Full Text PA-96-002

THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT:  PHASE I FEASIBILITY STUDIES

NIH GUIDE, Volume 24, Number 35, October 6, 1995

PA NUMBER:  PA-96-002

P.T. 0705010, 1002030, 1004017


Keywords: 


National Institute of Mental Health
National Institute on Drug Abuse
National Science Foundation
National Institute on Aging
National Institute on Child Health and Human Development
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
National Library of Medicine
Office of Naval Research
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Fogarty International Center
Department of Energy
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
National Institute of Dental Research
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
National Cancer Institute

PURPOSE

This Program Announcement (PA) replaces PA-93-068.  The purpose of
this initiative is to encourage and support investigator-initiated,
neuroinformatics research that will lead to new digital tools for all
domains of brain and behavioral research.  The advanced information
technologies resulting from this research are expected to be put to
wide use by the brain and behavioral science community.  Therefore,
the approaches and technologies studied under the Human Brain Project
will be generalizable, scalable, and extensible, and will use
sophisticated, powerful computational resources.

HEALTHY PEOPLE 2000

The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the health
promotion and disease prevention objectives of "Healthy People 2000,"
a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas.  This PA, The
Human Brain Project:  Phase I Feasibility Studies, is related to the
priority area of mental health and mental disorders.  Potential
applicants may obtain a copy of "Healthy People 2000" (Full Report:
Stock No. 017-001-00474-0 or Summary Report:  Stock No.
017-001-00473-1) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402-9325 (telephone 202-512-1800).

ELIGIBILITY

Applications may be submitted by foreign and domestic, for-profit and
non-profit organizations, public and private, such as universities,
colleges, hospitals, laboratories, units of State and local
governments, and eligible agencies of the Federal government.
Foreign institutions are not eligible for exploratory center (P20)
grants or First Independent Research Support and Transition (FIRST)
(R29) awards.  Racial/ethnic minority individuals, women, and persons
with disabilities are encouraged to apply as principal investigators.

MECHANISM OF SUPPORT

This program will use the research project grant (R01) and
exploratory center grant (P20) mechanisms for supporting
neuroinformatics research.  In addition, the interactive research
project grant (IRPG), which uses the R01 and R29 mechanisms, may be
employed.  Anticipated maximum annual budgets (direct and indirect
costs) at time of award are $230,000 for the R01 mechanism and $1.1
million for the P20 mechanism.  Support may be requested for a period
of up to five years (foreign R01 grants are limited to three years
duration).  Because not all of the Federal organizations
participating in this initiative support all of these mechanisms, it
is important to contact program staff prior to preparing the
application.

R01 Mechanism

The R01 mechanism will be used for research project grants, which
will allow investigators to work on highly focused projects related
to the integration of informatics research with brain and/or
behavioral research.  The R01 mechanism can be used for collaborative
research initiation grants that will be directed towards fostering
the interactions of computer and mathematical scientists or engineers
and brain and behavioral scientists to design and implement novel
technological solutions to particular brain and behavior research
problems.  Applications may include requests for support of expenses
for travel and per diem expenses to several laboratories to initiate
or explore the possibility of setting up a collaboration.  It is
essential that the scientific questions to be pursued and the unique
contribution of each potential group member should be explicitly
stated.

IRPG R01 and R29 Mechanisms

The IRPG allows formal interactions between and among research
efforts that are funded independently.  Since each application is
considered independently, each application must include both an
informatics research component and a brain and/or behavioral research
component.  The IRPG encourages collaborative relationships that do
not require extensive, shared, physical resources.  A minimum of two
independent investigators may submit concurrent, collaborative,
cross-referenced individual R01 or R29 applications.  The proposed
projects must not be dependent on each other to the extent that one
could not be accomplished in the absence of the other.  Applications
that comprise an IRPG group may be from one or more institutions.
Applications will be reviewed independently for scientific merit.
Applications judged to have significant and substantial scientific
merit will be considered for funding both as independent awards and
in the context of the proposed IRPG collaboration. Those interested
in applying for an IRPG should consult Program Announcement PA-96-
001, in this issue (Vol. 24, No. 35, October 6, 1995) of the NIH
Guide.

P20 Mechanism

These awards provide the opportunity for several investigators using
different approaches to focus on a common problem.  P20 Exploratory
Grants will facilitate coordinated communication across disciplinary
and geographic boundaries.  This exploratory mechanism is intended
specifically to support interdisciplinary research and feasibility
studies.  Not all Federal organizations will provide primary support
for P20 grants.  Therefore, prospective applicants should contact
program staff (listed under INQUIRIES) prior to preparing an
application for this mechanism.

