On Thursday, March 5, 2015 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. EST, the NIH Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) Common Fund Program will host a pre-application informational telephone conference for the new SPARC funding opportunity announcement RFA-RM-15-002, Exploratory Technologies to Understand the Control of Organ Function by the Peripheral Nervous System for SPARC (U18). The specific goal of this FOA is to promote exploratory studies to develop new and/or enhance existing tools and technologies tailored to elucidate the neurobiology and neurophysiology underlying autonomic control of internal organs in health or disease, which will ultimately inform next generation neuromodulation therapies. These awards will establish feasibility for further technology development in any future SPARC initiatives. 

Applicants are strongly encouraged to use quantitative models and methods to drive the design, development and validation of the proposed technologies.  Theoretical methods, to model functional neuroanatomy as it pertains to end-organ systems, and to predict effects and side-effects of electrical stimulation are also encouraged.  Ideally, computational methods can be used to systematically promote multiscale data integration of neuronal, chemical, metabolic, and other end organ activity markers.  Finally, these integrative methods may facilitate a systems approach for understanding the mechanisms of action of current and future neuromodulation therapies for disease/symptom control.

The purpose of the telephone conference is to provide an overview of the program and the U18 cooperative agreement mechanism, information specific to areas of research interest, and answer participant questions.  Telephone Conference Number: (+1) 866-651-5369, Passcode: 4698680