Support of multi-component, multi-disciplinary projects that address important scientific questions relevant to AIDS prophylactic vaccine discovery research.

The HIVRAD program is designed to fund projects that further address hypotheses crucial to the design of an efficacious HIV/AIDS prophylactic vaccine. Applications for five years of support should include plans that have advanced past the exploratory stage and include preliminary data. Less fully developed applications can request less than 5 years of support to establish feasibility. Applications aimed at developing or optimizing a specific vaccine platform should lay out a research pathway with clear decision points. Extensive modeling of vaccine concepts in non-human primates may be included.

Clinical studies involving human subjects or vaccine research focused solely on therapeutic applications are not considered appropriate and will not be funded under this FOA.

Letter of intent due date: May 13, 2012

Application budgets are not limited, but need to reflect actual needs of the proposed project.

Award Project Period: Scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum period is 5 years.

For further information, see: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-12-087.html

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), invites research applications for projects focused on preclinical development of candidate technologies (including adjuvants) that would improve vaccine effectiveness and/or simplify vaccine delivery to patient populations during a natural outbreak of an infectious disease or following the intentional release of an infectious agent. Applications must include a Product Development Strategy attachment and demonstrate substantive investment by at least one industrial participant.

Letter of intent due date: May 26, 2012

Award budget: Budgets for direct costs of up to $750,000 per year may be requested. In addition, applicants may request up to a total of $300,000 for major equipment in the first year of the award to ensure that research aims can be met and biohazards can be contained.

Scope of the proposed project should determine the project period. The maximum period is 5 years.

For further information, see: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-AI-12-014.html

Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to encourage innovative and unconventional global health and development solutions, is now accepting grant proposals for its latest application round. Applicants can be at any experience level; in any discipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for profit companies.

Proposals are being accepted online until May 15, 2012 on the following topics:

• New Approaches for the Interrogation of Anti-malarial Compounds
• Aid is Working. Tell the World
• Design New Approaches to Optimize Immunization Systems
• Explore New Solutions in Global Health Priority Areas
• Protect Crop Plants from Biotic Stresses From Field to Market

(please see this link for more information about each topic: http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/TopicsOverview.aspx)

Initial grants will be US $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to US $1 million.

The FEBRUARY 2012 issue of the ISID NEWS (the official newsletter of the International Society for Infectious Diseases) is now available online at http://www.isid.org/publications/isid_news/ISIDnewsletter201202.shtml.

ISIDNEWS

Letter from the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee of the 15th ICID, Bangkok

Plenary Speakers:
Treating Hepatitis B in 2012 – C.L. Lai (China)
Finding a Cure for HIV: The Need for Science, Collaboration and Advocacy – S. Lewin (Australia)
Infection Control – D. Pittet (Switzerland)
The Future of Dengue – D. Gubler (Singapore)
Vaccines for Cholera, Shigellosis and Typhoid – J. Clemens (Republic of Korea)
Confronting TB in the Era of HIV – S. Lawn (South Africa)

Updated Scientific Program
For more information, go to http://www.isid.org/icid/symposia.shtml
15th ICID Participating Organizations, Premier Sponsors and Sponsors

The 4th IMED will be held in Vienna, Austria on February 15-18, 2013

If you wish to modify your membership status at ISID please contact the Society at info@isid.org.

This program will support skills training and career development of scientists in malaria research from Southeast Asian countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam). This program aims to build local research capacity by providing grant support to postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty on malaria-related topics.

Focus Areas

• Biostatistics
• Entomology
• Epidemiology
• Immunology
• Antimalarial drug resistance

Process for submission
Applicants should submit a covering letter, current CV, relevant support documents, at least one letter of reference, and up to a 5-page training application. If an applicant is actively employed, a letter from their current employer, chair, or director should also be submitted indicating their support for the required 50% commitment. A final application document (in PDF) should be emailed to Liwang Cui (luc2@psu.edu) and Guiyun Yan (guiyuny@uci.edu) by May 31, 2012. For more details, please download the PDF document "ICEMR training", and contact the Office of Research Services for advice and assistance.

