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News Releases: October - December 2006

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• October
• November

October

In an effort to promote the enhancement, adoption, distribution, and evolution of neuroimaging informatics tools and resources, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) today awarded a five-year, $3.8 million contract under the auspices of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research to build the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse.

"The goal of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research is to provide scientists with new tools, resources, and training opportunities through collaborations and pooled resources," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "By building upon significant investments already made in the informatics area, the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse will provide a coordinated, coherent resource for the neuroimaging research community."

Many neuroimaging tools and databases are underutilized because they are neither user-friendly nor easily adoptable and very often not well documented. Under this contract, the Turner Consulting Group (TCG) of Washington, DC, will establish a web-based clearinghouse for neuroimaging tools, vocabularies, and databases to facilitate the dissemination of these resources and the discussion of needs and limitations. It will initially focus on functional magnetic resonance imaging, which can determine the different brain regions that become active during specific motor or cognitive tasks.

"This clearinghouse will be an important and valuable tool for the neuroimaging research community," said National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) Director Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D. "It will ensure that neuroimaging informatics tools and resources are well characterized, documented, and adoptable by the extended research community." NIBIB will manage this contract on behalf of the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience consortium.

Using funds provided by the NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, the clearinghouse contract will establish a web-based system that will provide a home for new research tools and data sets for imaging the brain and nervous system. In addition, this resource will provide ongoing opportunities for public comment regarding particular neuroimaging informatics tools and resources in order to guide development and enhance their use by the neuroimaging research community.

The NIH Neuroscience Blueprint provides a framework for enhancing cooperation among 15 NIH Institutes and Centers, with an emphasis on supporting and making broadly available tools and resources for the neuroscience research community. For more information, visit http://neuroscienceblueprint.nih.gov.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to improving human health through the integration of the physical and biological sciences. The research agenda of the NIBIB seeks to dramatically advance the Nation's health by improving the detection, management, understanding, and ultimately, the prevention of disease. Additional information and publications are available at http://www.nibib.nih.gov.

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The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced the award of the first Quantum Grant on "Neuro-Vascular Regeneration," to the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Karen K. Hirschi, Deputy Director of the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine is the principal investigator on the grant. Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge, Head of the Division of Developmental Genetics at the National Institute for Medical Research in London is the co-principal investigator. These investigators will coordinate the efforts within the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, on this multidisciplinary international collaborative project.

The overall goal of this project is to engineer neuro-vascular regenerative units in a laboratory environment, which can then be implanted into the damaged cortex of stroke patients to provide a source of neural and vascular cells that will continue to develop and differentiate and lead to the repair of stroke-injured tissue.

The NIBIB Quantum Grants Program has been developed to make a profound (quantum level) advance in health care by funding research on targeted projects that will develop new technologies and modalities for the diagnosis, treatment or prevention of disease.  More information on this project and the Quantum Grant program can be found here: http://www.nibib.nih.gov/Research/QuantumGrants.

"We are pleased to award our first Quantum Grant to Dr. Hirschi and her team for this innovative and exciting project," said NIBIB Director Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D. "We look forward to witnessing the results that will be achieved in the animal studies and, later, as these studies are translated to humans. This project has the potential to profoundly improve the treatment of patients affected by ischemic stroke."

Dr. Hirschi is an expert in the field of vascular development and she will coordinate the efforts of a highly qualified multidisciplinary project team with complimentary expertise in developmental neurobiology, stem cell biology, genetics, biomedical imaging, tissue engineering, and clinical cellular therapies.

"I am delighted and honored to be working with a world-class team of scientists, each of whom has significantly contributed to the advancement of their fields of research, and who will now be able to devote substantial efforts to integrating their work, so that we can better help stroke victims by developing units for neuro-vascular regeneration," said Dr. Hirschi.

The Quantum Grant team within the United States includes Dr. Mary Dickinson, Assistant Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics at Baylor College of Medicine, who was a co-developer of this project; Dr. Jennifer West, the Cameron Professor of Bioengineering and Director of the Institute for Biosciences and Bioengineering at Rice University; Dr. Thomas Zwaka, Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine; and Dr. Malcolm Brenner, Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, and the Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine.

