05/17/2024 Edition 127
----- Division of Research -----
|
|
Advanced Platforms for HIV Viral Load Monitoring at the Point-of-Care |
|
Despite advancements in treatment and prevention, HIV remains one of the world’s most serious public health challenges. There is a critical need for improved tools for HIV viral load monitoring at the point-of-care that are sufficiently sensitive and simple to use so that people with HIV can assess therapy effectiveness and the potential for transmission in their communities.
In collaboration with the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is soliciting proposals to accelerate the commercialization of innovative point-of-care HIV viral load testing platforms that facilitate monitoring antiretroviral therapy (ART) effectiveness and accurately assess potential for transmission.
Up to four awardees may receive:
- Up to $1,000,000 in funding
- Wrap-around assistance from a national network of expert technical, clinical, manufacturing, and regulatory advisors
- Support for technology de-risking, including third-party analytical and pre-clinical confirmation of device performance
|
|
While previous efforts have made pedagogical changes to the way engineering and engineering technology students are educated, RED projects must consider the cultural, organizational, structural, and pedagogical changes needed to transform the department to one in which students are engaged, develop their technical and professional skills, and establish identities as professional engineers. In recent years there has been a growing recognition of the need to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century. Doing so requires an understanding of how engineers are formed and how to inculcate them with the technical and professional skills needed to solve the complex problems facing society. While some innovation has been adopted in the freshman and senior years, the middle two years remain largely untouched. Educating the next generation requires that coherent technical and professional threads be developed and woven across all four years. The RED program is focusing on the middle two years because of the significance of these years play in the retention and development of engineering students and the relative lack of research on them compared to first-year and capstone research. Further, the RED program focuses on structural and cultural change because past attempts have shown that curricular and pedagogical change does not take hold if underlying structures remain the same. In addition, RED funding has demonstrated the need to engage both internal (e.g., faculty, staff, administrators, students) and external (e.g., industry, community) stakeholders to build shared vision in departmental change projects. In particular, RED projects should seek to actively include faculty at all levels throughout the project development lifecycle and to explore how to better support those faculty making change. Projects are expected to include an underlying theory of change to inform the activities and expected outcomes. RED projects should create a seamless educational experience for students in their disciplinary degree programs, bridging the foundational science and engineering courses and capstone projects. The result will be students who are prepared to be professionals in their chosen paths after graduation. Proposals from IHEs with documented success (or a clear plan to be able to demonstrate success) in awarding degrees to students from groups underrepresented in engineering are strongly encouraged.
Specific activities supported by the RED solicitation may include, but are not limited to:
- Establishing convergent technical and professional threads that must be woven across the four years, especially in core technical courses of the middle two years, in internship opportunities in the private and public sectors, and in research opportunities with faculty;
- Exploring strategies for institutional, systemic, and cultural change, including new approaches to faculty governance or department structures and to restructuring faculty incentive or reward systems;
- Exploring collaborative arrangements with industry and other stakeholders who are mutually interested in developing the best possible professional formation environment and opportunities for students;
- Exploring strategies to bridge the engineering education research-to-practice gap, primarily through faculty development and adoption of best practices in the professional formation of engineers; and
- Exploring revolutionary means of recruiting and retaining students and faculty reflective of the modern and swiftly changing demographics of the United States.
- Exploring new modes of delivering content (or facilitating learning) that respond to the learning needs of a diverse student body, making engineering more accessible.
|
|
Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health, Emerging Topics Research Award |
|
The TBIPHRP’s vision is to optimize the prevention, assessment, and treatment of psychological health conditions and/or traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). The program seeks to fund research that understands, prevents, and treats psychological health conditions and/or traumatic brain injuries that accelerates solutions to improve the health and health care of Service Members, their Families, Veterans, and the American public. Proposed research can be aligned with TBI, psychological health, or in combination.
To meet the intent of the funding opportunity, applications must address at least one of the FY24 TBIPHRP ETRA Topic Areas below. The Topic Areas align with the TBIPHRP Understand, Prevent/Assess and Treat Strategic Goals described in the TBIPHRP Strategic Plan. Applications consisting solely or primarily of planning, engineering, manufacturing, or formulation activities may be administratively withdrawn. Selection of the appropriate FY24 TBIPHRP ETRA Topic Area is the responsibility of the applicant.
|
|
Althea Sheets, Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activities Development Manager, Office of Sponsored Programs, althea.sheets@unlv.edu, 702-895-1880
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
