NIH has been funding the Human Microbiome Project (HMP) through its Common Fund since 2008. The mission of the HMP has been to generate research resources to enable comprehensive characterization of the human microbiota, which includes bacteria, viruses, archaea, fungi, and protozoa, and analysis of their role in human health and disease. Phase I spanned over five years, and achieved the following:

• Over 1,300 reference strains isolated from the human body have been sequenced;
• 300 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 40 were sampled at five major body sites: oral cavity, nasal cavity, skin, gastrointestinal tract, and urogenital tract;
• Data for both reference and metagenomics strains were made available through the HMPDACC Data Browser; and
• Over 500 scientific publications have been produced.

Phase II of the HMP, also known as the Integrative Human Microbiome Project (iHMP), began in 2014. The mission of Phase II, which is ongoing, is to integrate longitudinal datasets of biological properties from both the microbiome and host from three different cohort studies of microbiome-associated conditions using multiple "omics" technologies.
 

Microbiome research may yield information that assists with exposure assessment and prediction of cancer risk or progression, and research is being conducted to determine if dysbiosis, a microbial imbalance or maladaptation on or inside the body, may contribute to cancer development.

 

For the past few years, the Epidemiology and Genomics Program (EGRP) in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), has funded a small number of microbiome research projects focusing primarily on the human oral, foregut, and fecal microbiome in relation to gastric, pancreatic, colorectal, and lung cancers. To learn more about these funded projects, visit EGRP's active grants webpage and search project titles by "microbiome." One project in EGRP's portfolio of funded projects, led by Dominique Michaud, Sc.D., of Tufts University, is investigating the role of bacteria in pancreatic cancer, the evidence for which was summarized in a 2014 review published in The Cancer Journal.

Also, in April 2015, Mukesh Verma, Ph.D., Chief of EGRP's Methods and Technologies Branch (MTB); Rao Divi, Ph.D., Program Director in MTB; and Elizabeth Hebert, a former MTB fellow, published an open-access article in the International Journal of Cancer Research and Molecular Mechanisms that discussed knowledge gaps in this emerging field: "Microbiome Analysis: Trends in Cancer Epidemiology, Challenges and Opportunities." Dr. Verma also published an article in April 2016 on mechanistic and technical challenges in studying the human microbiome and cancer epidemiology in Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment.

For questions related to methods development or hypothesis-driven investigator-initiated grant applications, contact Mukesh Verma, Ph.D., Chief, Methods and Technologies Branch.

NCI has released a solicitation (NOT-OD-16-123) for 15 SBIR contract topics that span an array of areas relevant to ongoing research priorities across the Institute. Five of the proposed topics focus specifically on issues related to cancer control and population sciences, including:

1. Modulating the microbiome to improve therapeutic efficacy of cancer therapeutics (Topic #358)
2. Technologies for differential isolation of exosomes and oncosomes (Topic #359)
3. Informatics tools to measure cancer care coordination (Topic #362)
4. Connecting cancer caregivers to care teams: Digital platforms to support informal cancer caregiving (Topic #363)
5. Methods and software integration of cancer metabolomics data with other -omic and imaging data (Topic #364)

 
Contracts are legally binding agreement for the direct use or benefit of the government, and involve deliverables at the end. SBIR requires that Principal Investigators (PIs) have their primary employment with a small business at the time of award and throughout the duration of the project. Cancer epidemiologists at academic institutions can participate in SBIR projects as co-PIs, co-investigators, or subcontractors. Learn more about SBIR eligibility criteria.

At the NIH and NCI, there are dedicated training grant mechanisms that support individuals at a variety of educational levels and career stages, ranging from mentored predoctoral training grants to awards for late-stage graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that help them to transition into their next career stages. NCI also has career development awards for individuals with a Ph.D., M.D., or other research or professional doctorate degree who are committed to careers in all fields of cancer research including cancer prevention, control, behavioral, or population sciences. There are also NCI training funding mechanisms that support institutional training and education grants to develop or enhance research training opportunities for pre- and post-doctoral fellows. Many of these awards are managed by NCI's Center for Cancer Training.

Examples of current NCI fellowship and career development award grant mechanisms by discipline and career stage. More details can be found on http://www.cancer.gov/grants-training/training/funding. Image courtesy of NCI's Center for Cancer Training.

The Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities (CRCHD) leads NCI's efforts to fund training for students and investigators from diverse populations. Eligible individuals include those from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in cancer-related biomedical, behavioral, clinical, or social science research; individuals with disabilities; those who are first-generation college graduates; or those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Available CRCHD training mechanisms range from diversity supplements and supplements to promote re-entry to biomedical research careers to existing NIH parent grant awards to grant mechanisms under the Partnerships to Advance Cancer Health Equity (PACHE) program (P20 and U54 mechanisms).

An outcomes evaluation of NCI training awards was published a few years ago and found that K award recipients have improved odds of subsequent research funding, tend to be more highly published than non-awardees, are more involved in the scientific community, and are more likely to remain involved in the broader scientific enterprise.

 

To learn more, visit the:

• NIH Research Training and Career Development website to learn about various career development, research training, and fellowship opportunities across the 27 NIH Institutes and Centers;
• NCI Center for Cancer Training website to learn about various grant mechanisms available and staff contacts for questions;
• CRCHD Diversity Training website to learn more about diversity training programs, eligibility, and staff contact information.