The Quantum Grant team within the United Kingdom will be led by the project's co-principle investigator Dr. Robin Lovell-Badge, an expert in genetics and developmental biology, and includes Dr. Jack Price, Professor of Developmental Neurobiology, and the Director of the Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London; and Dr. Mike Modo, a Lecturer in the Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College.

"Progress in science often occurs when separate disciplines collide, each able to contribute something special toward solving a problem. This is why I am so excited about the research that will be supported by this award," said Dr. Lovell-Badge. "The grant will allow us to discover new information about stem cells in the brain, how they can be manipulated within and outside the body and, we hope, facilitate the development of a treatment for stroke, one of the most common causes of disability, severely affecting quality of life of patients throughout the world."

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to improving human health through the integration of the physical and biological sciences. The research agenda of the NIBIB seeks to dramatically advance the Nation's health by improving the detection, management, understanding, and ultimately, the prevention of disease through technology. Additional information and publications are available at http://www.nibib.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) - "The Nation's Medical Research Agency" - includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

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The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announces the appointment of Dr. Richard Leapman as the Scientific Director of its Intramural Research Program. As Scientific Director, Dr. Leapman will be responsible for planning, evaluating, and directing all aspects of NIBIB's intramural research.

"Dr. Leapman is a highly respected scientist with tremendous support across the NIH. His enthusiasm, energy, and perspective on the most promising research opportunities and directions in the future will be critically important as the NIBIB advances its Intramural Program," said NIBIB Director Roderic I. Pettigrew, Ph.D., M.D. "I am delighted that he will be leading our Intramural Research Program."

"The new intramural research program of NIBIB provides exciting opportunities to develop innovative imaging and bioengineering technologies related to both clinical and basic biomedical sciences," said Dr. Leapman. "As a beginning, I envision that components of our program will serve as points of focus for the current trans-NIH research initiative, "Imaging from Molecules to Cells", as well as for initiatives in nanotechnology and nanomedicine. In this regard, I look forward to NIBIB's collaboration with other institutes at the NIH to apply these new technologies to a wide range of biomedical research. I am proud and honored to be given this opportunity to develop and lead this effort."

Prior to his appointment at NIBIB, Dr. Leapman was the Acting Director of the Division of Bioengineering and Physical Science in the Office of Research Services at NIH. He served in a dual capacity as the Chief of the Supramolecular Structure and Function Resource. Dr. Leapman received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Cambridge, England.

Dr. Leapman's research interests are in the development and application of quantitative electron microscopy and the application of novel nanoscale imaging methods to solve problems in structural and cellular biology. He has been particularly active in developing the techniques of electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and combining it with x-ray spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) to provide an unprecedented high spatial resolution for nanoanalysis of biological structures. Dr. Leapman has devised new methods for quantifying both elemental and chemical information obtained from inelastic electron scattering, a research area in which he has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Leapman has been an active member of the scientific community. He has been an officer or board member of many scientific review and professional society committees, and is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Burton Medal from the Microscopy Society of America, the Samuel Wesley Stratton Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and two NIH Director's Awards. Over the years, Dr. Leapman also has served on various editorial boards of scientific journals and is currently serving as the editor of the "Journal of Microscopy."

Dr. Leapman will assume his new position effective October 29, 2006.

The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), a component of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is dedicated to improving human health through the integration of the physical and biological sciences. The research agenda of the NIBIB seeks to dramatically advance the Nation's health by improving the detection, management, understanding, and ultimately, the prevention of disease. Additional information and publications are available at http://www.nibib.nih.gov.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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November

Researchers have developed a new technology that makes it possible to image and quantify molecules within individual mammalian or bacterial cells, according to a recent study published in the Journal of biology. The work was funded by the National of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), part of the National Institutes of Health.

