This FOA issued by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, encourages Research Project Grant (R01) applications from institutions and organizations that propose collaborative, multidisciplinary, multi-Project Director/Principal Investigator research for the development of new technologies needed to utilize stem cells in future cell therapies to treat sickle cell disease and other blood disorders. This initiative focuses on two key areas that are impediments to further progress: (1) development of techniques to efficiently generate hematopoietic cells by either differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (PSC) or by cellular reprogramming to yield sufficient numbers of GMP quality cells for clinical evaluation; and (2) development of protocols that enable the efficient engraftment of hematopoietic cells derived from pluripotent stem cells or derived by cellular reprogramming. Each multidisciplinary application will designate two or more Project Directors/Principal Investigators. This program will be implemented in collaboration with the ongoing NHLBI Progenitor Cell Biology Consortium and will add separate additional research projects. Extensive collaboration is expected between the existing Consortium Hubs, and the new group(s) are also expected to collaborate extensively with the Consortium Hubs.

Only the review criteria described below will be considered in the review process. As part of the NIH mission, all applications submitted to the NIH in support of biomedical and behavioral research are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer review system.

Scholarship Application Deadline:September 5, 2011

Further Scholarship Information and Application