The National Institutes of Health Common Fund announces two new Funding Opportunity Announcements with a focus on the Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG). These funding opportunities are designed to foster the development of technologies and information management to facilitate the unveiling of the functions of the poorly characterized and/or un-annotated members in four protein classes of the Druggable Genome. The IDG project is predicated on the need to fully explore the underlying biology and role in disease of genes linked to already drugged genes within the Druggable Genome. While the number of drugged targets is relatively limited, there are many more, related, genes that if more deeply investigated may define new biology and/or new therapeutic targets.
- Adaptation of Scalable Technologies to Illuminate the Druggable Genome (U01) (RFA-RM-13-010)
- Development of a Knowledge Management Center for Illuminating the Druggable Genome (U54) (RFA-RM-13-011)
The IDG project represents a new NIH Common Fund project and seeks to:
- Adapt and scale technologies to rapidly illuminate the underlying biology and potential role in disease of prioritized genes
- Develop a useful and public Knowledge base that can be used to identify gaps in our knowledge of the Druggable Genome and prioritize where to subsequently invest resources
Full details on submission deadlines, application formats, review considerations, and implementation framework for the IDG may be found in the funding announcements. In addition, a technical assistance webinar for the Knowledge Management Center RFA will be held in early October. Information about the webinar will be posted on the IDG webpage at http://commonfund.nih.gov/IDG/.