Principal Investigator.  Each P20 Exploratory Grant will have a
Principal Investigator with a demonstrated ability to organize,
administer, and direct the grant.  The Principal Investigator must
commit at least 25 percent effort to the grant and be Project Leader
on one of the projects.

Focus of research.  The P20 Exploratory Grants will combine and
integrate informatics research and brain and/or behavioral research
components in an effort to develop novel approaches and technologies
for accomplishing the goals of the Human Brain Project.

P20 Exploratory Grants are characterized by the synergy of their
constituent projects.  Each such grant application must, therefore,
not only demonstrate the interrelationship of its constituent
projects, but also indicate how the inclusion of each project will
enhance the overall goals of the grant.

Group members.  Each P20 Exploratory Grant will be comprised of
several laboratories, projects, and/or cores.  It is expected that
the Project Leaders of the constituent laboratories or projects will
be regarded as leaders in their respective fields.

Information sharing.  In research funded by this mechanism, digital
and electronic communication, especially via computer networks, will
be established among different laboratories, projects and cores
within a given P20 Exploratory Grant group.  With evidence of
adequate electronic communication channels given in the application,
laboratories, projects, and cores participating in a given P20
exploratory grant group need not all be at the same geographic
location.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Background

In 1989, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National
Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Science Foundation
requested the Institute of Medicine to establish a Committee on a
National Neural Circuitry Database.  The Committee's charge was to
consider the desirability, feasibility, and possible ways of
implementing a family of resources, both electronic (e.g., computer
networks) and digital (e.g., databases), for the enhancement of brain
and behavioral research.  After deliberations spanning almost 2 years
and involving more than 150 scientific consultants, the Institute of
Medicine endorsed the concept of mapping the brain and brain
functions and issued several specific recommendations ("Mapping the
Brain and Its Functions:  Integrating Enabling Technologies into
Neuroscience Research," 1991, Institute of Medicine, National Academy
Press).

One recommendation is that this initiative should be implemented in
several phases by the research community.  Phase I will consist of
research feasibility studies that researchers will refine and extend
in Phase II.  The tools resulting from this research and development
will be made available to the scientific community at large in Phase
III.

On April 2, 1993, the Human Brain Project was announced in Program
Announcement (PA) PA-93-068, and published in the NIH Guide (Vol 22,
No. 13, April 2, 1993).  Subsequently, a Notice and Addendum were
published in the NIH Guide (August 27, 1993 and September 16, 1994,
respectively).  The research funded to date under the Human Brain
Project has recently been assessed.  This revised Program
Announcement requests, on behalf of the participating Federal
organizations, research grant applications for Phase I of the Human
Brain Project in areas identified as high priority for this program.
This program announcement supersedes the previous Program
Announcement, Notice, and Addendum, and pertains only to Phase I
activities.

Objectives and Goals

Brain and behavioral research produces data that are very diverse.
This diversity includes the wide range of species (both natural and
transgenic), from invertebrates to humans, from which data are
obtained, as well as the levels of biological organization of
interest, which span all levels, from molecules, to cells and systems
of cells, to the level of behavior, and across the life span.
Behavioral data encompass constructs as diverse as attention,
perception, learning, memory, cognition, emotion, and language.  In
addition to their great diversity, brain and behavioral data are also
vast.  Such data are generated by tens of thousands of researchers
working around the world, and these findings are reported in many
hundreds of journals.  Finally, this information is complex.  There
are innumerable interactions among different aspects studied in brain
and behavioral research; for example, findings at the molecular level
might have important implications for interpretation of behavioral
data.

Keeping track of and integrating this information is beyond the scope
of individual researchers.  As investigators necessarily focus on
more and more detailed aspects of brain structure and function, their
scope of knowledge becomes more specialized and narrow.  This, in
turn, decreases the ability of scientists to make conceptual links
across different areas of study although that ability is precisely
the fuel that has driven much of the progress in the understanding of
the brain and behavior.  Approaches and technologies are needed to
address this issue of information overload.

Informatics research, which draws from computer science, information
science, applied mathematics, statistics, engineering, and related
areas, can contribute to the development of solutions to the problem
of keeping track of and integrating information about the brain and
behavior.  These solutions will be best achieved when brain and
behavioral research are closely integrated with informatics research
through scientific collaboration.

