NIAID/NIH Resources

NIAID Research Resources This site provides links to multiple NIAID resources relevant to the RCE mission.  Items of particular interest are listed separately below.
	Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) DMID supports a comprehensive set of services to facilitate the preclinical and clinical research needed to translate basic research discoveries into safe and effective drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics to control and prevent infectious diseases. DMID also supports infrastructure for basic through clinical research. Available services include strain and reference repositories; multiple in vitro and in vivo models for testing; lead identification, development, chemistry, and manufacturing; preclinical and clinical development, planning, and evaluation.
		Microbial Sequencing Centers The goal of these centers is to provide rapid, cost-efficient production of high-quality genome sequences of NIAID category A-C priority pathogens and invertebrate vectors of disease. The centers also offer genotyping platforms to identify genes that play a role in virulence, host-pathogen interaction and host susceptibility to infectious diseases. NIAID will accept and review requests from investigators in academia, not-for-profit organizations, industry, and other government agencies worldwide for microbial genome sequencing and genotyping services.
		Services for the Preclinical Development of Therapeutic Agents Preclinical services to support the development of promising therapeutic candidates include lead identification and development, chemistry and manufacturing, in vitro microbiological services; in vitro and in vivo preclinical safety, toxicology and biokinetics; and preclinical development planning and evaluation. Examples of services are listed online.
		NIAID Reference Reagent Repository The repository provides viral reference reagents, mycoplasmas, allergens, and immunologic reagents, including interferon (IFN) reference standards, to researchers.
	Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation
		Gene Knockout/Transgenic Mice (NIAID Exchange Program) To increase availability of immunologically-related, gene-targeted mouse strains, NIAID has instituted a special partnership with Taconic Farms, Inc., called the NIAID Exchange Program. The costs of this Program are partially underwritten by NIAID funds to provide ready access to emerging mouse models. The strains chosen for the Exchange Program are selected by the NIAID Mouse Repository Committee based on expected interest to the scientific community and degree of genetic standardization and phenotypic characterization. The 21 strains currently available are listed online.
		Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (IEDB) The IEDB contains data related to antibody and T cell epitopes for humans, non-human primates, rodents, and other animal species. The database also contains MHC binding data from a variety of different antigenic sources and immune epitope data from the FIMM (Brusic), HLA Ligand (Hildebrand), TopBank (Sette), and MHC binding (Buus) databases. Finally, the IEDB links to and directly hosts a variety of analytic tools.
Other NIH Resources
	Trans-NIH Mouse Initiatives This website provides information about funding opportunities; major mouse genomics and genetics resources; policies affecting resources; courses and scientific meetings related to the mouse initiative; and selected reports and publications.
		NIH Deltagen and Lexicon Knockout Mice and Phenotypic Data Resource The NIH has contracted with Deltagen, Inc., and Lexicon Genetics, Inc., to provide NIH and its scientific partners with access to 251 extensively characterized lines of knockout mice. For each mouse line, the contractors will provide the mouse line and also detailed, objective data on the impact of the specific gene deletion on the mouse's phenotype, including appearance, health, fitness, behavior, ability to reproduce, and radiological and microscopic data.
		Trans-NIH Knock-out Mouse Project (KOMP): This trans-NIH initiative aims to generate a comprehensive and public resource comprising mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells containing a null mutation in every gene in the mouse genome. The project intends to make this catalog of mutants available in mouse strain C57BL/6.
	NIH Tetramer Facility The main goal of the NIH Tetramer Facility is to provide MHC class I and class II tetramer reagents to the research community.  Tetramers available through the Facility include:  (1) custom-made human, macaque, chimp, and mouse class I tetramers; (2) human and mouse CD1d tetramers with or without PBS-57 (PBS-57 ligand provided by Dr. Paul Savage, Brigham Young University); and (3) pre-made and custom-made human and mouse MHC class II tetramers. All reagents are quality controlled and can be labeled with commercially-manufactured or custom-made fluorophores or provided in biotinylated monomer form.
	NIH Chemical Genomics Center (NCGC) The NCGC is a member of the Molecular Libraries Probe Production Network (MLPCN) and was established by the NIH to create a national resource in chemical probe development. The NCGC will optimize biochemical, cellular, and model organism-based assays submitted by the biomedical research community; perform automated high-throughput screening (HTS); and perform chemistry optimization on confirmed hits to produce chemical probes for dissemination to the research community. State-of-the-art cheminformatics methods will be applied to the discovery and characterization of the chemical probes. Pharmacological, transcript/proteome profiling and genetic approaches will be taken to understand the activities of small molecule probes in biological systems. The MLPCN resource can be accessed through an NIH grant-based application process.
	NIH Rapid Access to Interventional Development (NIH-RAID) Similar to the National Cancer Institute’s RAID program, the NIH-RAID program makes available, on a competitive basis, certain critical resources needed for the development of new therapeutic agents. Services provided will depend upon the stage of the project and the strength of the preliminary data. Services available include: production, bulk supply, GMP manufacturing, formulation, development of an assay suitable for pharmacokinetic testing, and animal toxicology. Assistance also will be provided in the regulatory process, through access to independent product development planning expertise. Proposals in support of animal efficacy studies or synthesis and formulation of recombinant proteins or monoclonal antibodies will not be accepted.
	Trans NIAID Clinical Research Toolkit The Trans NIAID Clinical Research Toolkit (CTK) is an internet-based information repository for all NIAID staff and extramural investigators involved in clinical research. The CTK will provide a single portal through which authoritative information, such as standard protocol templates, Good Clinical Research Practices (GCP) training, clinical research databases, and policies and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) can be readily accessed.