Notice Number: NOT-AI-18-039

Key Dates
Release Date: July 9, 2018

Issued by
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

Purpose

The purpose of this Notice is to update the research areas of focus for PAR-17-267 “Modeling of Infectious Disease Agent Study Research Projects (R01)” to inform the applicant community of an additional area of interest by NIAID for Computational, Mathematical, and Statistical Model Research. NIAID encourages the development of powerful integrative data access and visualization tools for HIV research.

Part 2. Section I. Funding Opportunity Description

Research Areas

Areas of research could include, but are not limited to:

Current language:

II. Computational, Mathematical, and Statistical Model Research

Since the purpose of the FOA is to support research that will develop, improve, and apply computational tools and methods, proposals should focus on the development and improvement of mathematical, computational, and statistical methods for studying infectious disease that will assist public health decision makers. Applicants should take account of the needs of the public health and research communities in designing and producing models.

Areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual development of models.  Underlying theories, including assumptions and approaches, strengths and weaknesses, should be clearly explained. Applicants should take into account the needs of the communities (i.e., public health, policy and decision making) that will be end users of the products of the research.  Other potential areas of research include (1) tools for archiving, managing, integrating querying, retrieving, and visualizing model results; (2) analytical and statistical tools for interpreting and using large data sets or model results; and/or (3) platform-independent translational tools for data exchange, interoperability, and exchange of models, tools, and results.  Computational, mathematical, and statistical research proposed should be future-oriented, fill an area of need or projected need, and exceed the current state of the art.
• Model verification and validation.  The applicant must propose steps to verify that methods employed behave as expected, that is, that the software or equations have been reviewed, tested, and documented.  Validation is an important goal but may or may not be possible, depending on the nature of the model. Indeed, approaches to validation of stochastic dynamic models is an important research topic. Applicants should explain how they will approach model validation.
• Dissemination.  One product of MIDAS research groups may be software tools that are of value to the public health, research, and policy and decision-making communities. Software tools developed with MIDAS support will be available, where feasible, to researchers, educators, the public health community, and government organizations.  Software tools should be designed and developed in collaboration with the user community, and with the MIDAS Information Technology Resource. Include a plan for software dissemination.

Revised language:

II. Computational, Mathematical, and Statistical Model Research

Since the purpose of the FOA is to support research that will develop, improve, and apply computational tools and methods, proposals should focus on the development and improvement of mathematical, computational, and statistical methods for studying infectious disease that will assist public health decision makers. Applicants should take account of the needs of the public health and research communities in designing and producing models.

Areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

• Conceptual development of models.  Underlying theories, including assumptions and approaches, strengths and weaknesses, should be clearly explained. Applicants should take into account the needs of the communities (i.e., public health, policy and decision making) that will be end users of the products of the research.  Other potential areas of research include (1) tools for archiving, managing, integrating querying, retrieving, and visualizing model results; (2) analytical and statistical tools for interpreting and using large data sets or model results; and/or (3) platform-independent translational tools for data exchange, interoperability, and exchange of models, tools, and results.  Computational, mathematical, and statistical research proposed should be future-oriented, fill an area of need or projected need, and exceed the current state of the art.
• Model verification and validation.  The applicant must propose steps to verify that methods employed behave as expected, that is, that the software or equations have been reviewed, tested, and documented.  Validation is an important goal but may or may not be possible, depending on the nature of the model. Indeed, approaches to validation of stochastic dynamic models is an important research topic. Applicants should explain how they will approach model validation.
• Dissemination.  One product of MIDAS research groups may be software tools that are of value to the public health, research, and policy and decision-making communities. Software tools developed with MIDAS support will be available, where feasible, to researchers, educators, the public health community, and government organizations.  Software tools should be designed and developed in collaboration with the user community, and with the MIDAS Information Technology Resource. Include a plan for software dissemination.
• Visualization. Data visualization tools can facilitate interactive exploration and identification of new patterns, and may elucidate descriptive and predictive inferences of associations, risk, and causation. HIV prevention, transmission dynamics, and the care continuum research could be advanced by access to data visualization approaches. NIAID will support development of powerful tools for integrative data access and visualization for HIV research that addresses the dynamics of HIV across temporal, spatial, and biologic dimensions as well as social networks and viral transmission clusters. Novel tools for integrating, querying, retrieving, and visualizing data that are meaningful to the science of HIV research and disease dynamics are also of interest. Software tools developed with MIDAS support will be available, where feasible, to researchers, educators, the public health community, and government organizations.  Software tools should be designed and developed in collaboration with the user community, and with the MIDAS Information Technology Resource.

All other aspects of this FOA remain unchanged.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Misrak Gezmu, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 240-669-5232
Email: [email protected]