Claude Lechene, M.D., of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, worked with a team of scientists from around the world to develop multi-isotope imaging mass spectrometry (MIMS). Mass spectrometry is an instrumental method of separating ions of different mass and charge in order to analyze composition.

MIMS has applications in all fields of biology, allowing researchers to generate a quantitative three-dimensional atomic mass image of a biological sample. The image is constructed by scanning a beam of cesium ions across the surface of the biological sample. The cesium beam ionizes a fraction of the surface atoms, which are then directed into the input of a multi-channel "secondary ion" ion mass spectrometer developed by Georges Slodzian, from the Université Paris-Sud in France. By enriching the diet of experimental animals with specific metabolites labeled with stable isotopes (13C, 15N), MIMS can be used to give quantitative, three-dimensional images of the metabolic "turn-over" of proteins, DNA, RNA, sugars and fatty acids at a sub-cellular level (e.g., 50 nm resolution), without the use of radioactive tracers.

While MIMS approaches cannot be used directly for in vivo human imaging studies, they can be used to provide quantitative micro-images of sub-cellular processes that underpin human disease. One of the examples in the article was the demonstration that, in replicating cells, protein “turnover” was substantially higher in the nucleus than in the cytoplasm. Another example was the demonstration that MIMS could be used to follow infiltration of rare donor-derived spleen cells into recipient lymphoid tissue. MIMS approaches could thus be used to validate and quantitative MRI “cell tracking” approaches that can, in principle, be used to track magnetically labeled stem cells and immune cells in humans. MIMS approaches could also be used directly to study autoimmune or metabolic diseases in humans using biopsy samples.

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On behalf of the trans-NIH informatics consortium (BISTIC) and the conference co-chairs, we announce the NIH Knowledge Environments for Biomedical Research (KEBR) Conference, to be held in bethesda, Maryland, on December 11 and 12. This is a public meeting, but attendance will be limited to 120. You must register to attend, though there is no regeistration fee (http://www.esi-bethesda.com/ncrrworkshops/kebr/index.aspx).

BACKGROUND - Knowledge environments are essential to allow the integration and interoperation of digital data, informatics and computational tools, and data resources. These knowledge environments are defined by the explicit understandings of concepts related to the data upon which they compute. Key data-related concepts include: What the data represent, how one type of data relates to another, how these terms and relationships are defined in the real-world, and how those definitions are related to each other. Controlled vocabularies, specified ontologies, and explicitly defined data models are components of knowledge environments that help mediate among data-related concepts. Such community-wide knowledge environments are necessary to best sophisticated computational approaches on the full range of research questions posed by any given community. As data are increasingly acquired in digital form, and as computational approaches become evermore powerful, it seems that the time is right to consider the manner in which community-based knowledge environments might best be developed and maintained.

PURPOSE OF CONFERENCE - The purpose of this national conference is to identify strategies that could be used to develop, sustain, and enhance knowledge environments for computation on biomedical data. An example of one strategy is “top-down,” in which central direction is given to the field; the other extreme example is “bottom-up,” where a knowledge environment somehow emerges from the undirected activities of a research community. In all likelihood, the best strategy is something in-between. This conference will help to identify the features of such “in-between” strategies that would work well for biomedical research, in general, and will help to identify those research communities for which the general strategy might not suffice. The strategies identified at the conference will be discussed subsequently with the leadership of numerous trans-NIH and multi-Institute/Center informatics initiatives, with the goal of adoption and implementation of the strategies by those initiatives. It is expected, therefore, that this conference will have a significant impact on the manner in which broad informatics and other computational frameworks are elaborated, and how the pertinent research communities will engage in that process.

CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS - Dr. Francine Berman (Director, San Diego Supercomputing Center) and Dr. John Glaser (Vice President and CIO of Partners HealthCare) are co-chairs of this meeting. The planning group is convened under the auspices of the trans-NIH informatics consortium (BISTIC) and co-chaired by Michael Huerta (NIMH), Carol Bean (NCRR), and Peter Good (NHGRI). Funding for this conference is through support form many NIH Institutes and Centers.

