Programs and Activities Highlights
- NIH Research Festival
NIH’s Intramural Research Program hosted the annual NIH Research Festival, which highlights groundbreaking intramural science and provides an opportunity for the scientific community to share and connect. The festival took place on the NIH main campus in September 2024. ORIP presented two posters at the festival, in the category of research support services. One of the posters featured information on ORIP’s various resources (e.g., aquatic, rodent, nonhuman primate, biological materials and reagents, other comparative models). The other poster highlighted the critical infrastructure that ORIP supports through the S10 Shared Instrumentation Programs, as well as the impact that S10-supported instruments have on research across the United States.
- Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Construction Supports Inclusive Immunology Research and Proactive Initiatives
ORIP published a research highlight in August 2024 featuring the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF). ORIP’s Extramural Construction Programs supported renovations to facilities for research in molecular immunology and genetics, cardiovascular biology, and autoimmune diseases at OMRF. With this funding, OMRF has been able to expand the breadth of its research, recruit exceptional scientists and trainees, and foster exciting collaborations across Oklahoma and the nation. OMRF has formed partnerships with local Tribes; as a result, OMRF and Tribal clinicians were able to identify better blood markers for the Oklahoma Tribal citizens and change the way that rheumatic diseases are screened for.
- S10-Funded Work Featured on Nature Genetics Cover
A recent paper, titled A common flanking variant is associated with enhanced stability of the FGF14-SCA27B repeat locus, was featured on the cover of the July 2024 issue of Nature Genetics. This international study describes a common flanking variant that is associated with enhanced stability of repeat locus. These findings offer insight into the mechanism protecting against tandem repeat expansion, a known cause of more than 40 neurological disorders, including schizophrenia. This work received support through ORIP’s S10 shared instrumentation programs (S10OD026880 and S10OD030463) and was performed using 1,027 samples from the NIH All of Us Research Program.
- Fourteenth Comparative Medicine Resource Directors Meeting
ORIP convened its Fourteenth Comparative Medicine Resource Directors Meeting on August 6–7, 2024. This biennial meeting serves as a pivotal platform for ORIP-supported resource directors to share cutting-edge information, discuss advancements, foster collaborations, and explore future directions for resource management and development in comparative medicine. The overarching theme was advancing biomedical research through integrative approaches and innovations, including emerging complementary models, technologies, and methodologies. The DPCPSI Director reinforced NIH’s commitment to rigor and reproducibility and novel alternative methods.
- Immunological Dysfunction in Long COVID Patients Characterized Using ORIP S10-Funded Equipment
ORIP published a research highlight in July 2024 featuring research by Dr. Nadia Roan, Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Roan is using an S10-funded instrument to better understand the state of the immune system in patients with long COVID and identified significant changes in immune cells from the blood of individuals experiencing long COVID. Dr. Roan’s study sheds light on possible underlying causes of long COVID and uncovers biological changes that might serve as biomarkers of long COVID or targets for therapies to cure this debilitating condition.
Read more in the archive.
Collaborations with Other NIH Institutes/Centers/Offices
- National Primate Research Centers: Requesting and Allocation Procedures
ORIP, in collaboration with the National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs), hosted a public webinar in September 2024 to showcase the unique resources and capabilities available to investigators utilizing nonhuman primates in their research. Session presentations by the NPRC Directors and Associate Directors provided a comprehensive overview of the process for requesting animals and detailed the NPRCs’ criteria and procedures for prioritizing, reviewing, and allocating these resources. The webinar was recorded and posted to the ORIP website for future viewing by grantees and NIH staff.
- Training, Workforce Initiatives, and Community Engagement (TWICE) Team Meeting
ORIP staff were invited to present at the Training, Workforce Initiatives, and Community Engagement (TWICE) team meeting with the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) on September 19, 2024. ORIP and ODSS discussed the potential of co-funding S10 grants on computational resources, data science, and artificial intelligence, as well as other future collaborations.
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Signs on to S10 Funding Opportunity
ORIP continues to strategically expand coalition building with more NIH institute and center (IC) partners to broaden its NIH-wide resource and infrastructure support. The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering recently signed onto the S10 funding opportunity, catalyzed by DPCPSI leadership. These IC partnerships will contribute to the S10 program’s future success.
- Awards Funding Policy
ORIP issued its Fiscal Year 2024 Awards Funding Policy on its website. ORIP is committed to funding the largest number of meritorious projects possible, while allowing the flexibility needed to support selected program priorities and respond to emerging scientific opportunities.
- NIA Support for NHP Colony for Aging Research
NIA committed to supporting an aging NHP colony at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) for another 5 years. This is a commitment of $581,663 (total costs) per year for 5 years (2024–2028, inclusive). The ONPRC grant, together with the aging component, was released in May 2024. The goal of this colony is to provide animals for the study of aging processes on all body systems.
Read more in the archive.