Scientific collaboration bridging brain and behavioral research and
informatics research (i.e., neuroinformatics) promises to advance
both fields.  Neuroinformatics research will accelerate the
understanding of the brain by providing the means to make better use
and sense of data about the brain and behavior.  These include novel
database and querying approaches, data visualization and manipulation
tools, and technologies for data synthesis and electronic
collaboration.  And, driven by the considerable demands made by the
diversity, quantity, and complexity of data about the brain and
behavior, neuroinformatics research will push informatics to expand
the limits of knowledge in that field.  Moreover, it is likely that
solutions devised through neuroinformatics research will be
generalizable to a wide range of scientific, and even broader,
applications.

Program Description

The Human Brain Project is a broadly based Federal research
initiative, sponsored, in a coordinated fashion, by sixteen Federal
organizations from five Federal agencies: the National Institutes of
Health (National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on
Drug Abuse, National Institute on Aging, National Institute on Child
Health and Human Development, National Institute on Deafness and
Other Communication Disorders, National Library of Medicine, the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the National Institute of
Dental Research, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, the Fogarty International Center, the National Institute
of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Cancer
Institute), the National Science Foundation, the Department of
Defense (Office of Naval Research), the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, and the Department of Energy.  Representatives
from all of these organizations comprise the Federal Interagency
Coordinating Committee on the Human Brain Project.  In addition, the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will make
available to Human Brain Project research its supercomputer and other
resources of the Biocomputation Center.

Phase I of the Human Brain Project supports research on advanced
technologies and novel ways to acquire, store, retrieve, manage,
analyze, visualize, manipulate, integrate, synthesize, disseminate
and share data about the brain and behavior, including tools for
electronic collaboration.  The Human Brain Project supports
investigator-initiated projects that include an informatics research
component and a brain and/or behavioral research component, with
these two components well integrated with each other.  Projects that
focus only on archival data are not appropriate for the Human Brain
Project.

Since each application appropriate to the Human Brain Project
includes both an informatics research component and a brain and/or
behavioral science research component, it is expected that each
application will have substantial involvement of informatics
researchers as principal investigators, other key personnel, or as
very active consultants.  It is expected that the multidisciplinary
research components will be well integrated with each other, and will
be true scientific collaborations, rather than parallel efforts.

The research objectives that will have high priority are the
following:

Informatics Research Component

o  Research on databases, querying approaches, and information
retrieval  The diversity of data types in brain and behavioral
research will require databases that can accommodate varied data
types (e.g., textual, graphic, image, time series), querying
approaches that will allow varied databases to be accessed with a
single query, and retrieval of different types of data into a common
information space.  In addition, databases, querying and retrieval
tools will need to be extensible and easily reconfigurable to adjust
to the rapidly changing domain of brain and behavioral research.

o  Research on data visualization and manipulation  Data about the
brain and behavior are extremely complex and highly interconnected.
This high level of complexity requires novel ways to manipulate and
visualize large, interconnected, datasets.

o  Research on data integration and synthesis  As scientific
specialization increases, integration and synthesis of different
types of data and about different aspects of brain structure and
function become increasingly difficult.  Models can serve as
information spaces in which experimentally obtained data of different
types and from different sources can be integrated and synthesized.

o  Tools for electronic collaboration.  The ability to quickly
assemble teams, independent of the geographic location, to address
specific scientific questions would greatly accelerate the pace of
discovery.  Advanced forms of "groupware" with tools for data
acquisition, display, and manipulation would facilitate this ability.

o  Research that builds bridges across existing information tools and
resources.  The tools and approaches developed through support from
the Human Brain Project will be most useful if and when they work
together and can access other databases and tools, such as those
associated with the Human Genome Project and the Macromolecular
Structure Database.

The informatics research component should be future-oriented and seek
to exceed the current state-of-the-art.

Brain and/or Behavioral Research Component

o  Research that includes data and tools for data from biological
levels of organization such as molecules, genes, cells, and systems
of cells, and from behavioral constructs such as attention,
perception, learning, memory, cognition, emotion, and language.
Research that integrates across these levels and constructs is
strongly encouraged.

o  Research that includes structure-function relationships This is
needed at all levels of organization, from the level of the cell to
the level of behavior.