The Small Grants Program is designed to fund pilot research projects by young investigators in developing countries. The goal is to support and foster the professional development of young individuals (less than 40 years of age) in the field of human infectious diseases research by helping them to acquire additional skills and data to apply for other grants. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to investigations of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis or treatment of infectious diseases, the epidemiology and control of hospital-acquired infections, and modeling of cost effective interventions.

Proposals will be reviewed by members of the Professional Development Working Group and decisions made in collaboration with the President and the Program Director.

Upon completion of the project, a written report of the project must be sent to the Society. The Society encourages recipients of grants to present their results at scientific meetings and to submit them for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

For more information, see: http://www.isid.org/grants/grants_small.shtml

MMV welcomes projects in the hits-to-lead stage for new families of molecules specifically addressing the key priorities of the malaria eradication agenda: transmission blocking and prevention of P. vivax relapse. Proposals for chemical series with the potential for P. falciparum chemoprevention or blood stage efficacy as a result of long-half lives are encouraged, though the project should already have initial confirmation of in vivo oral blood stage activity. Early target validation falls outside of our mandate.

In the clinical arena, MMV welcomes proposals for the clinical development of new chemical entities. We have a strong pipeline of new molecules, and so welcome applications regarding capacity building to develop new sites for first-in-patient testing of these new molecules, including both blood stage, transmission blocking and vivax anti-relapse capabilities.

Grant: US$50,000 (10 grants available)

Further instructions and application templates can be found at http://www.mmv.org/research-development/10th-call-proposals

Submissions should be completed on 3 pages of A4. MMV will only receive submissions electronically; please see the templates and contact details on the MMV website.

There are two stages to the process of seeking funding of a project through the Medicines for Malaria Venture. The first stage is a concise 3 page LOI outlining the project using the guidelines and templates provided. These letters will be competitively assessed by MMV and MMV$B!G(Bs Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC). A short-list of projects will then be invited for the submission of a more detailed proposal, which will be presented and discussed at the MMV offices in Geneva, in a face-to-face meeting (later in 2012) with MMV and MMV ESAC.

MMV funding is highly competitive and it is in your interest to present all relevant data as completely and as concisely as possible.

All applications using the specified templates should be sent electronically to proposals@mmv.org

Deadline: 15 March 2012

For more information on MMV grants, see: http://www.mmv.org/newsroom/news/do-you-have-idea-could-revolutionize-malaria-drug-discovery

AFRIMS is currently seeking a partner in Cambodia to conduct high quality research to develop new drugs and vaccines to prevent and treat malaria. AFRIMS currently has product candidates in both advanced preclinical and clinical development which may be suitable for licensure. Because drug resistance is the most important threat to effective malaria prevention and treatment, the product development program is combined with antimalarial drug resistance surveillance. Resistance to nearly all currently used antimalarials has been reported in Cambodia, making the development of new effective antimalarials a high public health priority.

Research will be focused on development of new products to include drugs and vaccines, improved use of existing antimalarial drugs, and active epidemiologic surveillance for drug resistance. The research will take place at AFRIMS established clinical research sites and/or facilities within Cambodia, or at new sites approved by the Cambodian Ministry of Health and/or other appropriate authorities.

For more information, please see: here

The Center of Ethical Reinforcement for Human Research and representatives of the four Institutional Review Boards of Mahidol University (Siriraj Institutional Review Board, The Committee for Research Ethics (Social Sciences), Ethical Review Committee for Human Research Faculty of Public Health, and Mahidol University Institutional Review Board for Nursing) conducted an admiring survey of the Ethics Committee (EC) of the Faculty of Tropical Medicine (FTM), Mahidol University on 5 January 2012. The objective of this admiring survey was to learn from and share the experiences of the FTM EC experiences. Activities included discussing the FTM EC structure, observing documentation and archiving procedures at the EC office, observing an ethical review meeting, conducting the initial review of a research project, delivering the meeting minutes, reviewing the Committees' CV and SOPs, and interviewing the EC Chairperson, Secretary, Lay-person and Assistant Secretary. Finally, the admiring survey team presented a summary of survey findings.

