Notice Number: NOT- HL-06-126

Key Dates
Release Date: May 10, 2006

Issued by
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), (http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/)

The purpose of this Notice is to announce the intention to re-issue during Summer 2006 a Request for Applications (RFA) to solicit applications to develop and validate new and innovative engineering technology and approaches to address clinical problems related to energy balance, intake, and expenditure.  Eventually these research tools should facilitate therapeutic advances and behavioral changes to address such problems as weight control and obesity. 

This Notice is to encourage investigators who believe that they have sufficient expertise to begin considering applying for this RFA program. The receipt date for applications would be in the Fall of 2006. 

The technology anticipated from the RFA is expected to be developed by engineers and physical scientists who effectively collaborate with life scientists with relevant expertise in obesity and nutrition.  Institutes and Agencies anticipated to participate in the RFA include the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The re-issued RFA is expected to target additional areas that were not emphasized in the original RFA (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HL-04-022.html). One of the primary goals of the re-issued RFA is to place greater emphasis on the engineering and the physical sciences. To help to achieve this, the NSF and the NIH are co-sponsoring a workshop on Engineering Approaches to Energy Balance and Obesity (see http://www.nsf.gov/eng/cts/workshops/obesityworkshop/). The workshop is intended to identify additional relevant research topics for the RFA, to educate physical sciences researchers on the topic, and to promote vigorous dialog between obesity and nutrition researchers, and engineers and scientists working relevant areas.  The workshop is also expected to help facilitate the formation of effective interdisciplinary teams to develop the needed technologies and tools for energy balance and obesity research.  The re-issued RFA is also expected to emphasize technologies that may be specifically applicable to the study of energy balance aspects of gene-environment interactions.

The research community should also be aware of companion Program Announcements (PAs) for SBIR applications (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-055.html) and STTR applications (https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-06-056.html). The purpose of these PAs is to encourage and enable engineers and scientists at small businesses to develop and evaluate new technologies, instrumentation, and medical devices to better assess appropriate biomedical parameters and provide feedback and/or therapy to reduce the prevalence of obesity and overweight.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Interested parties may contact:

Abby G. Ershow, Sc.D.
Program Officer
Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Two Rockledge Center, Suite 10193, MSC 7956
6701 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-7956 (Express 20817)
Phone (301) 435-0550
Fax (301) 480-2858
Email: ErshowA@mail.nih.gov

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	Office of Extramural Research (OER)			National Institutes of Health (NIH) 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20892			Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
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