Human Brain Project research is expected to lead to advanced
information technologies and approaches that will probably not be
fully implemented for five to ten years after this Phase I research
is started.  In addition, the tools developed from this research will
likely serve the entire brain and behavioral research community.  In
order to meet the long term nature and breadth of this initiative,
research projects with following characteristics are sought:

o  Generalizable.  For example, algorithms for quantifying
differences in three dimensional reconstructions of data obtained
from electron microscopy should generalize to volume data from
confocal microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging of whole brains.

o  Sophisticated research performed on sophisticated platforms.  The
Human Brain Project is a long term initiative to support research and
development of advanced information technologies.  Computers that are
sophisticated by current standards are likely to be widely available
in five or ten years.  Today's low-end machines are likely to be
obsolete by the time the tools now being researched are made
available to the scientific community at large.

o  Extensible and scalable.  Phase I research efforts will lead to
tools and approaches intended for the scientific community at large,
rather than an individual laboratory. In order to achieve this goal,
it is important that issues of scalability and extensibility are
addressed from the outset.

o  Designed to assess progress.  Since research and development is
ultimately intended to be of use not only to an individual
laboratory, but to a wide range of laboratories, it is important that
methods to assess progress towards achieving the objectives of the
Human Brain Project:  Phase I are addressed.  This includes the
development and documentation of standards by which tools will be
tested for reliability and accuracy.

Although each project supported by the Human Brain Project Phase I
will have an informatics research component as well as a brain and/or
behavioral research component, this initiative will provide support
for an informatics research component to be carried out with ongoing,
already funded, peer-reviewed brain and/or behavioral research.  In
this case, funding for the brain and/or behavioral research may come
from any peer-reviewed source.  If other support is not ongoing,
support will also be provided for both the informatics and the brain
and/or behavioral components.

Each project will report the attainment of proposed specific aims
through progress reports and the timely publication and dissemination
of results, including aspects such as software, database designs, and
source codes.

It is expected that researchers funded by different grants under the
Human Brain Project will communicate; coordination and collaboration
across different Human Brain Project grants is strongly encouraged.
Supplemental funds may be competitively awarded to projects to
support such interactions.  A listing of investigators participating
in Phase I and the types of data, software, or other information that
is available from or through them will be shared among all grantees
to minimize scientifically unnecessary duplication of effort in Phase
I.  Grantees are expected to participate in Annual Spring Meetings of
Human Brain Project Agencies and Researchers.  These meetings will
promote communication among different groups of investigators, and
will be held in the Washington, D.C. area.

Grantees will be encouraged to perfect copyright protection of
software produced as a result of Human Brain Project funding.  These
should include prominent notification in the software and its
documentation that the software is copyrighted. Notification could
consist of the following:

Copyright c [year] by [your name, the names of you and your
colleagues, or the name of your institution] with funding from the
Human Brain Project.

This notification will identify the source of the software and help
ensure that the software can be shared freely while protecting any
commercial rights in it.  In addition, grantees will be required to
agree that they will provide the primary funding organization, upon
its request and at a reasonable cost, a copy of any software produced
under Human Brain Project funding, with the understanding that the
Federal organizations directly involved with the Human Brain Project
will have the right to use such software for internal research and
archival purposes only and will not permit its distribution beyond
those organizations.

Application components related to ethical, legal, and social issues
pertinent to this initiative are encouraged.  Also encouraged are
components of applications that are designed to reach out to the
public, academic, and/or commercial sectors and educate and inform
about the opportunities that are presented by research and
development of neuroinformatics.

Availability of Computational Resources

The choice of computational resources to be used in Human Brain
Project research is entirely that of the applicant, and the range of
appropriate resources extends across the entire spectrum of computer
technology.  Nevertheless, some investigators may be interested in
using, or collaborating with those using, supercomputers, massively
parallel computers, and other advanced technology that may not be
available at their institution.  To facilitate such use and
collaboration, the following information is provided.

The NSF supports High Performance Computer Centers and Science and
Technology Centers.  Individuals considering applications for
supercomputer use should contact these centers early in the
application development process.

Cornell Theory Center
Linda Callahan
514 Engineering and Theory Center Building
Ithaca, NY  14853-3801
Telephone:  (607) 254-8610
Email:  cal@theory.tc.cornell.edu

National Center for Atmospheric Research,
Scientific Computing Division
Visitor/User Information
P.O. Box 3000
Boulder, CO  80307
Telephone:  (303) 497-1225
Email:  scdinfo@ncar.ucar.edu

National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Scott Lathrop
605 East Springfield Avenue
Champaign, IL  61820-5518
Telephone:  (217) 244-1099
Email:  slathrop@ncsa.uiuc.edu

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Robert B. Stock
4400 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA  15213
Telephone:  (412) 268-4960
Email:  stock@psc.edu

San Diego Supercomputer Center
Mark Sheddon
P.O. Box 85608
San Diego, CA  92186-9784
Telephone:  (619) 534-5130
Email:  sheddon@sdse.edu

The ONR also supports a variety of supercomputer facilities.  Those
interested in these resources for Human Brain Project Research should
contact the ONR contact listed at the end of this announcement early
in the process of application development.