Researchers at the Center of Excellence for Antibody Research (CEAR), Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University have successfully developed 11 clones of human monoclonal antibodies using the hybridoma technique with SPYMEG cells. The antibodies are capable of neutralizing all 4 serotypes of the dengue virus with more than 90% efficacy.

These 11 antibody clones have been awarded a patent in the United States (patent number 61/532605). The patent is shared between TropMed inventors, Dr. Pongrama Ramasoota and Dr. Chayanee Setthapramote, and Osaka University researchers, Dr. Kazuyoshi Ikuta, Dr. Tadahiro Sasaki, Dr. Yoshinobu Okuno. Therapeutic applications of these 11 antibody clones will be further investigated by CEAR in futures studies. Currently, there are no approved vaccines for dengue available.

A message of the European Federation of Parasitologists to all Societies of Parasitologists !

Dear parasitologist,
Next summer we may have the opportunity to meet again at the XITH EUROPEAN MULTICOLLOQUIUM OF PARASITOLOGY which will be held at Cluj-Napoca, Romania: 25-29 July 2012. Information is available at http://www.zooparaz.net/emop11/index.html.

To stimulate the participation to this event of students and young scientists, the European Federation of Parasitologists (EFP) offers awards and scholarships. These awards and scholarships are granted by the contribution of all European Societies of Parasitologists, members of the EFP.

Student scholarships: The European Federation of Parasitologists grants 25 student scholarships covering the Congress fees. Candidates should be students and nationals of a country attached to European Federation of Parasitologists (see list at http://europfedpar.monsite-orange.fr/page2/index.html ) and participating in an investigation carried out in a European Centre. If you wish to apply for these scholarships, please check the details and conditions at http://www.zooparaz.net/emop11/efp_scholarship_2012.pdf

Young Scientist Awards: The European Federation of Parasitologists also offers 6 Young Scientist Awards. Three prizes (400, 600 & 1000 Û) will be awarded in "Research in Basic Parasitology" and three prizes (400, 600 & 1000 Û) will be awarded "Research in Applied Parasitology". A diploma will be given during the closing ceremony and EMOP registration fees will be refunded. Candidates must be less than 35 years old and be a national of one of the European country members of the EFP. If you wish to apply for these awards, please check the details and conditions at http://www.zooparaz.net/emop11/efp_ysa_2012.pdf.

Looking forward in meeting you soon in Cluj-Napoca !

Pr Jean Dupouy-Camet (1st Vice President of the European Society of Parasitology)

The Mahidol-Osaka Center for Infectious Diseases (MOCID), which operates under the Center of Excellence for Antibody Research (CEAR), held its first Evaluation Meeting of research projects. The Meeting was opened by Dr. Tamaki Okabayashi, the Vice Director of MOCID.

Progress reports were delivered for projects entitled: "Generation of mouse monoclonal antibodies specific to tropical diseases," by Dr. Promsin Masrinoul of MOCID; "Co-existence of major and minor viral population from two different origins in patients secondarily-infected with Dengue virus serotype 2 in Bangkok," by Ms. Orapim Puiprom of MOCID; "Epitope mapping of human monoclonal antibodies against dengue virus," by Ms. Chonlatip Pipattanaboon of TropMed; and "In vitro biological interaction of Dengue and Chikungunya viruses co-infection," by Dr. Rutcharin Potiwat of the Department of Medical Entomology; as well as others.

A comprehensive evaluation was given by Dr. Taroh Kinoshita and the Evaluation committee from the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University.

