At our September Advisory Council meeting, I presented plans for transitioning the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN) from set-aside funding into the regular, competitive research pool. Council approved the plans, so we are now moving forward on them. The reshaped program will continue to fund research and network activities designed to propel discovery and implementation. We will also continue to coordinate our support of pharmacogenomics and precision medicine with other NIH institutes and offices.
Our transition plans include soliciting applications for a limited number of research centers (P50) and network resources (R24) as well as the PharmGKB knowledgebase (R24) and a coordinating center to support network functions (U01). New funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) will be published in early 2014, with application due dates beginning in the late spring. These FOAs will be program announcements with multiple receipt dates that are open for several years and will not have set-aside funds.
All investigators with an interest in pharmacogenomics who are funded through these and other mechanisms may indicate a desire to participate in the network beginning in July 2015. Many network activities will be based on the PGRN and other successful models.
I welcome your input on these changes.
The first FOA, Research Centers for Pharmacogenomics in Precision Medicine (P50), is now published. Other FOAs described in the PGRN Transition Plans should follow this spring. We also want to encourage the submission of related projects as investigator-initiated R01 grant applications.
The second FOA, Enabling Resources for Pharmacogenomics (R24), is now published. Other FOAs described in the PGRN Transition Planswill continue to follow this spring and summer. While these initiatives will form the framework of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN) of the future, we want to emphasize that all investigators will be welcome to join the PGRN beginning in mid-2015. We continue to be interested in the submission to NIH of all related projects as investigator-initiated grant applications.
The third FOA, Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base (R24), is now published. This continues our efforts as outlined in the PGRN Transition Plans. We will proceed to collect ideas about how to run the Pharmacogenomics Research Network so that it impacts the field and benefits the greatest number of researchers. Please contact me if you have ideas. I will summarize some of our ideas, and yours, in a future post.