A -- A -- HIGH THROUGHPUT DRUG SCREENING FACILITY FOR NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE

Notice Date

October 17, 2001

Contracting Office

Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Neuroscience Center, Suite 3287, MSC 9531, Bethesda, MD, 20892-9531

ZIP Code

20892-9531

Solicitation Number

RFP-NIH-NINDS-01-06

Response Due

December 31, 2001

Point of Contact

Patricia Denney, Contracting Officer, Phone 301 496-1813, Fax 301 402-4225, Email pd22n@nih.gov

Description

Recent advances in the study of neurodegenerative disease have provided molecular and cellular models for studying the underlying disease mechanisms. These models also serve as putative targets for drug discovery. One effective strategy used in the pharmaceutical industry to identify new drugs is High Throughput Drug Screening (HTS), the robotic application of thousands of different small molecules to miniaturized versions of disease models. Used in academic research, HTS has the potential to yield both mechanistic insights and effective treatments with unparalleled efficiency. Pharmaceutical companies are currently expending a large amount of effort on HTS for drug development. However, these efforts are constrained by marketing concerns and leave much of the potential of HTS untapped. Two applications of HTS are better suited to academic research. One is facilitating the search for drugs effective in the treatment of relatively rare diseases. Assays that are validated in a high throughput setting are attractive entry points for industrial drug development, and can generate new interest in diseases with a small target population. Another powerful use of HTS in academic research is its application in a ?chemical genetic? approach to uncover new genes in a disease pathway. Small molecules that inhibit or activate specific proteins or pathways have research potential analogous to genetic mutations. Such molecules are especially valuable in cells or organisms that are intractable to classical genetic approaches. HTS is being applied in some academic settings, but the success of these projects stems from a rare combination of factors, including the willingness and ability to establish a core facility for running high throughput assays. This success could be generalized to many investigators, and therefore many biological problems and diseases, if a centralized high throughput service facility were available for academic research. NINDS would like to make HTS widely available to researchers who have good in vitro models for neurodegenerative disease. This request for proposals is intended to identify a service facility capable of providing two kinds of expertise to scientists who have identified a potential assay: first, adapting the assay for high throughput applications and second, testing the assay against large, diverse collections of compounds. Neurodegenerative disease assays will be supplied by NINDS investigators as selected by NINDS. NINDS anticipates using the results of the contract to 1) identify compounds, active in neurodegeneration assays, that will be made available to investigators for use as research tools and 2) validate assays as useful HTS targets, to encourage their use in further drug development. Personnel with established expertise in medicinal chemistry, high throughput drug screening, pharmacological structure-function analysis and sufficient seniority and breadth of experience in neurodegenerative disease research to judge the needs of the research community with regard to drug screens for neurodegeneration will be needed to perform this research. It is anticipated that one award may be made for a period of five years in September 2002. This is not a Request for Proposals (RFP). THE SOLICITATION WILL BE AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY ONLY. It will be available at this website (http://www.ninds.nih.gov/cmb) 15 or more calendar days after the issuance of this synopsis. OFFERORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ROUTINELY CHECKING THIS WEBSITE FOR ANY POSSIBLE SOLICITATION AMENDMENTS THAT MAY BE ISSUED. NO INDIVIDUAL NOTIFICATION OF ANY AMENDMENTS WILL BE PROVIDED. All responsible sources may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the agency. Refer to numbered Note 26.****

Web Link

Visit this URL for the latest information about this (http://www.eps.gov/spg/HHS/NIH/NINDS/RFP-NIH-NINDS-01-06/listing.ht ml)

Record

Loren Data Corp. 20011019/ASOL005.HTM (D-290 SN5108W3)