Grand Challenges Canada is seeking emerging innovators (within 10 years of graduation from a Masters level or PhD) from developing countries. The program is looking for innovative ideas to address complex real world challenges that involve a scientific or technological solution (new or existing) alone or in combination with social and/or business innovations. For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/sFPYsT

This grant opportunity is open until March 23, 2012.

This program aims to tap into the creativity, knowledge and skills of emerging innovators from low- and lower-middle income countries to solve some of the most persistent health challenges in the developing world through scientific/technological, business, and social innovation. We call this approach Integrated Innovation.
We are looking for innovative ideas to address complex real-world challenges that involve a scientific or technological solution (new or existing) alone or in combination with social and/or business innovations.

From a Social Innovation perspective – are there social innovations (including health systems, the determinants of health, ethical/social/cultural/legal frameworks, public policies, leadership and human resources among others) that will be necessary to bring the scientific/technological solutions that are developed to scale in local communities in an appropriate manner?
From a Business Innovation perspective – are there appropriate business systems in place to produce and deliver the scientific/technological solution at an affordable pricepoint?

Grand Challenges in Global Health is seeking letters of inquiry for the new grant program Discover New Ways to Achieve Healthy Growth. This program will invest US $15 million in research to discover the causes of growth faltering during the first 1000 days of life and to identify effective and affordable interventions to promote healthy growth. For more information, please visit http://www.grandchallenges.org/GrantOpportunities/Pages/healthygrowth.aspx

This grant opportunity will be open until January 25, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time.

The Healthy Growth program will seek to discover new pathways or mechanisms that will aid the development of new interventions to prevent intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), stunting, and wasting of newborns and infants in the developing world.

A growing body of evidence indicates that the first 1,000 days following conception is a critical window of time for growth and proper function of a wide range of organs and tissues. The developmental environment, which includes nutrients, hormonal signaling, and pathogen exposure has serious consequences for health in infancy, childhood, and later life.

While application of existing interventions is important, universal application during pregnancy and early life in 99 percent of children would only decrease stunting by only one third. Therefore new research is needed to address the underlying biological mechanisms that lead to these adverse developmental outcomes, including examination of the role of infection, inflammation, and nutritional deficiency.

The Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University was awarded renews recognition by the Strategic Initiative for Developing Capacity in Ethical Review / Forum for Ethical Review Committees in Asia and the Western Pacific Region (SIDCER / FERCAP) for attaining both international and local standards for ethical review The Certificate of Recognition was presented at the 11th FERCAP General Assembly at the Inter-Burgo Hotel, Daegu, South Korea 20-23 November 2011.

The past few weeks have been some of the most difficult for Thailand, including parts of Bangkok. Floodwaters reached heights of more than 2 meters in several areas and stagnant waters have persisted for over a month. The Faculty of Tropical Medicine, being an institution that specializes in infectious disease and water-borne disease research, sought to assess the risk of contracting such diseases for residents in inundated areas.

Associate Professor Pratap Singhasivanon, the Dean of the Faculty, led a research team that surveyed several districts in Nakhon Pathom. The research team consisted of experts from the Faculty of Tropical Medicine's Departments of Tropical Hygiene, Helminthology, Protozoology, Social and Environmental Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology. Donning chest waders, Dr. Pratap and his team traveled through the flood waters to collect field samples, talked with residents, and observed the flood damage. In addition to testing the flood waters for known water-borne pathogens, Dr. Pratap and his team will also evaluate the likelihood of an outbreak of Anopheles spp. mosquitoes, a known vector of malaria and dengue.

Pictures were provided by Mr. Patiwat Sa-angchai.

To promote world-standard research and our core mission, the Faculty of Tropical Medicine has created the Dean's Research Fund, to provide support to promising researchers and research projects. The Dean's Fund Committee is now calling for applications for Round #2 of 2011.