In addition, NASA will make available computational resources of the
Biocomputation Center (BC) at Ames Research Center, Moffett Field,
California.  These resources include computer-controlled transmission
electron microscopy for semiautomated 3 dimensional reconstruction of
neural tissue, virtual environments, high-performance workstations,
supercomputers, and massively parallel computers.

A scientist interested in using the BC as part of Human Brain Project
research must submit a written request for facility use to the BC
Director prior to submitting an application to the Public Health
Service.  This request must state the objectives of the intended work
and the approaches to be used.  This request must also provide enough
information to allow BC staff to assess whether or not the intended
use is within the capability of the BC.  In addition, this request
must provide information necessary to allow BC staff to determine the
amount of time the proposed work will require.

The BC staff will provide the requesting scientist an itemized
estimate of the costs for BC resources needed to achieve the stated
objectives.  The scientist will use this estimate as part of the
budget justification in the Public Health Service application for
funds to support the Human Brain Project research.

Requests for BC use are to be sent to:

Dr. Muriel Ross
Director
Biocomputation Center
MS 261-2
Ames Research Center
Moffett Field, CA  94035-1000

INCLUSION OF WOMEN AND MINORITIES IN RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN
SUBJECTS

It is the policy of the NIH that women and members of minority groups
and their subpopulations must be included in all NIH supported
biomedical and behavioral research projects involving human subjects,
unless a clear and compelling rationale and justification is provided
that inclusion is inappropriate with respect to the health of the
subjects or the purpose of the research.  This new policy results
from the NIH Revitalization Act of 1993 (Section 492B of Public Law
103-43) and supersedes and strengthens the previous policies
(Concerning the Inclusion of Women in Study Populations, and
Concerning the Inclusion of Minorities in Study Populations), which
have been in effect since 1990. The new policy contains some
provisions that are substantially different from the 1990 policies.

All investigators proposing research involving human subjects should
read the "NIH Guidelines For Inclusion of Women and Minorities as
Subjects in Clinical Research," which have been published in the
Federal Register of March 28, 1994 (FR 59 14508-14513) and reprinted
in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts, Volume 23, Number 11,
March 18, 1994.

Investigators also may obtain copies of the policy from the program
staff listed under INQUIRIES.  Program staff may also provide
additional relevant information concerning the policy.

APPLICATION PROCEDURES

Applications are to be submitted on the grant application form PHS
398 (rev. 5/95) and will be accepted at the application deadlines as
indicated below.  Application kits are available at most
institutional offices of sponsored research and may be obtained from
the Office of Grants Information, Division of Research Grants,
National Institutes of Health, 6701 Rockledge Drive, Room 3034 - MSC
7762, Bethesda, MD 20892-7762, telephone 301/710-0267, email:
girg@drgpo.drg.nih.gov.  The title and number of the program
announcement, "PA-96-002 THE HUMAN BRAIN PROJECT: PHASE I", must be
typed in Section 2 on the face page of the application.  Before
preparing an IRPG application, applicants should obtain the revised
PA (PA-96-001, NIH Guide Vol 24, No. 35, October 6, 1995), which
includes "Special Instructions."

Each application must clearly articulate the manner in which the
informatics research components relate to, and are integrated with,
the brain and/or behavioral research component(s).  Because Phase I
of the Human Brain Project supports feasibility studies, each
application must describe specific mechanisms proposed to evaluate
the success of the research in terms of feasibility.

R01 and R29 Mechanisms:  For the R01 and R29 mechanisms, applicants
must follow the instructions provided in grant application form PHS
398 (rev. 5/95).  Funds to support travel to the two day Annual
Spring Meeting of Human Brain Project Agencies and Researchers should
be included in the budget for the principal investigator and up to
one additional key member of the research team.

Applications for the FIRST award (R29) must include at least three
sealed letters of reference attached to the face page of the original
application.  FIRST award (R29) applications submitted without the
required number of reference letters will be considered incomplete
and will be returned without review.

P20 Mechanism:  The application must describe the specific research
hypotheses to be tested and how they relate to the overall research
issue to be addressed.  In applications for the P20 mechanism, funds
to support travel to the two day Annual Spring Meeting of Human Brain
Project Agencies and Researchers should be included in the budget for
the principal investigator (the director of the grant), the director
of each subproject and core, and up to one additional key member from
the P20 research team.

