Research Interest Groups

Another “tool” for researchers working at various levels of product development is the  Translational Research Interest Group, or TRIG as we call it.

TRIG is an opportunity for outside researchers to join with NIH, FDA and other government agencies to help bridge the gap between laboratory research and clinical applications.  If translational research is of interest, consider joining the group online.

There are nearly 130 science interest groups at NIH, many of which welcome outside researcher input and membership.

December 13, 2011   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Research Materials -new electronic catalog!

This week we’re sharing a new NIH-wide resource designed to help streamline the technology transfer process. Though not part of the NIAID website redesign, the electronic Research Materials (eRMa) catalog, developed by the NIH Office of Technology Transfer, embodies many of the features we hope to offer you, including quick access to the information and research resources you need to get the job done.  eRMa expedites the process of transferring unpatented, federally developed materials, such as mouse models and cell lines, to companies for commercial research use. It enables users to do the following:

• Search for unpatented materials that support scientific research
• License materials using a ready-to-go contract
• Pay online and receive the materials quickly

Several NIAID technologies are available through this catalog. Many of these clinical and preclinical products and animals are created to address scientific needs and areas of scientific interest for NIAID. Often they are offered to the research community in partnership with NIAID or at times their costs are partially underwritten by NIAID-funded grants and contracts.

Visit the eRMa website to learn more.

December 6, 2011   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Filling in along the product development pipeline

The NIAID Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) provides tools to help researchers at varying points along the product development pipeline—from preclinical development to Phase III clinical evaluation.

These tools are designed to help researchers translate scientific discoveries into marketable products, be they vaccines, diagnostics, or therapeutics. Our Resources for Researchers portal aims to highlight these tools, but first we’d like to hear more about your experience with these resources.

• If you do research in a university or biotech setting, do you depend upon NIAID for support in specific places along the product development pipeline? Or does your research institution provide all the support you might need?

• In your work have you found major roadblocks or sticking points that NIAID might be able to help address? What are they? How do you think NIAID tools (non-funding) could be used to further your science?

• Would you look for tools or resources first under the specific disease you are studying or instead under broader terms?

November 28, 2011  Tags: DMID, Infectious Disease, product development, Research Tools  Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Bioinformatics- Do you compute?

Bioinformatics—Do you Compute?

We understand that there are countless definitions of bioinformatics, computational biology, and systems biology. Our goal in creating a useful website is to define the terms broadly enough that any user of these tools can find what they’re looking for—regardless of the specific term or definition they might use.

We’re doing our best to put all of these tools into a website that makes sense to you and is easy to navigate. Your input on the following questions will help us develop this resource to meet your needs:

• How do you define bioinformatics? Or, what do you call the intersection of computer analysis tools, data storage, and scientific research? Does the term bioinformatics or computational biology resonate more with your work? Is one a subset of the other? Or do they intersect in another way?
• If you already use NIAID bioinformatics or computational biology tools, is there a specific type of tool you use most often?
• Do you typically know what tool you need and where to find it when you go to NIAID’s website or are you using a search to find what you are looking for? What other search terms do you commonly use when seeking bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, or genomics tools?

The menu bar below shows our current thinking about how we might organize the new bioinformatics section of the website.

• If you were browsing to get a sense of the resources we offer, does this organization make sense to you? Can you quickly find what you would be interested in, and related resources you might now have known about?
• If you were looking for a specific tool we offer, could you find this information based on menu grouping? Would you group the information differently?

Please use the comment field to submit your input, ideas, and suggestions.

November 15, 2011  Tags: Bioinformatics, Research Tools  Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments

Give us your feedback!

Welcome,

NIAID is working to improve its interaction with the research community. You know about our grants and contracts, but did you know about the other resources NIAID provides such as training, animal model services, bioinformatics software? We are working on a web portal to present this information in one place, offering you everything you need to conduct business with NIAID beyond traditional funding mechanisms.

We hope that over the next few months you join this conversation.

In this blog, we’ll ask targeted questions about the changes we’re planning for this new web site. We also will ask you about the kinds of research resources you are interested in.

To get you up to speed on what we’ve been doing behind the scenes, below is a screen shot of our initial design idea for a portal for researchers that focuses on Research Tools, Bioinformatics, Partnerships, and Collaboration.

Our first questions relate to our new Resources for Researchers portal concept:

• Were you aware that NIAID provided resources like animal model services or bioinformatics software? Do you ever use these or other research tools?

• Does the grouping of research tools, partnerships, and collaboration content in one portal make sense to you as a researcher? What questions  about product development, research tools, partnerships, or collaborations do you have?

• Do you often look on the NIAID website for resources outside of funding opportunities?  What types of tools or information are you looking for? Are there topics you want us to cover that are not in this portal?

The goal of this blog is to hear from you, our community, about how you might use the site, things you like or don’t like about it, and ways we can make it even more useful in your work. See our about us page for more information on our goals.

Please comment liberally when you have an opinion about the topics.  The more feedback we get, the more useful the site will be! See our comment policy for things to avoid. To leave a comment, simply click on the comments link below.  Note that posts will be moderated before going live.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts.

October 20, 2011   Posted in: Uncategorized  No Comments