For the Full Announcement <click here>
To download the Application Form <click here>

For further information, please contact Paul Adams or Tim Jackson at the Office of Research Services

Application Deadline: Wednesday, 30 November 2011

The Dean's Research Fund, which is funded through a collaborative and collegial partnership with the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, and the Wellcome Trust/MORU/Oxford University, was established earlier this year. It aims to expand TropMed's capacity to conduct high-standard, innovative research. After meeting to discuss the applications in June, the Dean's Research Fund Committee decided to fund 6 projects. The awardees and their projects are:

1. Dr. Mallika Imwong - Molecular characterization of drug resistance in P. vivax.
2. Dr. Pannamthip Pitaksajjakul - Therapeutic and diagnostic human monoclonal antibodies against chikungunya virus.
3. Dr. Prakaykaew Charunwatthana - The efficacy of antimalarial treatment for Plasmodium vivax at the Thai-Cambodian border, Thailand.
4. Dr. Santi Maneewatchararangsri - Development of an antigen-based immunodiagnostic test for acute febrile illness caused by Leptospira spp.
5. Dr. Supatra Thongrungkiat - The effects of different temperatures on the interaction between Aedes mosquitoes and dengue virus, especially viral susceptibility, dissemination, transmission, and disease pathogenesis
6. Dr. Wirichada Pan-ngam - Mathematical modeling to design a preparedness plan for the emergence of leptospirosis due to flooding and other environmental changes in Thailand

The award ceremony for the Dean's Research Fund (Round #1, 2011) is scheduled for 31st August 2011. Round #1 is granting a total of 3.45 million Baht to TropMed researchers. The Call for Applications for Round #2 (2011) of the Dean's Research Fund will be announced soon.

Bangkok to meet with their subcontractee, Dr. Jetsumon Prachumsri, Head of the Mahidol Vivax Research Center. Their visit included traveling to Dr. Jetsumon's field laboratory at the Kanchanaburi Tropical Disease Research Center. The University of South Florida and the Faculty of Tropical Medicine are discussing ways to expand their existing excellent collaborative relationship.

In addition to our partners from the University of South Florida, Dr. Anavaj Sakuntabhai from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, visited TropMed to discuss the launch of the EU-supported DENFREE project. The DENFREE project, which will be managed by the ORS, is expected to start in January 2012, with a kick-off meeting on Koh Chang, Thailand.

by each new unit head in the morning and a series of special scientific lectures in the afternoon.

The four new research units include the following: (1) The Center of Excellence for Antibody Research (CEAR), which will be headed by TropMed's Deputy Dean for Research, Dr. Pongrama Ramasoota; (2) the Mahidol Osaka Center for Infectious Diseases (MOCID), which will be headed by Dr. Kazuyoshi Ikuta from the Osaka University Department of Virology; (3) The Mahidol-JST-JICA Friendship Laboratory; and (4) the BIKEN Endowed Department of Dengue Vaccine Development, which will be headed by Dr. Eiji Konishi, from the Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine Division of Vaccinology.

The scientific seminar portion of the ceremony focused on current advances in monoclonal antibody technology and its uses in dengue treatment, as well as a recounting of achievements that collaboration between TropMed and Osaka University has made possible. With the establishment of these new facilities, TropMed researchers hope new innovations in dengue treatment and antibody technology will be in the near future.

The Thai-Myanmar border has historically had a high prevalence of malaria, making it a focus for many malaria control projects and policies. Especially after artemisinin resistance emerged in the region, new research and innovation in this region seems to be the key to carrying out WHO's plans for malaria eradication. The EC went to observe the projects of Dr. François Nosten, who is currently conducting clinical trials for various malaria medications and and in vivo studies on medication resistance.

SIDCER/FERCAP representatives observed the EC project review process and offered suggestions for improvement.

All accreditations were renewed for The Faculty of Tropical Medicine EC, allowing them to continue ensuring that all research at the Faculty adheres to international ethical standards. The EC has been accredited with SIDCER/FERCAP since 2008, and is one of only ten recognized accredited ECs/IRBs in Thailand.