For the P20 Exploratory Grant applications only, the Research Plan
Section of PHS Form 398 (Specific Aims, Background and Significance,
Progress Report/Preliminary Studies, and Research Design and Methods)
should be replaced by the following.

General Description of the Overall Project (Not to exceed 10 pages)

The applicant must provide an overview of the proposed project and
its central theme and goals, describe the general objectives, and
explain the proposed contribution of each of the individual projects
and cores in achieving these objectives.  Furthermore, the
administrative arrangements and support necessary to effect the
research should be carefully described in the application.  In
particular, when more than one institutional site is involved, a
detailed description and supporting documentation for the
administrative arrangements must be included.  Detailed information
on collaborations, recruitment, facilities, and resources must also
be provided.

Cores (Not to exceed 5 pages for any one core) The applicant must
describe how each core will contribute to the goals of the overall
project as well as how each individual project will draw upon a
particular core.  The description of each core should clearly
indicate the facilities, resources, services and professional skills
that the facility will provide.

Individual Projects (Not to exceed 15 pages for any one project) The
applicant must describe the major objectives and goals of each
individual project and its relationship to the effort of the entire
group of constituent projects.  In addition, detailed descriptions
should be provided on the following:

Research Plan:  The questions to be addressed and the hypotheses to
be tested by the proposed research should be highly focused and fully
explained.  Full discussion is required on the status of current
research efforts, the limitations of existing approaches, and how the
research questions posed relate to the objectives of the Human Brain
Project.  In addition, the relationship between the brain and/or
behavioral research component and the informatics research component
components should be made explicit, as should the novelty of the
informatics research component.

Experimental Plan:  The description of the experimental design should
provide the specific strategies proposed to accomplish the specific
aims of the project and should include a discussion of the innovative
aspects of the approach.  Nevertheless, the experimental procedures
need not be spelled out in great detail if those procedures have
already been extensively published and accepted by the scientific
community.  New methodology and its advantage over existing
methodologies should, however, be fully described.  Furthermore, the
feasibility of the proposed experiments, the potential pitfalls,
alternative approaches, means of assessing success of research to
meet the objectives of the Human Brain Project Phase I, and relevance
to the goals of the project as a whole should be fully discussed.
The methods to be used should be cited and referenced.

Operational Plan:  A description of the resources and working
arrangements required to implement the research plan should be fully
elaborated.  If a project includes a clinical component, attention
should be devoted to a description of the clinical populations and
tissue resources.  A distinction must be made between those resources
that are already in place (including staff) and those resources that
must be added to carry out the proposed research.

Applications for P20 grant mechanisms will not be accepted from
organizations outside of the United States.

Application Submission

The signed original and three legible copies of the completed
application should be sent to:

DIVISION OF RESEARCH GRANTS
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
6701 ROCKLEDGE DRIVE, ROOM 1040 - MSC 7710
BETHESDA, MD 20892-7710
BETHESDA, MD 20817 (for courier/overnight mail service)

At time of submission, two additional copies of the application must
also be sent under separate cover to:

Michael F. Huerta, Ph.D.
National Institute of Mental Health
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 11-103
Rockville, MD  20857
Telephone:  (301) 443-5625
FAX:  (301) 443-1731
Email:  MHUERTA@HELIX.NIH.GOV

It is important to send these copies at the same time that the
original and three copies are sent to DRG; otherwise, it cannot be
guaranteed that the applications will be reviewed in competition with
other applications received in response to this Program Announcement.

It is recommended that applicants contact the appropriate program
official(s) listed under INQUIRIES and submit a letter of intent.
The letter should include a descriptive title of the proposed
research, the name, address, and telephone number of the Principal
Investigator, names of other key personnel, and participating
institutions.

Although a letter of intent is not required, is not binding, and does
not enter into the review of subsequent applications, the information
that it contains is helpful in planning for the review of
applications.  The letter should be submitted to Dr. Michael F.
Huerta at the address listed under INQUIRIES.  Each letter of intent
will be distributed to all of the sponsoring agencies, institutes and
center.

The next receipt date and review cycles for Phase I Human Brain
Project applications are as follows:

Application Receipt Date:       January 16, 1996
Administrative Review:          January 1996
Scientific Review:              February/March
Advisory Council Review:        May/June
Earliest Starting Date:         July

Dates for submission and resubmission of Phase I Human Brain Project
applications and review cycles for subsequent years, starting with
July 1996 due date for letter of intent, are as follows:

Letter of Intent Receipt Date:  July 1
Application Receipt Date:       October 15
Administrative Review:          October
Scientific Review:              February/March
Advisory Council Review:        May/June
Earliest Starting Date:         July

It should be noted that there is no additional receipt date for
revised applications or for competitive continuations (i.e.,
renewals).  All applications, initial submissions, revised, and
competitive continuations will be received only once a year.

REVIEW CONSIDERATIONS

Applications will be assigned to the appropriate agencies, institutes
and center according to their goals and designs and in accordance
with standard referral guidelines.  Applications that are complete
will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an
appropriate peer review group convened by one of the Federal
organizations sponsoring the Human Brain Project.  As part of the
initial merit review, all applications will receive a written
critique and undergo a process in which only those applications
deemed to have the highest scientific merit, generally the top half
of applications under review, will be discussed, and assigned a
priority score.  Subsequent processing of the application will follow
the procedures of the respective agency, institute and/or center to
which it has been assigned.  For applications assigned to a Public
Health Service (PHS) institute or center, the application will
receive further review by the appropriate National Advisory Council.
All successful projects will be identified as "A Unit of the
NIH/NSF/ONR/NASA Human Brain Project."

Review Criteria

o  Scientific, technical, or medical significance and originality of
proposed research.  In the context of this PA, significance is
exemplified by work that will lead to significant integration of
novel informatics research and brain and/or behavioral research, to
new discoveries, and to new technological developments.

o  Appropriateness and adequacy of the experimental approach and
methodology proposed to carry out the research.

o  Qualifications and research experience of the Principal
Investigator and staff, particularly but not exclusively in the area
of the proposed research.

o  Availability of resources necessary to perform the research.

o  Appropriateness of the proposed budget and duration in relation to
the proposed research.

o  Feasibility and adequacy of the organizational and administrative
plans.

o  Adequacy of plans to include both genders and minorities and their
subgroups as appropriate for the scientific goals of the research
when human subjects are used.  Plans for the recruitment and
retention of subjects will also be evaluated.

The initial review group will also examine the provisions for the
protection of human and animal subjects, the safety of the research
environment, and conformance with the NIH Guidelines for the
Inclusion of Women and Minorities as Subjects in Clinical Research.

AWARD CRITERIA

o  The relevance of the proposed research to the mission of the Human
Brain Project and the areas of high priority for Phase I research

o  Scientific merit of the proposed research

o  Availability of research funds and competing demands of other
research funding requirements

Annual awards will be made subject to continued availability of funds
and progress achieved.  A competing supplemental application may be
submitted during an approved period of support to expand the scope of
a project during the approved period.  A competing continuation
(i.e., renewal) application may be submitted before the end of an
approved period of support to continue a project.

INQUIRIES

Inquiries are encouraged.  The opportunity to clarify any issues or
questions from potential applicants is welcome.  The following
representatives from each of the participating agencies, institutes
and center can be contacted for further information or clarification.
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the agency or
institute representative to discuss their plans prior to preparing an
application.

Michael F. Huerta, Ph.D.
National Institute of Mental Health
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 11-103
Rockville, MD  20857
Telephone:  (301) 443-5625
FAX:  (301) 443-1731
Email:  MHUERTA@HELIX.NIH.GOV

Terry Allard, Ph.D.
Office of Naval Research
Department of the Navy
800 N. Quincy Street, Room 823, Code 342-CS
Arlington, VA  22217-5660
Telephone:  (703) 696-4502
FAX:  (703) 696-1212
Email:  TERRY@TOMCAT.ONR.NAVY.MIL

Patricia Bryant, Ph.D.
National Institute on Dental Research
45 Center Drive, Room 4AN-24K
Bethesda, MD  20892-6402
Telephone:  (301) 594-2095
FAX:  (301) 480-8318
Email:  bryantp@de45.nidr.nih.gov

Jack C. Chow, M.D.
Fogarty International Center
Building 31C, Room B2C11
9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-5903
FAX:  (301) 480-3414
Email:  jchow@helix.nih.gov

Deborah Claman, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging
Gateway Building, Room 3C307
7201 Wisconsin Avenue
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-9350
FAX:  (301) 496-1494
Email:  CLAMAND@GW.NIA.NIH.GOV

Peter A. Clepper
National Library of Medicine
Building 38A, Room 5S518
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD  20894
Telephone:  (301) 496-4221
FAX:  (301) 402-0421
Email:  CLEPPER@NLM.NIH.GOV

Dean Cole, Ph.D.
Office of Health and Environmental Research
U.S. Department of Energy
ER-73, G 137
19901 Germantown Road
Germantown, MD  20874
Telephone:  (301) 903-3268
FAX:  (301) 903-5051
Email:  DEAN.COLE%ER@MAILGW.ER.DOE.GOV

