Coordinating Unit for the Innovative Science Accelerator Program

The goal of the NIDDK Innovative Science Accelerator (ISAC) program is to not only provide funding for highly innovative hypothesis driven research but to deliver a platform for the KUH research community to collaborate, exchange ideas and find resources that will accelerate innovation in areas of interest to that community. Our laboratory has extensive experience in developing these types of resources and managing the activities of national consortia. We are currently the Coordinating Units (CU) for two NIDDK consortia, the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Centers (MMPC) and the Diabetic Complications Consortium (DiaComp). Both consortia are NIDDK funded initiatives that provide an environment to foster communication and collaboration between investigator communities involved in metabolic and diabetic complications research. Each sponsors annual meetings in relevant scientific areas, solicits and funds pilot projects in high impact areas of NIDDK research, and supports websites to serve their respective scientific communities. Over the last 14 years, our group has developed an extensive infrastructure to successfully managed the coordinating units (CU) for these NIDDK funded consortia (MMPC, 2006-present, DiaComp, 2011-present). The ISAC-CU will be responsible for supporting ISAC investigators through the use of opportunity pools (funding programs), manage/maintain the website/resources and administratively organize the meetings and workshops sponsored by ISAC to engage the greater KUH scientific community. The ISAC-CU is responsible for creating and maintaining the administrative, scientific and informatics infrastructure necessary to organize and facilitate ISAC’s operations. The goal of this proposal is to provide that infrastructure. We will build upon the success of the current CU infrastructure to provide ISAC with a robust and comprehensive service oriented solution that supports the unique aspects of this consortium.