Contract Management Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, Federal Building, Room 901, 7550 Wisconsin Avenue, MSC 9190, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-9190

A -- PEDIATRIC STUDY CENTERS (PSC) FOR A MRI STUDY OF NORMAL BRAIN DEVELOPMENT SOL NIH-NINDS-98-13 POC Raina Cervantes, Contracting Officer, (301) 496-1813, ec58q@nih.gov E-MAIL: Laurie Leonard, ll44s@nih.gov. The NINDS, NIMH, and NICHD are putting forth an initiative to establish a pediatric brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data base. This project seeks to establish a database of anatomic MRI brain scans of children across a wide range of ages to serve as a resource for the pediatric neuroimaging research community as a whole. This pediatric MRI database would serve several purposes: (1) It would provide a resource for a study of normal brain development. (2) It would provide a necessary, representative, and reliable source of normal control data for studies of childhood disorders and diseases which affect the brain. This source of normative developmental brain data could be used by multiple sites, thus avoiding the necessity for very large numbers of control patients in clinical studies. (3) It would provide for the construction of normal growth curves for brain structures. When children are scanned, their brains could be compared to these curves to determine whether various structures and parametersfall within normal limits on the growth curves. (4) Finally, such a database could serve as a repository to aid in the development of new diagnostic tools. Scientists involved in the development of new diagnostic tools would be able to save time and money by exploiting available databases. For example, it would be possible to develop techniques for deriving measures which are sensitive to neurodevelopmental changes. This project will establish a centralized coordinating data analysis center (under separate contract award by NIMH) and a network of qualified research sites that can, by combining the necessary interdisciplinary expertise in neuroimaging and clinical pediatric research, become national resources where studies of brain development can be completed in a prompt and effective manner. All sites will employ common protocols for recruiting normal children from the community, measuring their neurological, cognitive, and behavioral development, and acquiring high quality MRI brain scans. The sites willbe screened for homogeneity of MRI hardware or software. The RFP will invite proposals for the establishment of multiple Pediatric Study Centers (PSCs) to recruit pediatric subjects and to acquire both neuroimaging and behavioral data on normal development. It is estimated that the centers will enroll a target sample of 504 healthy normal children. This target sample at this point in time is deemed to be sufficient to establish an adequate database. A cross-sectional and a longitudinal component will be included. The study will emphasize anatomic MRI (Objectives 1 and 2), but will also incorporate two emerging imaging modalities -- magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) (Ancillary studies). Taken together, the integration of information from these multiple modalities will generate a comprehensive understanding of the structure, chemical composition and metabolic state of the developing human brain. Offerors must have personnel on staff with the required expertise and existing, appropriate facilities and equipment. It is anticipated that contracts will be awarded for period of six years. This is not a Request for Proposals. Request for Proposals (RFP) No. NIH-NINDS-98-13 will be issued on or about September 3, 1998. Proposals will be due approximately seventy-five days after issuance of the RFP. THE RFP WILL BE AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY ONLY at URL http://www.ninds.nih.gov/cmb/rfp.htm OFFERORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ROUTINELY CHECKING THIS WEBSITE FOR ANY POSSIBLE SOLICITATION AMENDMENTS THAT MAY BE ISSUED. NO INDIVIDUAL NOTIFICATION OF ANY AMENDMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED. All responsible sources may submit a proposal that will be considered by the agency. Refer to numbered note 26.***** Posted 08/12/98 (W-SN236184). (0224)

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