Dear Research Faculty,​​

The fall semester will start on Monday. President Khator in her August 17 email asked all of us to be active participants in the Coog Strong, Mask On campaign. Masks, physical distancing and good hygiene practices remain our primary strategy to limit the spread of the virus. Please continue to visit the UH COVID-19 website, which is frequently updated with new information.

Funding for pandemic-related research continues. Agencies come out with new funding opportunities every week, and the White House has also signaled continued support for pandemic-related research.

Funding Opportunities

The NIH issued RFA-TR-20-003: Urgent Phase I/II Clinical Trials to Repurpose Existing Therapeutic Agents to Treat COVID-19 Sequelae (U01 Clinical Trial Required) (NIH). The purpose of this urgent funding opportunity announcement is to invite applications to repurpose existing therapeutic agents to treat Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) sequelae and associated complications that result from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Please also take a look at the NIH Emergency Awards that I mentioned in my last email. There is a variety of funding mechanisms for research focused on detection, tracing and screening of COVID-19 (R01/R33/R44/U01/U18/U24/STTR).

Pandemic Response: A White House Budgetary Priority

The Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum on August 14 that lists the White House FY22 R&D budgetary priorities, which now include a COVID-19 pandemic response goal in addition to budgetary priorities in the Industries of the Future (IotF): biotechnology, AI, quantum information sciences, advanced communication networks, advanced manufacturing, and IotF-related technologies of future computing ecosystems and autonomous and remotely piloted vehicles.

Libraries

All locations of the University Libraries opened on Monday, August 17. Masks are required and occupancy levels are being monitored. MD Anderson Library access will be limited to floors 1-3 and stacks will be closed. Materials that are in the stacks can be requested from Library staff. Special Collections will be open by appointment only. Check the Libraries’ websites for schedules and services.

VPR Virtual Office Hours

The next VPR Virtual Office Hours will be on Friday, August 28, at 1 p.m. (please note the time). You will be able to access the event through the Research & Innovation Teams site. I hope that you will join us next week.

Best regards,

Amr Elnashai, FREng  
Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer