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Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
February 7, 2000


Communication to Grantees

From G. Iris Obrams, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Director
Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program

The staff of the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) wish you a happy and successful year 2000.

This information is being sent to you by means of a new LISTSERV that we will be using to communicate with you periodically. The service is being launched with the e-mail addresses of active EGRP grantees for whom we have addresses. You are automatically subscribed, but the list is open to all researchers who would like to receive our news. Information on how to subscribe is in item seven.

Myriad Genetics and NCI Forge Agreement on BRCA Gene Research Testing

Myriad Genetics, Inc., has entered into an agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to provide testing of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes at a reduced cost as a service to all National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and grantees. The agreement greatly reduces the cost of sequencing gene samples in research protocols, allowing scientists to more aggressively pursue their investigations of these important susceptibility genes. The agreement applies to genetic testing for research purposes only, not the delivery of health care services to patients. Use of this mechanism is not mandatory, nor in any sense is it a precondition for NCI sponsorship of research activities. The mechanism may be considered whenever investigators believe it to be advantageous and appropriate for their research programs. If your institution has a pre-existing agreement with Myriad Genetics, it can be amended to extend to you the same terms and conditions of the agreement, including price. The agreement is not intended to impede collaborations in any way. It places no limits on separate agreements between institutions and private industry related to intellectual property or other important rights. For further information, contact James Hanson, M.D., Acting Chief, Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch (CGERB); telephone: 301-435-6612; fax: 301-435-5477; e-mail: jh350g@nih.gov.

Remember Gender and Minority Reporting Requirements

The Public Health Service (PHS) and NIH require certain reporting on human subjects by gender and minority group in all research applications. Briefly, statistics on gender and minority participation are required for both planned and accrued study populations. Also required is information on: enrollment as of date (i.e., date for which enrollment applies), the status of enrollment (i.e., pending but not begun, open, or closed/completed), and the dates enrollment began and ended. We appreciate that this may mean additional work for you, but not providing the information, will necessitate us contacting you to get the information and may slow or prevent funding of an award.

The data are to be reported using the formats and tables provided in application form PHS 398 (competing applications, latest version 4/98) or PHS 2590 (non-competing applications, latest version 4/98). Complete information is available at these Web sites:
NIH Grants Policy Statement, NIH Forms and Gender and Minority Reporting.

New Program Announcements Issued

Since our last bulletin, three Program Announcements (PA) have been issued in which EGRP is participating: Mechanisms Underlying Individual Variations in Drug Responses, Occupational Safety and Health Research, and Research Methods for Occupational Cancer. Refer to item six for more information on these and other PAs. Later this year, NCI plans to issue a PA to encourage investigators to submit proposals for studies to refine geographic information systems (GIS) and related methodologies and to use the technology for cancer research. The PA is to facilitate collaboration among researchers to use GIS to explore leads identified by cancer mapping; foster appropriate use of GIS for epidemiologic, behavioral, and cancer surveillance research; and facilitate integration of types and levels of data in program planning, implementation, and evaluation.

EGRP Workshop Held

Last November, EGRP had a program workshop with outside experts to help prepare for the review of all NCI extramural programs. The team of ten scientists from the fields of epidemiology, clinical cancer and genetic epidemiology, and biobehavioral and communications research reviewed EGRP's portfolio and scope of activities, and made some suggestions about future directions. Nancy Mueller, Sc.D., Harvard School of Public Health, chaired the workshop. The review was a great way to begin a new century - with a fresh look at what we're doing and suggestions about how we can do even more to support research in cancer epidemiology.

The review team was impressed with EGRP's portfolio, which when the information was assembled and organized by research thrust, cancer site, and in other ways, is even richer than they thought. The reviewers suggested making this information available to investigators to consider when contemplating new research ideas, and we will place the information on DCCPS' Web site this year. The reviewers were also impressed with the variety of cohort studies being supported, which number more than 100. DCCPS Deputy Director Robert Hiatt, M.D., Ph.D., who convened the workshop, presented a concept for increasing the power of what can be learned from cohort studies by pooling their data in a consortium and collecting additional biospecimens when necessary. The concept will undergo further discussion and receive advisory input by the Cancer Genetics Working Group. A welcome suggestion was that the Program staff try to do more to facilitate research that brings together biobehavioral and epidemiologic cancer research. Both fields can benefit more from one another, reviewers said. They also suggested more attention be given to functional genomics, the effects of aging on cancer development, exposures during infancy and childhood as risk factors for adult cancers, and to life course research. Dr. Hiatt and DCCPS Director Barbara Rimer, Dr.P.H., will be considering the reviewers' suggestions and comments in the coming months.

