Summary of the Fourth Annual
Comparative Medicine Resource Directors Meeting
November 19-20, 2002
Sponsored by:
National Center for Research Resources
Bethesda, Maryland
Hosted by:
The Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research
San Antonio, Texas
Summaries of Satellite Meetings:
Bioinformatics Workshop - November 18, 2002
Colony Records Analysis Workshop III - November 18, 2002
Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers Group - November 20, 2002
Chimpanzee Resource and Sanctuary Directors Meeting - November 20, 2002
Introducton
The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), part of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS), held its Fourth Annual Comparative
Medicine Resource Directors Meeting on November 19-20, 2002, at
the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR), which
is the parent organization of the Southwest National Primate
Research Center (SNPRC), in San Antonio, Texas. The meeting
provided a forum to highlight activities of the NCRR-supported
resource centers and to exchange information. The Roster of
invited attendees included the principal investigators of
NCRR-supported centers funded by contracts, P40, U24, and U42
grant mechanisms, as well as grantees who have resource-related
projects funded via the R24 mechanism. Additional attendees
included members of various groups that held satellite meetings
in San Antonio during this same period. These groups included
attendees from the Bioinformatics Workshop, Colony Records Analysis
Workshop III, the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC)
Group, and the NIH Chimpanzee Resource and Sanctuary Directors Meeting.
Main Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, November 19, 2002: Drs. Bennett Dyke and Suzette
Tardif of the SFBR and Dr. John Strandberg, NCRR Associate Director
of Comparative Medicine (DCM), welcomed the attendees and stated the
purpose of the meeting. Seventeen principal investigators from various
resources funded by NCRR gave 10-minute overviews of their resources.
These included the following: Lawrence Jacobsen (Coordinated Information
Services for Primate Research), Andrew Cameron (Gene Library Resource
for the Sea Urchin S. Purpuratus), Kevin Cook (Bloomington Drosophila
Stock Center), Paul Samollow (Genomic Resource Development in the Laboratory
Opossum), Christian Abee (Squirrel Monkey Breeding and Research Resource),
John Dewey (Peromyscus Laboratory Models for Biomedical Research), Julia
Hilliard (Herpes B Virus - A National Resource Laboratory), Joanne Zurlo
(Institute for Laboratory Animal Research and ILAR Journal), Mark Haskins
(Referral Center - Animal Models of Human Genetic Disease), Robert Hay
(National Stem Cell Resource), Ronald Walter (The Xiphophorus Genetic
Stock Center), John Critser (Rat Resource and Research Center), Gary White
(Baboon Research Resource Program), Mark Hirschel (Production of Animal
Cells and Secreted Products), Monte Westerfield (National Resource for Zebrafish),
Keith Latham (Creation of a Nonhuman Embryo Gene Expression Resource), and
Bruce Futcher (Facility for Saccharomyces Pombe Microarrays).
The following NCRR DCM staff provided status reports. Dr. Franziska
Grieder reported on progress in establishing the MMRRCs and the
associated Informatics Coordinating Center at The Jackson Laboratory.
Dr. Jerry Robinson reported on the expansion of the Specific Pathogen
Free Macaque breeding program supported by NCRR and the NIH Office of
AIDS Research. Dr. Ray O’Neill reported on the facilities, chimpanzees,
and scientific projects directly supported or facilitated by the NIH
Chimpanzee Management Program.
Stephen Barthold, from the University of California at Davis, gave the
keynote address. He described the recent establishment of the Center for
Comparative Medicine.
Attendees participated in four Working Groups:
The proceedings of these working groups are described below.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002: Robert Shade, Scientific Director, SFBR, welcomed
the attendees. Lori Mulligan of NCRR’s Office of Science Policy and Public Liaison (OSPPL)
demonstrated how to use the new "Web-based Annual Progress Report System." For their next
non-competing P40, U24, or U42 grant renewal, grantee institutions will complete a web-based
progress report, which automates the progress report summary required in the PHS Form 2590.
OSPPL is soliciting feedback as this process phases in according to the date of normal renewal
for resources supported by any of the four NCRR Divisions.
