Title: EXTRAMURAL COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AT NIH
1EXTRAMURAL COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AT NIH
- Eric Jakobsson
- Chair, NIH Bioinformation Science and Technology
Initiative Consortium - Director, NIGMS Center for Bioinformatics and
Computational Biology - For CASC
- March 23, 2005
2Why Computational Biology at the NIH
- Because computation and information technology is
an invaluable tool for understanding biological
complexity, which is at the heart of advance in
biomedical knowledge and medical practice. - You cant translate what you dont
understand---Elias Zerhouni, Director of the
National Institutes of Health, commenting on the
relationship between basic research and
translational research, that transforms the
results of basic research into a foundation for
clinical research and medical practice.
3Some important problems with biomedical computing
tools are
- They are difficult to use.
- They are fragile.
- They lack interoperability of different
components - They suffer limitations on dissemination
- They often work in one program/one function mode
as opposed to being part of an integrated
computational environment. - There are not sufficient personnel to meet the
needs for creating better biological computing
tools and user environments.
4Why the problems with biological computing tools
must be fixed. I. Computation is at the heart of
todays leading edge biomedical science, for
example
- X-ray structure of biomoleculesrequires
sophisticated computation for image
reconstruction for diffraction data. - Discovery of new genesThe experimental work
requires augmentation by bioinformatics for
identification of genes by sequence analysis. - Magnetic resonance imagingRequires sophisticated
mathematical and computational techniques for
inferring structure and image from nmr spectra.
5Why the problems with biological computing tools
must be fixed II. Computation holds great promise
for future progress in biomedical science
- Cataloguing and analyzing individual genome-based
variations to permit customized diagnosis and
therapy. - Building comprehensive pathway models for human
and pathogen cells to provide a framework for
understanding normal function and disease at the
subcellular level. - Building and deploying dynamic models of disease
epidemics as a tool for responding to natural
pandemics and bioterrorist attacks - Use of biomimetic principles to construct
Computer Aided Design systems for molecular
devices
6The Paradox of Computational Biology--Its
successes are the flip side of its deficiencies.
- The success of computational biology is shown by
the fact that computation has become integral and
critical to modern biomedical research. - Because computation is integral to biomedical
research, its deficiencies have become
significant rate limiting factors in the rate of
progress of biomedical research.
7Mission Statement
- In ten years, we want every person involved in
the biomedical enterprise---basic researcher,
clinical researcher, practitioner, student,
teacher, policy maker---to have at their
fingertips through their keyboard instant access
to all the data sources, analysis tools, modeling
tools, visualization tools, and interpretative
materials necessary to do their jobs with no
inefficiencies in computation or information
technology being a rate-limiting step. - In twenty years, we want intelligent
computational agents to do complex query and
modeling tasks in the biomedical computing
environment, freeing humans for creative
hypothesis construction and high level analysis
and interpretation.
8Historical Highlights
- 1999Botstein-Smarr Committee Recommends
Establishment of BISTI and of national biomedical
computing centers. - 2001BISTI establishedsearch for Chair launched
- 2003Chair hired, Funding Announcement Issued for
National Centers for Biomedical Computing,
Digital Biology Week is held in Collaboration
with NSF and NIST
9In 2004
- First Set of National Centers for Biomedical
Computing is established - Funding Announcement will be issued for smaller
projects to collaborate with the centers in
creating the national biomedical computing
infrastructure.
10In 2005
- Establish second set of National Centers for
Biomedical Computing - Establish first set of collaborating projects
with the National Centers for Biomedical
Computing. - Ramp up to full functionality oversight and
coordination of the national network of
collaborating projects to create the National
Program of Excellence in Biomedical Computing for
the creation of a excellent national biomedical
computing environment. - Expand coordinated efforts with other agencies
where there is synergy. (Currently NSF-NIH
Biology-Mathematics Initiative is in its third
year, multi-agency multiscale modeling initiative
is in its first year, formal and informal
planning meetings are underway with other
agencies.)
11What also happened in 2003-2005
- Significant other compute-intensive biology
initiatives got launched around the NIH and in
other agencies (for example multi-scale
biological modeling jointly with
NIH/NSF/DOE/NASA, other roadmap initiatives,
systems biology, clinical informatics, etc.) - We didnt worry much about overlap and synergy
going into this period because the gaps were so
great.
