Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Research funding by the US National Institutes of Health

International Conference on Innate Immunity

July 20-21, 2015 Barcelona, Spain

Wolfgang W Leitner

Keynote: J Clin Cell Immunol

Abstract :

This lecture will guide the audience through the process of research funding by the US National Institutes of Health. The extramural program of the NIH provides approximately 1/3 of biomedical research funding in the US and also support numerous research projects overseas. Of the 27 NIH institutes, the NIAID is one of the two largest and responsible for research on infectious diseases, transplantation, various immune-mediated diseases as well as basic immunology. In addition to research on vaccines, the NIAID conducts and supports extensive research on vaccine adjuvants, immune mechanisms of protection, and the mechanism of action of adjuvant. The main funding mechanisms for pre-clinical research are the R01 research grant and the R21 exploratory grant for high risk/high reward research proposals. For most funding announcements, applications are accepted from non-US institutions and non-US citizens. To assist extramural investigators further, the NIAID provides numerous resources such as the tetramer core facility, BEI repository of biological reagents, computational resources, or the immune epitope database. The NIH Program Officer assigned to a specific research topic is the applicant�??s primary point of contact and can help guide the applicant through the application, award and post-award process.

Biography :

Wolfgang W Leitner is the Chief of the Innate Immunity Section, NIAID/NIH. He was involved in deciphering the mechanisms underlying the regeneration of splenic autotransplants and developed the first nucleic acid vaccine for P. berghei malaria. While establishing a replicase-based DNA vaccine for the treatment of melanoma, he uncovered the immune mechanism underlying the superior immunogenicity of aphavirus-based nucleic acid vaccines. He has authored more than 70 papers in the areas of vaccine research, basic immunology and cancer therapy. He joined the NIAID Extramural Program as a Program Officer in 2008 and oversees the innate immunity portfolio, including vaccine adjuvant research.