SOLICITATION NOTICE
A -- An Integrated Approach to Understanding Host-Pathogen Interactions
- Notice Date
- 2/3/2011
- Notice Type
- Presolicitation
- NAICS
- 541711
— Research and Development in Biotechnology
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Office of Acquisitions, 6700 B Rockledge Room 3214 MSC7612, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-7612
- ZIP Code
- 20892-7612
- Solicitation Number
- NIAID-DMID-NIHAI2010100
- Point of Contact
- George W Kennedy, Phone: (301) 451-2607
- E-Mail Address
-
kennedyg@mail.nih.gov
(kennedyg@mail.nih.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- SYNOPSIS Introduction: The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) supports research related to the basic understanding of microbiology and immunology leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and medical diagnostics for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. The NIAID, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, has a requirement to establish multi-disciplinary centers that focus on understanding at a molecular level the host-pathogen interaction using a systems biology approach. Description: The primary goal of the activities carried out under this contract will be to investigate and identify the metabolic, regulatory, signaling, and other biological pathways generated by host-pathogen molecular interactions to help explain and predict clinical manifestations of infectious diseases, host responses, disease progression, and outcomes. Studies will focus on persistent or recurrent infections with well-defined, highly-specific phenotypes. Examples of such infections include, for example, tuberculosis, malaria, leishmaniasis, histoplasmosis, and infections caused by cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes virus, Salmonella spp., Group A streptococci, and Chlamydia trachomatis. Although a systems biology approach could be used to investigate complex biological events, such as cell behavior or microbial communities, the focus of this contract is only on molecular cellular events of the interaction of the pathogen and the host, such as those involved in the biological, biochemical and biophysical processes of microbial organisms or in pathogenesis and disease progression in humans. Each multi-disciplinary center, composed of teams of investigators with a wide breadth of skills and scientific and technical expertise, will carry out these investigations through one or more Research Projects. The research findings of such projects should have the potential to be applicable or relevant to a variety of pathogenic organisms, which may help to identify common molecular mechanisms that cause persistent and recurrent infections and should lead to a better understanding of the biological, biochemical and biophysical processes of host-pathogen interaction or of the initiation and progression of infectious diseases in humans. Examples of Research Projects include: • predict, identify and quantify changes in expression of the transcriptome or proteome of both the host and the microbial organism in a human macrophage culture model during various stages of persistent and recurrent infection of the host. • predict, identify and quantify the transcriptional, regulatory and metabolic response of the host's immune response system in various stages of persistent and recurrent infection. • develop models that predict metabolic and regulatory networks that will facilitate the identification of genes that may be coding for virulence determinants and contribute towards the progression of persistent and recurrent infection and disease in different host cells; verify experimentally. • apply transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics profiling to assay the network state of infected host cell cultures; develop a predictive model and validate in infected human tissue for persistent or chronic infections. Research Projects conducted under this contract should employ a combination of innovative, experimental systems biology approaches, including high-throughput "omics" technologies, such as transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics or lipidomics. Rigorous novel algorithms and analytical methods, including bioinformatics should also be included. It is expected that integrated data sets will be used to build mathematical models of host-pathogen interactions that can be validated by experimental approaches, explaining the molecular basis of clinical manifestations of infectious diseases, including severity and response to treatment and vaccines. Furthermore, results obtained from these studies should identify novel, unique, as well as common molecular signatures that may represent future targets for intervention and could aid in the identification of emerging pathogens and in the development of drugs, immunotherapies, vaccines and diagnostics for prevention and treatment of diseases caused by potential agents of bioterrorism and emerging/reemerging infectious diseases. Please Note the Following: - This requirement will NOT support studies on HIV/AIDS. - This contract will NOT support studies that focus exclusively on the molecular interaction networks of the microbe with no consideration of those in the host cells, and vice versa. Examples of research areas that are not responsive include: • analysis of the microbial response to infection in absence of the host response to infection; • analysis of host response to infection in the absence of microbial pathogenesis studies; • analysis of the host control of expression and signaling through innate immune receptors without focus of host-pathogen interaction; • dissection of the molecules and pathways involved in the regulation of the adaptive immune system without focus of the host-pathogen interaction; and • studies of host pathways that regulate antibody production to pathogens. - This contract will not cover costs associated with human sample collection. Proposals submitted in response to the resulting solicitation will be evaluated against the following criteria: • Adequacy, feasibility, soundness and appropriateness of the proposed approaches to establish a large scale, coordinated, multi-disciplinary Host-Pathogen Program for Infectious Diseases, with consideration of: experimental design and scientific rationale; the targeted pathogens and host organisms to study persistent or recurrent infections; applicability and relevance of the research findings to a variety of pathogenic species; and applicability and relevance of research findings to the study of infectious diseases. • Adequacy, appropriateness and soundness of the plans to provide contract-generated resources to the broad scientific community. • Adequacy and appropriateness of the documented qualifications, knowledge, education, training, scientific and technical skills, and leadership competency of the proposed scientific personnel. • Adequacy, appropriateness, feasibility and suitability of the plans and procedures for overseeing, monitoring, coordinating and managing the program. • Availability, adequacy, and suitability of facilities, equipment and other resources, including those of subcontractors and consultants, to satisfy and safely perform all of the requirements of the contract. NIAID anticipates that a level of effort type contract will be awarded. The Government estimates the base level of effort required to perform the Statement of Work to be 13 full time equivalents (FTEs) per year (Base Period and Option Periods 2 through 5), comprised of the following: a) two (2) Senior FTEs (PI/co-PIs/Project Director/Project Manager); and b) eleven (11) FTEs (Postdocs/Technical staff/Bioinformatics Professionals and Software Engineers). Additionally, each period (Base and Options) in the anticipated contract award will contain a Quantity Option for an additional one (1) FTE of postdoctoral, technical, bioinformatics professional/software engineering staff (senior investigators, e.g., PIs, co-PIs, and Project Managers are excluded), to respond to emerging needs related to the proposed research. This option may be exercised not more than three times within each contract year, as needed. One FTE is equivalent to 2080 hours. Any responsible offeror may submit a proposal which will be considered by the Agency. This RFP will be available electronically on or about February 18, 2011, and may be accessed through FedBizOpps http://www.fedbizopps.gov/. This notice does not commit the Government to award a contract. No collect calls will be accepted. No facsimile transmissions will be accepted.
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