12The next stage
- We are creating a coordinating group whose
ongoing mission will be to monitor the various
compute-intensive activities supported by NIH to - Eliminate gaps
- Minimize overlap
- Identify and exploit synergies.
13We want to work with computer scientists
- To identify areas of computer science that are
likely to be particularly important for
biomedical research, and should therefore be
supported by NIH, just as we support areas of
basic biological science that are important for
biomedicine.
14II. We want you if.
- You have ideas that can contribute to realizing
the NIH vision. - You have the skills and motivation to implement
those ideas. - The right vehicle for realizing your ideas is
EITHER a large project or a small project.
15Looking at the NIH for support for computational
projects I General Issues
- First Principle NIH is a mission-driven agency.
We support basic science (lots of it) and
technology and infrastructure development (on an
increasing trend line), but it all must be
justifiable by a payoff down the line in
improving the health of the American people. - Corollary Principle We understand that the
payoff may not be immediate, so we support work
where the payoff is a decade or more in the
future. It is better to present a justification
for a reasonable but long-term payoff than an
unrealistic short-term payoff.
16Looking at the NIH for support for Computational
Projects II Perspectives on the Role of
Computation in Biomedical Research and Health
Care Delivery
- We see that non-trivial computation is critical
to every aspect of our mission, from the most
basic research to the efficient and effective
delivery of health care in all venues. - We see the corollary Inefficiencies, gaps, and
flaws in computation are limiting the pace and
scope of all aspects of our mission. - We have only gotten the message recently, so we
are a work-in-progress with respect to
implementing our understandings about computation
in programs and practices. - We need computer scientists, computational
scientists, and information technologists to be
partners with NIH in getting it right.
17Looking at the NIH for support for computational
projects III Finding out what NIH actually funds
- CRISP data base (Google NIH CRISP provides
keyword-searchable database of all NIH-funded
projects from 1972-2004 - Comprehensive access to publications by NIH
grantees provided by author-searchable Pubmed
literature database (Google pubmed)
18Looking at the NIH for support for computational
projects IV Building on your knowledge of what
we now do to what we might support you for doing
- First-stop (but not one stop) information
source is the BISTI home page (Google NIH
BISTI), button under Funding - If you dont find a funding announcement that
fits your ideas/capabilities, but you feel you
have something to contribute, dont hesitate to
send an unsolicited application. (Receipt dates
February 1, June 1, and October 1 each year for
new applications). Success rates for unsolicited
applications are often as good as, in some cases
better than, success rates for proposals
submitted in response to specific funding
announcements. - Consult with an NIH Program Director at the
concept development stage. This is easy if you
are responding to a funding announcementthe
right contact information is in the funding
announcement. For an unsolicited application,
you may need to browse through Web sites for many
of the semi-autonomous 27 Institutes and Centers
that comprise the NIH, as well as the NIH Roadmap
site, that contains information on NIH-wide
initiatives. But---NIH is a strongly
interconnected community, so if you start calling
program staff and the first person you call is
not the right person, you will get good direction
to the right person fairly quickly.
19Looking at the NIH for support for computational
projects IV Building on your knowledge of what
we now do to what we might support you for doing
(continued)
- Research study sections as well as programs
(Google NIH CSR), button under Study Section
Information. - On study section targeting, consult with Program
Director and/or Scientific Review Administrator
(Understand that program and review functions at
NIH collaborate with each other but are
independently accountable. This is different
from NSF, where the same individuals are
responsible for both creating program and
overseeing review. With respect to NIH review
issues, the AUTHORITATIVE information comes from
the review side) - FOLLOW THE RULES AND GUIDELINES! (Google NIH
398 in addition to particular funding
announcements.) That gives program and review
staff more time to deal with your scientifically
substantive concerns, because they wont have to
work around emergent procedural issues.
20Looking at the NIH for support for computational
projects IV Building on your knowledge of what
we now do to what we might support you for doing
(final)
- Develop an NIH grant journal club (or
comparable structure) at your institution where
colleagues read and critique each others NIH
grant applications and progress reports in
preparation.
21THE BEGINNINGThank you for your attention and
your commitment to building the future