Special NIH Funding Opportunity: RFA-GM-14-003

The DRSC is specifically mentioned in NIH NIGMS Request for Applications RFA-GM-14-003

"This initiative will provide support for biologists to collaborate with and/or access services of technology resource laboratories, including R01-funded technology developers and specialized centers and resources. Examples of the latter include, but are not limited to ... and the Drosophila RNAi Screening Center. One feature of this initiative is that the biologist, rather than the technology provider, chooses the topic, applies for the funding, and is responsible for the direction of the work."

Funding Opportunity Purpose Statement:

"The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to diversify and extend the scope and capabilities of currently funded NIGMS R01 and R37 projects for studies on macromolecular interactions and their relationship to function in cells. This FOA solicits revisions (formerly called "competing supplements") of currently funded NIGMS grants specializing in the analysis of molecular systems and mechanisms in live organelles, cells, tissues, or organisms. Applicants may increase their budgets to extend the scientific scope of their projects or to add new approaches that enhance their capabilities for research on macromolecular interactions in cells. Collaboration is not a requirement of this initiative, but applicants may request support for collaboration (including subcontracts) with investigators who have complementary expertise Support for access of modestly funded laboratories to experimental approaches and research objectives that are otherwise financially out of reach is one priority of this FOA."

Application Due-Dates: February 19, 2013 and September 19, 2013.

Click here to view the RFA.

iMAD approach to host-pathogen screening. Breaking report.

These authors report a strategy for simultaneous genetic manipulation of both host (Drosophila cells) and pathogen genes.

O'Connor TJ, Boyd D, Dorer MS, Isberg RR. Aggravating genetic interactions allow a solution to redundancy in a bacterial pathogen. Science. 2012 Dec 14;338(6113):1440-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1229556. PubMed PMID: 23239729.

Systems view of nociception. Breaking report.

This report follows up on a large-scale in vivo RNAi screen. See previous blog post.

Neely GG, Rao S, Costigan M, Mair N, Racz I, Milinkeviciute G, Meixner A, Nayanala S, Griffin RS, Belfer I, Dai F, Smith S, Diatchenko L, Marengo S, Haubner BJ, Novatchkova M, Gibson D, Maixner W, Pospisilik JA, Hirsch E, Whishaw IQ, Zimmer A, Gupta V, Sasaki J, Kanaho Y, Sasaki T, Kress M, Woolf CJ, Penninger JM. Construction of a global pain systems network highlights phospholipid signaling as a regulator of heat nociception. PLoS Genet. 2012 Dec;8(12):e1003071. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003071. PMID: 23236288.

FlyAtlas Update. Breaking report.

On my desk to read today? This freely accessible report describing new features in FlyAtlas, including the new web interface FlyAtlas 2.

Robinson SW, Herzyk P, Dow JA, Leader DP. FlyAtlas: database of gene expression in the tissues of Drosophila melanogaster. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Nov 29. PubMed PMID: 23203866.

GenomeRNAi Update. Breaking Report.

On my desk to read today? This open access update on the DKFZ's GenomeRNAi database of mammalian and Drosophila RNAi screen data.

Schmidt EE, Pelz O, Buhlmann S, Kerr G, Horn T, Boutros M. GenomeRNAi: a database for cell-based and in vivo RNAi phenotypes, 2013 update. Nucleic Acids Res. 2012 Nov 27. PubMed PMID: 23193271.

Targeting PDZ domain-containing proteins. Breaking report.

On my desk to read today? This paper describing the results of in vivo RNAi knockdown of most PDZ domain-containing proteins.

Aranjuez G, Kudlaty E, Longworth MS, McDonald JA. On the role of PDZ domain-encoding genes in Drosophila border cell migration. G3 (Bethesda). 2012 Nov;2(11):1379-91. doi: 10.1534/g3.112.004093. Epub 2012 Nov 1. PubMed PMID: 23173089.

Large-scale RNAi screen. Breaking report.

On my desk to ready today? This disease-relevant report in an open access journal.


Voßfeldt H, Butzlaff M, Prüßing K, Ní Chárthaigh RA, Karsten P, Lankes A, Hamm S, Simons M, Adryan B, Schulz JB, Voigt A. Large-scale screen for modifiers of ataxin-3-derived polyglutamine-induced toxicity in Drosophila. PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e47452. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047452. PubMed PMID: 23139745; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3489908.