Notice Number: NOT-NS-10-003

Key Dates
Release Date: November 13, 2009

Issued by
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (http://www.ninds.nih.gov)

Purpose

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) intends to issue a Request for Applications (RFA) to provide support for a redesigned and enhanced Parkinson’s Disease Data Organizing Center (PD-DOC). NINDS is committed to facilitating the collection and sharing of data related to clinical and translational research in Parkinson’s disease, and the active development of a centralized repository of clinical data from both observational studies and clinical trials will strengthen the data sharing efforts in the Parkinson’s disease research community and establish important links between research efforts. The main objectives for this resource include:

• Serve as an enduring repository for data from large clinical research studies in PD, including clinical trials as well as epidemiological and genetic studies, from academia, non-profit disease organizations, and industry. Data will include clinical as well as genetic, imaging, and neuropathology data elements.
• Link clinical data with other data sets including imaging, pathology, genetic, and biospecimens in an easily searchable format. (N.B. This resource will not house specimens, but rather will link clinical data with other data sets.)
• Develop a flexible, open source, web-based data entry system to facilitate the design, implementation, and harmonization of new clinical research studies in PD.
• Serve as a centralized listing of PD related resources (e.g., standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sample collection, antibodies, animal models, etc.).
• Outreach to promote data standardization, data sharing, and usefulness of the PD-DOC resource as well as oversight of data access.

NINDS seeks applicants with the expertise and resources to design and maintain a resource capable of achieving these aims. One award is anticipated with a total budget of $5.5 million (total costs) over 5 years.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop responsive projects. The RFA is expected to be published in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts in December 2009/January 2010 with an anticipated receipt date of April 30, 2010.

This RFA will use the U24 cooperative agreement mechanism. APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Direct inquiries regarding this Notice to:

Wendy R. Galpern, MD, PhD
Office of Clinical Research
NINDS / NIH
6001 Executive Blvd., #2225
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: (301) 496-9135
Email: galpernw@ninds.nih.gov