Funding Opportunity Announcement: NURSA Data Source Projects RFP - NURSA Hub: Consensome Validation

Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas (NURSA) just announced their new NURSA Data Source Project (NDSP) RFPs. Here is the content from their announcements:

"Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas (NURSA) Hub: Consensome Validation NDSPs

IMPORTANT DATES
May 31, 2017: Deadline for Letter of Intent
June 19, 2017: Deadline for electronic application submission
August 1, 2017: Earliest possible start date

MISSION: The mission of the Nuclear Receptor Signaling Atlas (NURSA) Hub is to improve the accessibility and re-usability of publicly-archived datasets of relevance to the nuclear receptor (NR) signaling research community.

BACKGROUND: To arrive at consensus physiological system- and organ-specific transcriptomic signatures of NR pathways, the NURSA Hub has added a new module to its Transcriptomine data analysis platform, called Consensome. In this feature, genes are ranked according to the frequency with which they are significantly differentially expressed in publicly archived datasets involving manipulation of a given NR pathway in a specific organ or physiological system. The rankings, or Consensomes, are available at https://www.nursa.org/nursa/transcriptomine/index.jsf

SCOPE: In addition to validating well-characterized NR target genes, many Consensomes contain highly ranked genes that represent potentially important, but currently underappreciated, transcriptional targets of NR signaling pathways. In this NDSP solicitation, we invite applications proposing bench validation of relationships between NR signaling pathways and gene(s) predicted by the Consensomes, but that are previously unpublished in the research literature. 

ELIGIBILITY: Responsive proposals will range from those that propose validation of:

• a larger number of genes with less depth of validation 
  • Q-PCR (for quantitative validation of induction or repression) and siRNA to demonstrate involvement in a NR-regulated cellular process, such as the GR pathway in gluconeogenesis or the PPAR? pathway in adipogenesis
• or a more defined range of genes with more detailed mechanistic characterization
  • involvement of other cellular pathway components, e.g. kinases, in a receptor-gene paradigm"

For more information, please visit NURSA funding page.