Dr. Linda Brent of Chimp Haven and the SFBR/SNPRC, and Dr. William Watson of NCRR, discussed
the Chimpanzee Sanctuary contract and construction grant funded by NCRR. Next, summaries of the
four Working Groups--held the previous day--were presented by Dr. Christian Abee, Dr. Patrick
Walsh, Dr. John Harding, and Dr. William Morton. Topics included Sharing, Web Site Design and
Maintenance, Microarrays, and Cost-Recovery, respectively (see the written summaries below).
The meeting toured the SFBR/SNPRC.
Dr. Bennett Dyke of SFBR will soon be requesting--via e-mail--feedback from attendees regarding
the content, location, and timing of the next annual meeting. Additional feedback from the
biomedical community should be directed to Dr. John Strandberg, Director, DCM, NCRR via telephone
at 301-435-0744, via fax at 301-480-3819, or via e-mail at StrandbJ@mail.nih.gov.
References:
Working Group 1 - Sharing: Policy and Practice for Samples and Data
Dr. Patrick Walsh (Leader)
University of Miami
Miami, Florida
Two major issues are driving the increased attention to the need to share data, software, materials, reagents, and animals whenever possible:
- The NIH Guide announcement describing the upcoming requirement for plans for sharing in future form 398 grant applications.
- The need for Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) and similar documents when transferring items with potential intellectual property and/or liability issues.
The NIH web page regarding sharing contains links to
FAQ, a workbook, a PowerPoint slide set, and additional relevant web pages.
The culture within each individual NIH Initial Review Group and
scientific discipline, and instructions from the individual NIH
scientific review administrators will likely influence whether a
specific plan for sharing is found to be acceptable or not.
Please note that individual R01 grant applicants planning to fill
a significant capacity of a stock center (often supported by a P40
or other mechanism from NCRR) should usually include a subcontractual
relationship with the stock center and/or budgetary requests for
submission fees in their R01 grant application.
The various universities and additional grantee institutions appear
to have widely disparate policies regarding the MTA requirements,
specific language, and form. The universities also vary regarding who
is the official empowered to sign as the institutional representative.
Of particular concern, smaller institutions that have no or
under-staffed tech transfer offices may be significantly hampered in
their future research and educational efforts. Larger institutions may
have already commented to the NIH Tech Transfer Office during the
official comment period that closed last summer, and individual
principal investigators will need to follow the guidance of their
particular institution’s officials. A variety of strategies is
available if needed on a case-by-case basis, including asking NIH
Grants Management and/or Tech Transfer Offices for advice and/or
assistance. Additional constraints on sharing include the policies of
the various meetings at which data are first presented, the variety of
policies among the various scientific journals, and the considerations
of timing and first revelation if U.S. or international patenting may
be appropriate. Currently unresolved issues include that of precedence
when multiple sources of support overlap during the development of
novel data, software, materials, reagents, and animals.
References:
- A two page reference sheet is available upon request via e-mail to OneillR@mail.nih.gov that cites relevant web sites.
Working Group 2 - Web Site Design and Maintenance
Dr. Christian R. Abee (Leader)
University of South Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
The Working Group discussed the purpose, development, maintenance, and
future of resource web sites. Web sites have largely replaced
informational brochures about the resource and resource centers.
Centers have an obligation to disseminate information to the general
public despite certain risks. However, careful decisions have to be
made regarding what information should be posted on the web. Web
sites also serve the scientific community by providing information
resources, ordering information, and software. Security for
interactive web sites is a major issue as data and hardware can be
easily corrupted, or service may be unavailable or denied. Careful
planning is required when designing a top-quality web site. Properly
developed and maintained web sites require adequate funding and human
resources, such as system administrators, content editors, and review
editors. Continued rapid development is expected in web site basic
content, development, and security issues. These topics should be
further developed at a future workshop.
Working Group 3 - Microarrays
Dr. John Harding (Leader)
NCRR
Bethesda, Maryland
Four attendees gave prepared presentations on how micro- and
macroarrays are used by their resources to answer significant
scientific questions. These included the following: Dr. Bruce
Futcher of SUNY- Stony Brook, Cell Cycle Regulated Genes of
Yeast in Shades of Green and Red; Dr. Laura Cox of SFBR,
QTL Candidate Gene Identification using Chromosomal Region
Expression Assays; Dr. Andrew Cameron of Cal Tech,
The Sea Urchin Resource: From Macroarrays to Whole Genome
Resource; and Dr. Keith Latham, QADP Method of Gene
Expression Analysis in Preimplantation Embryos or Single Cells.