Christopher Comer, Ph.D.
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA  22230
Telephone:  (703) 306-1416
FAX:  (703) 306-0349
Email:  CCOMER@NSF.GOV

Judith A. Cooper, Ph.D.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
6120 Executive Boulevard, Room 400C
Rockville, MD  20852
Telephone:  (301) 496-5061
FAX:  (301) 402-6250
Email:  PFY@CU.NIH.GOV

Walter A. Hunt, Ph.D.
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
6000 Executive Boulevard, Room 402
Rockville, MD  20892-7003
Telephone:  (301) 443-4225
FAX:  (301) 594-0673
Email:  WHUNT@WILLCO.NIAAA.NIH.GOV

Richard Kaplan, M.D.
National Cancer Institute
6130 Executive Boulevard, Room 741-F
Telephone:  (301) 496-2522
Email:  KAPLAN@DCT.NCI.NIH.GOV

James Kiley, Ph.D.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
6701 Rockledge Drive, Suite 7024 - MSC 7920
Bethesda, MD  20892-7920
Telephone:  (301) 435-0199 (Voicemail)
FAX:  (301) 480-3451
Email:  JAMES_KILEY@CU.NIH.GOV

Cheryl A. Kitt, Ph.D.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
7550 Wisconsin Avenue, Room 802
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-1431
FAX:  (301) 402-2060
Email:  KITTC%NINDSFED%NIH@FEDTCP.NINDS.NIH.GOV

Robert Kneller, J.D., M.D., M.P.H.
Fogarty International Center
Building 31, Room B2C11
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-4784
FAX:  (301) 480-3414
Email:  RWK@CU.NIH.GOV

Norman Krasnegor, Ph.D.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
6100 Building, Room 4B05
Bethesda, MD  20892
Telephone:  (301) 496-6591
FAX:  (301) 402-2085
Email:  KRASNEGN@HD01.NICHD.NIH.GOV

Marc Shepanek, Ph.D.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
250 E Street, S.W.
NASA Headquarters Code UL
Washington, DC  20546
Telephone:  (202) 358-2201
FAX:  (202) 358-4168
Email:  SHEPANEK#M#_MARC@SMTPGMGW.OSSA.HQ.NASA.GOV

Karen Sigvardt, Ph.D.
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA  22230
Telephone:  (703) 306-1416
FAX:  (703) 306-0349
Email:  KSIGVARD@NSF.GOV

Karen J. Skinner, Ph.D.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 10A-19
Rockville, MD  20857
Telephone:  (301) 443-1887
FAX:  (301) 594-6043
Email:  KSKINNER@AOADA.SSW.DHHS.GOV

Rochelle Small, Ph.D.
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
6120 Executive Boulevard, Room 400B
Rockville, MD  20852
Telephone:  (301) 402-3464
FAX:  (301) 402-6250
Email:  RIO@CU.NIH.GOV

The National Eye Institute (NEI), while not cosponsors of this
Program Announcement, has continuing interest in the scientific areas
related to the Human Brain Project.  NEI will continue to fund
research on these topics through applications received through the
regular receipt and referral processes of the Division of Research
Grants.  Applicants should contact the relevant NEI program staff for
further information.

AUTHORITY AND REGULATIONS

This program is described in the Catalogue of Federal Domestic
Assistance Nos. 93.242 (NIMH), 93.279 (NIDA), 47.074 (NSF), 93.866
(NIA), 93.865 (NICHD), 93.173 (NIDCD), 93.371 (NCRR), 93.879 (NLM)
and 12.300 (ONR).  Awards are made under authorization of the Public
Health Service Act, Title IV, Part A (Public Law 78-410, as amended
by Public Law 99-158, 42 USC 241 and 285) and administered under PHS
grants policies and Federal regulations 42 CFR 52 and 45 CFR part 74.
This program is not subject to the intergovernmental review
requirements of Executive Order 12372 as implemented through
Department of Health and Human Services regulations at 45 CFR part
100 or Health Systems Agency Review.  Awards by PHS agencies will be
administered under PHS grants policy as stated in the Public Health
Service Grants Policy Statement (April 1, 1994).

PHS strongly encourages all grant and contract recipients to provide
a smoke-free workplace and promote the nonuse of all tobacco
products.  In addition, Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of
1994, prohibits smoking in certain facilities (or in some cases, any
portion of a facility) in which regular or routine education,
library, day care, health care or early childhood development
services are provided to children.  This is consistent with the PHS
mission to protect and advance the physical and mental health of the
American people.

.

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