Jennifer Moffat, Ph.D. Awarded Major NIH Contract

After nearly two years of effort, Jennifer Moffat, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, with the assistance of Research Administrator Holly Chanatry, MS, landed a contract from NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to use animal models to test compounds for therapeutic efficacy against varicella-zoster virus and other diseases.

NIAID’s Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (DMID) issued an RFP in 2008 entitled Animal Models of Infectious Disease, the first time this contact had been up for bid in seven years. Dr. Moffat was encouraged to apply by colleagues who were DMID contractors as well as her NIH Program Officer, who was familiar with Upstate’s humanized SCID mouse and stem cell processing lab facilities.

The application process was grueling. Dr. Moffat and Ms. Chanatry had approximately three months from the date the RFP was issued to provide a first round response, which resulted in a 270-page document that encompassed scientific and financial information —final, printed copies weighed 26 pounds printed ⎯ entitled “Humanized Mouse Models for Infectious Disease Therapeutics,” demonstrating Upstate’s capacity to scientifically and administratively respond to Task Orders under the contract. After nearly two years, Dr. Moffat was selected as a Task Order A01 contractor to test compounds against varicella-zoster virus in SCID-Hu mice.

But the wait is not over. Now that Dr. Moffat has been selected under this Task Order, she is waiting for notification that DMID has compounds for her lab to test, prepare the testing protocol for approval, and finally receive the compounds. These compounds will come from suppliers to DMID and agency staff will send them to Dr. Moffat to test, with no contact between suppliers and Dr. Moffat or her staff. Once Dr. Moffat’s lab tests the compounds in animals, results (the deliverables) will be sent directly to DMID. In this way, NIH is serving a facilitation role between entities that create the compounds (academic institutions or industry) and those that test them.

As Dr. Moffat discovered, being a contractor is significantly different than being a grantee. During the grant application process, applicants are encouraged to consult with their Program Officers; however, during the contracting process, no contact is permitted. Although grants enable PIs to direct their hypothesis-driven research projects, own the results and any intellectual property (IP), and publish at will, contractors respond to the requests of the contracting agency and submit (but do not own) their results. Contractors do not own IP, and can only publish with permission.

Given these limitations, you might ask why anyone would go through a grueling application process to win a contract. The answer is simple—contracting offers the opportunity for considerable scientific advancement and financial gains. From a scientific perspective, Dr. Moffat’s research has direct clinical implications. Compounds that test positively in animals will go into clinical trials. Both Dr. Moffat’s research expertise and Upstate’s SCID-Hu mouse facility as a testing site will become better known to scientists and industry. Dr. Moffat’s participation as a contractor will demonstrate her willingness to collaborate with outside groups. Compensation under this contract will support lab personnel and the mouse facility, as well as an upgrade to the facility to achieve GLP certification. All of these activities will open the door to additional contacting opportunities for Dr. Moffat, as well as for Dr. Rosemary Rochford’s malaria and Dr. Tim Endy’s dengue virus research.

There is also an added benefit to Upstate: having successfully mastered the contracting process, Dr. Moffat and Holly Chanatry are willing to help other Upstate faculty considering a response to a contracting opportunity. NIH issues RFPs as Notices in its weekly NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts, which can be found on the NIH website at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/index.html.