2 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) – Due 30 days prior (LOI); November 11, 2024; October 10, 2025  (Full application)
The NIAID New Innovator Award supports postdoctoral and other candidates in non-independent positions or newly independent Early Stage Investigators of exceptional creativity who propose novel, original and insightful research concepts with the potential to produce a major impact, test scientific paradigms, or advance key concepts on broad, important problems in biomedical research of priority to NIAID. Applications proposing unexpected convergence of disciplines, new scientific directions, or the use of novel methodologies are encouraged. Applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds and in any topic relevant to the mission of NIAID are welcome.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Advancing Research Needed to Develop a Universal Influenza Vaccine – Due January 8, 2025
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to support research that contributes to the areas of interest outlined in “A Universal Influenza Vaccine: The Strategic Plan for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.” The proposed research should have clear relevance to the research objectives defined in the strategic plan, which encompasses three major research areas:

• Improve understanding of transmission, natural history and pathogenesis of influenza virus infection
• Characterize influenza immunity and correlates of immune protection
• Support rational design of universal influenza vaccines

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Competitive Revision Supplements to Existing T32 Programs to Include Institutional Research Training in Data Science for Infectious and Immune Mediated Diseases – Due January 8, 2025
This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) solicits competitive revision applications from existing T32 recipients to support additional training slots within the NIAID Data Science Training Program (NDSTP) for pre-doctoral data science training. Applications must propose a data science training program that will include research and mentoring opportunities, as well as coursework for pre-doctoral biomedical trainees. Through this NOSI, applicants may increase the number of training slots beyond the T32 maximum allowed; the training slots proposed via this NOSI must support trainees pursuing a data science curriculum. It is anticipated that an application will propose 2-3 additional data science training slots and 3-4 awards are expected.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Halting Tuberculosis (TB) Transmission – Due March 13, 2025; 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.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Complement in Fundamental Immunology – Due January 8, 2026
The main objective of this program is to support studies that accelerate our understanding of the roles of complement components and/or receptors in the initiation, magnitude, maintenance, and quality of immune responses involved in pathogenic infections, vaccination, post-infection sequelae, autoimmunity, allergy, or transplantation. The results of such studies will inform the development of vaccines or therapeutics that target complement components. The work to be encouraged includes studies of the roles of complement components (molecules and/or receptors) during immune responses.

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.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Using Targeted Degradation of Protein and non-Protein Targets for the Development of Novel Anti-Infectives – Due July 17, 2026
The purpose of this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to invite applications for research on the use of targeted protein and nonprotein degradation (e.g., RNA) as it relates to the development of anti-infective strategies against viral, bacterial, parasitic, and fungal pathogens and/or their toxins (e.g., Lethal and Edema Toxins of Bacillus anthracis). Both novel monofunctional (e.g., Molecular Glues) and hetero-bi/tri-functional (e.g., PROTAC or PROTAC-like) strategies will be considered.

Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Research to Stimulate Development of Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Vaccines for Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) – Due April 6, 2027
This notice of special interest (NOSI) encourages applications which are focused on development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for herpes simplex virus (HSV). In September 2023, the NIH released the NIH Strategic Plan for HSV Research. The strategic plan focuses on four strategic priorities: HSV virology basic research, better HSV diagnostics, strategies to address HSV treatment and cure, and research to prevent HSV infection. This NOSI focuses on furthering the development of new products for prevention of HSV infection, as well as improving the diagnosis and treatment of patients living with herpes, addressing three of these four strategic priorities.

IDCRC Studies

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Communication Resources

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