OVERVIEW - The conference will address three broad areas that are important to take into account for knowledge environment development: information representation, user-driven design, and sociocultural issues. On the first day, three plenary presentations will be made about existing informatics projects in the context of these three topics. For each plenary talk, designated discussants will provide provide focused questions and commentary. The plenary talks are meant to stimulate thought and discussion that will then carry over into the break out groups.

The second day will will focus on discussions of particular questions in six break out groups. Each group will consider the same questions, with the hope of identifying convergent and divergent views on these critical issues. The break out groups will report back to the group as a whole. These reports, and discussion about them, will be used to work toward a general strategy that might be used for developing, sustaining and enhancing knowledge environments for informatics initiatives supported by the NIH, its institutes and centers.

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The National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) today announced the appointment of four new members to its Advisory Council. The Council serves as the principal advisory body to NIBIB, a component of the National Institutes of Health within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The Council, which meets three times a year, provides recommendations on the conduct and support of biomedical imaging and bioengineering research and research training.

The new Advisory Council members are:

REBECCA MARY BERGMAN, B.S., is Vice President of Science and Technology at Medtronic, Inc. Ms. Bergman holds a B.S. degree in chemistry from Princeton University, and has completed graduate studies in chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota. She has served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Minnesota where she has taught courses in biomedical engineering. Since joining Medtronic, Ms. Bergman has been a leader in the advancement of biologically oriented sciences in the company. She oversees Medtronic's Materials and Biosciences Center, the Technical Knowledge Center, innovation programs and other corporate technology initiatives. Previously, Ms. Bergman held scientific and research and development management positions of increasing responsibility within Medtronic. She has received several of the company's highest honors, including membership in the Bakken Society, an honorary society for Medtronic's most distinguished scientific and technical contributors.

RICHARD LORNE EHMAN, M.D., is a member of the Mayo Clinic Board of Governors and is Professor of Radiology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. Dr. Ehman has a medical degree from the University of Saskatchewan, and did fellowships at the University of California, San Francisco, and at the Mayo Clinic. Dr. Ehman, who holds more than 20 patents, is known for a number of MRI inventions which have made dramatic improvements in the technology and have become technique mainstays adopted throughout the industry. This includes methods for eliminating flow and motion related image artifact, synchronizing the scan to an individual person's respiration pattern, and measurement of the mechanical properties of tissue. Dr. Ehman's current research is on nuclear magnetic resonance phenomena, including investigation of new methods for high resolution magnetic resonance imaging of moving structures, techniques of ultrafast MR imaging, and methods for noninvasive assessment of the vascular system. Dr. Ehman was awarded the Gold Medal of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) in 1995 for his research contributions and was elected President of the society in 2002. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and the American College of Radiology. He served as a member of the Radiology and Nuclear Medicine Study Section of the NIH from 1995-99 and returned to serve as Chair of that study section from 2002-2004.

KATHERINE WHITTAKER FERRARA, PH.D., is Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Following B.S. and M.S. degrees from California State University, Sacramento, Dr. Ferrara received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Davis. Dr. Ferrara was a principal member of the research staff at the Riverside Research Institute, New York, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Cornell University Medical School. In addition, she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Dr. Ferrara is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectronics and Frequency Control. She has conducted research and written extensively on medical imaging and biomedical signal processing, particularly in the areas of ultrasonics and acoustics.

DAVID SATCHER, M.D., PH.D., former Surgeon General of the United States and Assistant Secretary for Health at DHHS, is currently Director of the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities and the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Satcher received his M.D. and Ph.D. (cytogenetics) from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Satcher was Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in Atlanta, Georgia from 1993 to 1998. Following the end of his term as Surgeon General, he became a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, DC. Prior to joining DHHS, he was President of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Satcher is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and Macy Faculty Fellow. He is the recipient of many honorary degrees and numerous distinguished honors, including top awards from the American Medical Association and the American College of Physicians.

Members of the Advisory Council are drawn from the scientific communities, are appointed for 4-year terms, and represent all areas within the Institute's research mission.

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