PREPARED STATEMENT Of special note, the NCRR will continue to help develop one of the Nation's most important areas of investment in the future, future biomedical researchers. NCRR will continue to increase support for minority high school students and their science teachers to experience the excitement of the hands-on research environment. Woven together, these programs strengthen and enhance the environments in which research advancements can take place. The total 1992 budget request for NCRR is $320,975,000. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. [The statement follows:] STATEMENT OF DR. ROBERT A. WHITNEY Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee: I am pleased to present the Fiscal Year 1992 budget request for the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR). Many of the breakthroughs and research advancements described during these hearings were made possible by or came about as a direct outgrowth of the resources and infrastructure developed and provided by the NCRR. The interrelated network of resource centers supported by the NCRR meets the needs of biomedical researchers across the spectrum of requirements, from clinical research to biomedical technology to animal models. Because the NCRR's centers are resource centers, they are the backbone that keeps the research enterprise, carried on through research project grants, research centers, and other research awards, upright and moving forward. Our centers represent approximately one-third of NIH's budget for research centers. Our three largest research centers programs--the General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs), the Biomedical Research Technology Centers, and the Regional Primate Research Centers--as a group, comprise the largest national collection of resources specifically identified for use in biomedical research. Our GCRCs are home for more than 4,500 research studies and projects funded by all the NIH components across the entire range of biomedical research. For example, investigators at the GCRCs have been pivotal in the development of the technology for kidney, liver, bone marrow, and heart transplants as well as those for other organs. The first liver transplant was performed in the early 1960's at the University of Colorado GCRC. The co-recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, Dr. E. Donnall Thomas, did some of his pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation at the University of Washington GCRC. Important, ground breaking research on transplantation of pancreatic islet cells is ongoing at the University of Miami GCRC. AIDS research is being supported at ever increasing levels, both pediatric and adult, and both inpatient and outpatient. We are proud of the planning that allowed us to have the clinical research infrastructure in place for use in AIDS clinical trials--the GCRCs host studies from many of the AIDS Clinical Trials Groups funded by the NIAID as well as AIDS studies funded by other NIH institutes. Some of the really exciting developments in research are now occurring in structural and molecular biology. The ability to picture the structure of crystals and the construction of cells and their component parts has contributed greatly to the progress of drug and vaccine development, and to identifying the location of genetic material. For example, analysis of the structure of the AIDS virus receptor protein, CD4, was accomplished by x-ray diffraction methods. The Biomedical Research Technology Centers are the locus of cuttingedge developments in high-tech instrumentation, such as synchrotron beam lines, magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, and state-of-the-art computers, which have enabled the advances in these areas and are opening the doors to even greater progress. Availability of appropriate models for the study of human disease is another important requirement met by the NCRR. While the Biomedical Research Technology Program supports work in computer-based modelling, the Regional Primate Research Centers, the Laboratory Animal Sciences Centers, and the Biological Models and Materials Research Centers all provide living models specially developed for use in particular areas of biomedical research, from non-human primates to the cells of humans and of nonmammalian organisms. For example, researchers have identified three defective genes in a mutant strain of the roundworm, C. elegans, that are involved with cell death; a toxic gene product of at least one of these genes leads to the degeneration of nerve cells in this nematode. The mutant strain which contains the defective genes has been deposited in the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center. This Center, a repository which contains over 1400 strains of nematode, has already distributed this mutant to several other investigators interested in studying neurodegenerative diseases. Since humans and the roundworm share many of the same neurotransmitters and neurological genes and proteins, C. elegans can serve as a useful analogy to the human brain and provide a means to understand some of the mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases. Another extremely important contribution of these centers, the discovery of the susceptibility of macaque monkeys to Simian Immunodeficiency Virus and to one form, of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, will enable researchers to use these animals in the development of AIDS vaccines and therapies. Like all of the programs in the NCRR, these resource center programs provide effective mechanisms for containing research costs because they offer economies of scale and sharing resources not otherwise available. Many of the resources which the NCRR has developed and now supports are too expensive to be provided within a single research project or even by a cluster of individual projects. In addition to supporting the major resource centers for NIH and PHS funded investigators, the NCRR develops new resources, hastening the progress of emerging research needs. For example, scientists at the recently established NCRR-supported Human Genetic Analysis Resource have developed sophisticated computer programs that can analyze family trees and enable scientists to study the genetics of common diseases that are caused by many genes interacting with environmental factors. Computer analysis of a large family with about 200 members, many of whom had heart attacks before age 50, revealed evidence of a deficiency gene that may lead to premature heart attacks. The gene occurs most often in family members with abnormally high blood cholesterol levels. The researchers now plan to look for evidence of the gene in other families and are also using the computer program to search for genetic factors in diseases such as cancer, alcoholism, and affective disorders. New models of human disease processes are under continuous development and are the principal focus of the NCRR's new research project grant activity. Much of the 1991 increase in the Biological Models and Materials Research Program was in support of research project grants to give additional emphasis to non-mammalian model development. Scientists at the Regional Primate Research Centers and the Laboratory Animal Sciences Centers continue to develop appropriate mammalian models for research. Specialized colonies of mammals for specific requirements of various research protocols also continue to be supported in these centers. The research project grant activity of the Biomedical Research Technology program supports development of new technology and new applications of technology to biomedical research. The 1992 request would continue this program. The research capabilities of minority institutions will be developed further as we continue to support the highly successful Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program. It is designed to build research infrastructure at predominantly minority institutions with that grant doctoral degrees in health-related sciences. These institutions are becoming more actively involved in the research supported by the NIH categorical Institutes, and we are especially pleased with the continuing collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). In 1990, the NIAID made awards to three RCMI institutions which will assist them to become important participants in AIDS clinical trials, focusing on the inclusion of minority populations in these trials. This budget request includes a new proposal to construct research facilities at minority institutions. The $15 million requested for Research Facilities Improvement will be awarded competitively to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and similar institutions. This effort will expand the base of institutions that conduct biomedical research, targeting institutions that have had difficulty in the past obtaining construction funds from non-federal sources. Of special note, the NCRR will continue its development in the nation's most important investment in the future--potential biomedical researchers. We will continue and increase our support to provide hands-on research exposure to minority high school students and their science teachers. This program has been and continues to be an inexpensive mechanism to foster interest at the high school level in science and possible future careers in biomedical research. In 1991 we initiated a program that brings minority high school science teachers and those who teach minority students into the research environment for up to eight weeks in the summer to enhance their research skills, expose them to new developments in science, and rekindle their excitement with their chosen field. We have great hopes that this program will result in greater interest in science at the high school level and greater interaction between research institutions and the high schools. An area of particular interest to the Committees last year was the NCRR's animal facilities improvement program, which provides funds to institutions to renovate their animal facilities to ensure compliance with PHS policy on the care and use of laboratory animals. In 1990 we initiated a special set-aside within this program for smaller, less research intensive institutions. pleased to report that 10 of these institutions received awards in 1990, along I am |