These four systems, all designed to analyze gene expression, have
multiple investigators in the respective scientific fields
interacting extensively with them. However, the four systems differ
in the technical strategies used to achieve these goals.
Working Group 4 - Cost-Recovery
Dr. William Morton and Pam Ferguson (Leaders)
Washington National Primate Research Center
Seattle, Washington
Cost recovery issues were discussed at the National Primate
Research Center Directors Meeting earlier in 2002, and the same
issues generally apply to the resources supported by grants
(P40s, U24s, and U42s) and contracts from NCRR. The setting of
rates or charges for use of intellectual capacity, animal housing
and food, animals, technical procedures, etc. at any resource is
a complex issue. Although references such as the Cost Analysis and Rate
Setting Manual for Animal Research Facilities, are excellent
starting points, an individual institution’s policies and the
institution’s state laws vary regarding many issues. One issue that
varies is whether for-profit commercial customers can be charged more
than nonprofit or academic users. The form and success of efforts
related to cost recovery greatly affect the apparent leveraging of
additional resources by a particular resource. Leveraging figures
are monitored by NIH administrators and often become a review
criterion when competing grant applications undergo review by the
various NIH Initial Review Groups.
Summaries of Satellite Meetings
Bioinformatics Workshop - Monday, November 18, 2002
Dr. Janan Eppig (Leader)
The Jackson Laboratory
Bar Harbor, Maine
Detailed proceedings of this workshop will be posted on
The Jackson
Laboratory web site, and a link to the proceedings will
be provided on the NCRR Comparative
Medicine Professional Meetings/Workshops page.
Background: The need to hold this workshop was evident during
the Third Annual Comparative Medicine Resource Directors meeting held
in June 2001.
Agenda: Drs. Bennett Dyke of the SFBR and Janan Eppig of The
Jackson Laboratory opened the meeting. The Workshop featured presentations
by the following persons on the listed topics:
- Introduction
Janan Eppig
The Jackson Laboratory
- View from the Front -- Experiences in Starting a New System
Monte Westerfield
ZFIN, University of Oregon
http://www.zfin.org
- The Veterans -- Growth and Change in Genome Database Resources
Peter Karp
EcoCyc, SRI
http://www.biocyc.org
- Getting a Jump Start -- Mentoring with Established Systems
Peter Tonellato
Rat Genome Database
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
http://www.rgd.mcw.edu
- Being Practical -- Data Standards and Nomenclature
Muriel Davisson
The Jackson Laboratory
http://www.jax.org
- Genetic Resources: Nomenclature and Standards
Janan Eppig
Gene Ontology
The Jackson Laboratory
http://www.geneontology.org
- Browsing the Genome -- The Generic Genome Browser
Ken Clark
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
http://www.gmod.org
All of the speakers highlighted the recent explosion of genomic and
microarray data for the various organisms they curate, the need to
constantly update both the data and the software that manipulates the
data, and the varied human resources with multiple capabilities that
are required for resources to stay current regarding bioinformatics.
Colony Records Analysis Workshop (CRAW) III - Monday, November 18, 2002
Dr. James Ha (Leader)
Washington National Primate Research Center
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Detailed proceedings of this workshop will appear on the
web site
of the SFBR and/or Washington
National Primate Research Center, and links will appear on the
NCRR Comparative Medicine Professional Meetings/Workshops page.
Background: To begin resolving the many issues associated with
genetic and records management for colonies of nonhuman primates, the
first Colony Records Analysis Workshop (CRAW I) meeting was held in
January 2002 in San Antonio, Texas. Representatives of the eight
National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs), plus another nonhuman
primate resource center, attended this meeting.
The need to hold this third Workshop was evident during the satellite
CRAW II Workshop, and the main Third Annual Comparative Medicine
Resource Directors Meeting, held in June 2001 at The Jackson
Laboratory.
