Discretionary Fund and Website Management

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In 2004, NIAID and NIDDK began inviting investigators to apply for funds for research in transplantation tolerance in non-human primate models of islet and/or kidney transplantation. Funds for this novel research were awarded to the Non-Human Primate Transplant Tolerance Cooperative Study Group (NHPCSG). Emory University was asked to administer these funds through the awarding of Opportunities Pool subcontracts under our existing parent grant. To date, fourteen proposals have been processed through review, resulting in the administration of five awarded subcontracts. We are currently actively soliciting proposals for a third round of funding and propose to lead the administration of efforts in subsequent rounds. In addition, in September, 2005, the Emory Transplant Center (ETC) hosted a Non-Human Primate (NHP) Assays Workshop at Emory University. This workshop brought together lab personnel from more than a dozen labs across the NHPCSG to share assay protocols and techniques. As part of this Workshop, we created a website where NHPCSG investigators and their laboratories could access the workshop agenda, slides from presenters, protocols shared by laboratories, and information on the NIH-sponsored primate colony. This website was highly successful and is evidence that the NHPCSG members and their laboratories would benefit from a tool to facilitate communication and information exchange. The cornerstone of these electronic communications will be the proposed NHPCSG website, which will build on the existing resources created for the ETC website and the adjunct NHP Assays Workshop pages. We believe that these two programs can be synergistic. As part of the NHPCSG website, we propose to bring added value to the interactions and collaborative efforts of the consortium members initially through the use of the limited-access, web-based, collaborative software tool Blackboard. Immediately, Blackboard can be used by Consortium members to asynchronously post and review shared information, documents, data, and tools. In addition, we propose to use this program to improve the administration of the current and future Opportunities Pool funding by creating a more secure and efficient venue for review of future Opportunities Pool submissions. Later, the same capabilities can be utilized and expanded through a customized portal for the NHPCSG. Through the use of Blackboard, and eventually a portal, we can further improve the processes of the Opportunities Pool as well as help to synergize the research of the investigators across the Consortium. Over the course of the past two and a half years, we have acquired the experience necessary to streamline the processes associated with the administration of the Opportunities Pool. We propose to build on the skills we have developed thus far in the future implementation of both the Opportunities Pool Discretionary Fund and the expanded NHPCSG website.