EGRP supported more than 400 grantees in 1999 in the areas of clinical and genetic epidemiology; diet, nutrition, and cancer; smoking and its health effects; molecular/environmental epidemiology; infectious disease and AIDS-malignancy epidemiology; geographic information systems (GIS); Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Programs; and social and behavioral epidemiology research.

Staff Appointments Made

Sandra L. Melnick, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., has been named Chief of the Analytic Epidemiology Research Branch (AERB). Dr. Melnick received her training in both chronic and infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and completed postdoctoral work in HIV/AIDS at the University of Washington, Seattle. She has had more than a decade's experience in the creation and management of multi-agency, multicenter epidemiologic studies such as the NIH Women's Interagency HIV Study. The primary focus of Dr. Melnick's research has been the natural history and manifestations of HIV and associated cancers, particularly among women. Since coming to the NCI from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the NIH Office of AIDS Research in 1996, she has served as Program Director for AIDS and Infectious Disease Epidemiology, AERB, and for the past year, as acting chief of AERB.

A relatively new AERB staffer, Ms. Vaurice Starks, has assumed duties as co-Program Director for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases with Dr. Melnick. Ms. Starks has had several years' experience in the administration and management of extramural research at the NIH, particularly in HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. Her undergraduate degree is in microbiology, and she is currently pursuing graduate studies in cancer epidemiology. Previously, Ms. Starks worked at NIAID's Division of AIDS and NCI's Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology.

Carol Kasten-Sportes, M.D., joined CGERB in January to assist in development of the Cancer Genetics Network (CGN) and related cancer genetics research programs of the branch. Dr. Kasten-Sportes' background in clinical, biochemical, and molecular genetics, and her past experience working in both intramural and extramural research programs at NIH will be assets to the branch. Most recently, she was Lecturer in Biochemical Genetics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her undergraduate and medical school education, as well as a pediatric residency, at the University of Michigan. At NIH, she worked in the Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), and the Division of Heart and Vascular Diseases, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI). She may be reached by telephone at 301-402-8212; fax: 301-435-5477; e-mail: ck168@nih.gov.

Bulletin Receipt Difficulties?

We try to keep news items brief in these EGRP bulletins in order to minimize problems with compatibility among e-mail systems. If you have problems receiving this communication, please contact Ms. Dorothy Sanders, telephone: 301-402-7199; e-mail: ds36u@nih.gov, and provide your fax number so that we can get the information to you while we try do determine the problem. If your e-mail address or other contact information has changed, please contact Ms. Sanders.

Following is more news and information from EGRP:

  1. JNCI Monograph Published on Innovative Study Designs and Analytic Approaches to Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer

  2. More Publications Available: Bypass Budget, U.S. Cancer Atlas, Secondhand Smoke

  3. Research Funded Through RFA on Regional Variations in Breast Cancer Rates

  4. Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer Research Funded Through RFA, Consortium Formed

  5. Hepatitis C and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Research Funded Through RFA 6
  6. Update on Program Announcements Sponsored by EGRP

  7. New LISTSERV Launched for FRIENDS-OF-EGRP-L

  8. NCRR Issues RFA for Construction Support (Feb. 25 Deadline)

  9. EGRP Program Directors Available to Provide Advice (Contacts by Research Topic)

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1. JNCI Monograph Published on Innovative Study Designs and Analytic Approaches to Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer

The proceedings of the conference "Innovative Study Designs and Analytic Approaches to the Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer" are now available as a monograph of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (no. 26, 1999). The papers focus on discussion of the usefulness, practical feasibility, potential advantages, and pitfalls of the most recently developed study designs and analytic methods in cancer gene discovery and characterization, and consideration of integrated approaches where possible. Four areas are covered: gene discovery, gene characterization, integration of methodologies, and evaluation of applications of approaches used in ongoing studies. The 1998 conference was sponsored by NCI and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and was held in Seattle, Wash. It was co-chaired by Lue Ping Zhao, M.D., Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Daniela Seminara, Ph.D., M.P.H., CGERB and scientific editor of the monograph. Panel chairs were: Daniel Schaid, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., and Ken Buetow, Ph.D., NCI, Rockville, Md., on gene discovery; Duncan Thomas, Ph.D., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Calif., on gene characterization; and Alice Whittemore, Ph.D., Stanford University, Stanford, Calif., and Dr. Zhao, on integration of methodologies.

To purchase the monograph, which is titled the same as the name of the conference, contact Oxford University Press, 1-800-852-7323 (U.S.A. and Canada), or 919-677-0977; fax: 919-677-1714. Outside the Americas, call +44(0)1865 267907, or fax: +44 (0)1865 267485. (If you are a JNCI subscriber, you may be able to obtain a copy without charge.)

2. More Publications Available: Bypass Budget, U.S. Cancer Atlas, Secondhand Smoke

These three new NCI publications also may be of interest to you:

3. Research Funded Through RFA on Regional Variations in Breast Cancer Rates

NCI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), has funded five grants in response to the RFA on Regional Variations in Breast Cancer Rates in the U.S. (CA-98-107). The principal investigators are:

4. Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer Research Funded Through RFA, Consortium Formed

NCI, in collaboration with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), has funded five grants in response to the RFA on Interdisciplinary Studies in the Genetic Epidemiology of Cancer (CA-98-018). These projects, working together as a consortium with three related NCI-funded projects, will be cooperating on common research themes and infrastructure needs. The principal investigators and projects funded under the RFA are:

The three related research projects and their investigators are:

5. Hepatitis C and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Research Funded Through RFA

NCI, in collaboration with NIDDK, has funded two grants in response to the RFA on Hepatitis C: Natural History, Pathogenesis, Therapy and Prevention (DK-98-017). The principal investigators are:

6. Update on Program Announcements (PA) Sponsored by EGRP

Since our last bulletin, three new PAs have been issued that NCI is cosponsoring through EGRP:

In addition, EGRP continues to sponsor the following PAs:

7. New LISTSERV Launched for FRIENDS-OF-NCI-EGRP-L

We've established a LISTSERV called "FRIENDS-OF-NCI EGRP-L" through which to send you EGRP bulletins and announcements. This is the first news bulletin to be sent via the new LISTSERV. All EGRP active grantees for whom we have e-mail addresses have been placed in the LISTSERV, but membership is open to all researchers who would like to be included. You are welcome to tell others about "FRIENDS." To subscribe, access the NIH LISTSERV. Click the "Browse" button, and click on "Access unlisted lists." Type "FRIENDS-OF-NCI-EGRP-L" and follow the prompts.

8. NCRR Issues RFA for Construction Support

NIH's National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) has issued a RFA for support of construction and renovation of facilities for biomedical and behavioral research and research training. The needs of smaller and developing institutions will be given special consideration. The application receipt date is February 25, 2000. NCI is not involved with this RFA, but we thought it may be of interest to you and your institution.

9. EGRP Program Directors Available to Provide Advice

Our Program Directors are available to provide advise and consult with you about NIH and NCI funding and scientific review policies and procedures, preparation of grant applications, and about funding instruments that relate to EGRP's mission. Your contacts according to research topic are:

Analytic Epidemiology Research Branch (AERB)
Dr. Sandra Melnick, Branch Chief
Telephone: 301 435-4014; fax: 301-402-4279; email: sm33k@nih.gov

Clinical and Genetic Epidemiology Research Branch (CGERB)
Dr. James Hanson, Acting Branch Chief
telephone: 301-435-6612;
fax: 301-435-5477;
e-mail: jh350g@nih.gov

Last Updated: 23 Oct 2009

Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences National Cancer Institute Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health USA.gov