Agenda: Dr. James Ha of the Washington National Primate
Research Center opened the workshop, which featured presentations
on the following topics by the persons listed:
- Introduction and Overview
James Ha
Washington National Primate Research Center
- Issues for Minimal Data Standardization in Primate Colonies
James Ha
Washington National Primate Research Center
- Minimal Data Standards: The View from ISIS
Rick Lukens
ISIS
- Suggestions for Minimal Data Verification Standards
Arthur Davis
Washington National Primate Research Center
- A Report on the New NSF Data-sharing Initiative: Ethosource
James Ha
Washington National Primate Research Center
- An Update Report on Computer Modeling Efforts for Management Strategies
Gerry Brush
SFBR/SNPRC
- A Review (Critique and Comparison) of Some Software Options for
Implementing Management Strategies: PedSys, Lineage, and PM2000
Lawrence Williams
University of South Alabama Primate Research Laboratory
- Final Comments and Summary
James Ha
Washington National Primate Research Center
The attendees agreed that NIH’s need and the various resource users’
needs for standardized data structure and standardized reporting have
become easier to meet with the development of extensible markup
language (XML) and other data conversion methods. Therefore,
standardization of database structure among facilities has recently
become less crucial than the ability to intraconvert among databases
and commonly used software such as Excel and Access. However, the
need for data storage and processing is always a dynamic process,
making it difficult to confidently predict and meet all future needs.
References
- PowerPoint files from James Ha and Arthur Davis for the presentations listed above
Mutant Mouse Regional Resource Centers (MMRRC) Group - Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Dr. Franziska Grieder (Leader)
NCRR
Bethesda, Maryland
The MMRRC Group met in person and by teleconference. Applications for
six new mouse strains were reviewed. Changes to the MMRRC web site and
User MTA were announced regarding the processes to be used when mice
are imported or exported. Possible procedural changes were considered
for the submission of new strains. The group also discussed the
potential to coordinate strain rederivation and cryopreservation.
Reference:
NIH Chimpanzee Resource and Sanctuary Directors Meeting - Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Dr. Raymond O’Neill (Leader)
NCRR
Bethesda, Maryland
The meeting opened with a brief review of the demographics of
chimpanzees in U.S. biomedical research, the accomplishments of
biomedical and behavioral research using chimpanzees, and the varied
forms of short- and long-term support of chimpanzees from the DHHS
and other sources such as pharmaceutical companies. The major
development since the chimpanzee resource directors last met in
2001 is that a contract and construction grant have been awarded to
Chimp Haven, Inc. in response to the CHIMP Act (PL 106-551) of
December 2000. Drs. William Watson and Linda Brent commented on
the NIH-supported sanctuary. Rick Lukens updated the attendees on
the efforts by ISIS to continue development of the ISIS database
and its capability of interacting with the wide variety of
facility-specific databases.
The process to be used to transfer a specific chimpanzee to the
NCRR-supported sanctuary was discussed. Research facilities
transferring the chimpanzee will need to vasectomize and verify
the effectiveness of the vasectomy if the chimpanzee is male;
perform a recent test for chronic viral infections with HIV, HCV,
HBV, etc.; and transfer the medical records with the animal.
Whenever possible, more complete medical, behavioral, and
experimental histories from both ISIS and the research facility
should be transmitted to the sanctuary in advance of the transfer.
In future years, the various U.S. research facilities are expected
to request transfer of additional specific chimpanzees either to
other research facilities or the sanctuary, as space and resources
are made available at the sanctuary.
Recent developments that affect the use of chimpanzees in research
are the decision to sequence the chimpanzee genome, increased
recognition of the value of HCV and malaria studies in chimpanzees,
recent development of neuroimaging of cognitive processes in
chimpanzees, closing of the European centers using chimpanzees in
research, and the greatly increasing need for pharmaceutical
companies to obtain crucial data in support of applications to the
FDA (and FDA’s International analogues) for drugs and biologics,
especially for monoclonal antibodies. It was noted that despite
substantial scientific interest, purely behavioral studies in
chimpanzees and studies of animals that appear to be HIV long-term
non-progressors have difficulty in obtaining Federal grant support.
Reference:
For further information, contact:
Director, Division of Comparative Medicine
National Center for Research Resources
National Institutes of Health
One Democracy Plaza, Room 948
6701 Democracy Boulevard, MSC 4874
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4874
Telephone: 301-435-0744
FAX: 301-480-3819
e-mail: CMADIR@mail.nih.gov
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