NIH intramural research program update

[Pyrrhus]

Wow.

The website New Science has written an excellent, somewhat exhaustive piece about all the strengths and weaknesses of the NIH:
https://newscience.org/nih/

It's a long, fascinating read, but their Table of Contents gives you a good idea of what's in store:

Table of Contents

• Part 1: Big Picture
  • The NIH is Highly Regarded
  • The NIH Is Vital to Careers
  • The Boom Decade
  • Entrenched Interests
  • Institutional Conservatism
  • Francis Collins
• Part 2: Research Conservatism
  • Aversion to High-Risk Research
  • The “Benevolent Ponzi Scheme”
  • Could The NIH be Slowing Research? The Gravity Well Effect
  • Basic Vs. Applied Research
  • Why Is the NIH Moving Away from Basic and High-Risk Research?
• Part 3: Research Funding Inequality
  • Researchers
  • Institutions
  • Geography
  • Gini Coefficients
  • Did the Boom Decade cause a concentration of funding among top NIH institutional recipients?
  • The Case for Current Efficiency
  • The Case Against Current Efficiency
  • Proposed Reforms to Funding Inequalities
  • The Failure of the Grant Support Index
  • Researcher Age
• Part 4: Extramural Research
  • How Study Sections Work
  • Study Section Structure and Process
  • “Groupthink” and Other Issues
  • One “No” is Enough to Kill a Grant
  • Why do Researchers Serve on Study Sections?
  • Application Response Times
  • Proposed Reforms to Study Sections
  • In Defense of Study Sections
  • Transparency of Funding Decisions
  • Grant Writing and Maintenance
• Part 5: Indirect Costs
  • How are Indirect Cost Rates Calculated?
  • Are Universities Profiting from the Indirect Cost System?
  • Are Indirect Cost Rates Too Low?
  • Impact of Indirect Costs on Researchers
  • Slush Funds and Aggregations
  • How Do Indirect Costs Affect University Hiring?
  • Potential Reforms
• Part 6: Intramural Research
  • NIH Salaries are Not Competitive
  • Federal Employee Regulations
  • Detractors of Intramural NIH Research
• Part 7: Political Influences
  • Too Much Trend Chasing
  • Or Maybe Not Enough Trend Chasing
  • Lobbying by Universities and Nonprofits
  • Electoral Pressure
  • Other Instances of Influence on the NIH
• Part 8: Concluding Thoughts
  • Size, Reproducibility and Intramural Funds
  • Slow and Steady
  • Entrenched Interests
  • Forward Facing

 

[bread.]

Wow! Would love to read that.

 

[Consul]

When can we expect Avindra Naths study to be released? Ballpark i mean. A month ago he said he had important findings and were about to circulate a draft of his writeup among his crew.

 

[Consul]

https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v30i4/why-some-stay-sick

The me/cfs study expected to publish in 2023

And quote:
"In a separate study set to begin soon, Nath and NINDS clinical fellow Yair Mina plan to test corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatments for neurological symptoms in people with PASC."

 

[RL_sparky]

Well it looks like we will finally see the intramural study in 2023.
Another interesting piece:

In a separate study set to begin soon, Nath and NINDS clinical fellow Yair Mina plan to test corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) treatments for neurological symptoms in people with PASC. Both medications have been used to treat other autoimmune and neurological disorders.

“If it’s an antibody-mediated phenomenon, the IVIg should probably work,” said Nath. But “if the antibody is causing damage to the endothelial cells, then the corticosteroid should probably work.”

Nath’s lab is also developing therapeutic compounds to target viral RNA. This type of treatment could be effective if PASC turns out to be caused by persistent viral replication

 

[Consul]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1542873567062138880

 

[Consul]

I randomly noticed that Brian Vastag twitter acc appears to be deleted. Its the guy that participated in the Nath study and report on it via twitter regularly. Basically the twitter acc in the post above this one.

 

[Dakota15]

FYI @Consul @RL_sparky just sharing this note today from Dr. Vicky Whittemore with NIH on the ME/CFS Intramural Study:

"I just checked and they plan to submit the paper for review within the next month. There have been many people who needed to review the paper at multiple levels at NIH which is what has taken time. They told me they would let me know when it gets submitted for review. It is hard to know how long that review will take – some journals are taking months to review submitted manuscripts, so we can’t predict how long that process will take.Thanks, and hope you are well. Best wishes, Vicky'

 

[Consul]

FYI @Consul @RL_sparky just sharing this note today from Dr. Vicky Whittemore with NIH on the ME/CFS Intramural Study:
'

Thanks for the info. I was sure this had already been sent for review given their earlier messenges but hey.

The only positive is that they seem to be about to reveal their theory about the endoplasmic reticulum in a few days at some conference. Hope someone will go there and tweet about it.

 

[Consul]

https://www.science.org/content/art...nters-may-be-culprit-chronic-fatigue-syndrome

 

[bigtiired]

I believe this is the actual paper:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2302738120

Hmm, it seems lots could contribute to ER stress... but identifying the protein that is bad is huge!