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FY 2017 Funded Awards

NIH is pleased to announce the first research awards funded through the NIH Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project (RMIP).

The NIH RMIP launched following passage of the 21^st Century Cures Act, which authorized $30 million over four years ($2 million for FY 2017) “for clinical research to further the field of regenerative medicine using adult stem cells.”

Because the Cures Act requires grantees to provide dollar for dollar matching funds, an additional $2 million will go to this research in FY 2017. To further enhance the impact of Cures funds, NIH has obligated nearly $720,000, bringing the total FY 2017 funding for these awards to approximately $4.7 million.

NIH has worked in close collaboration with the U.S. to implement the RMIP.

The eight awards made under the RMIP cover a broad spectrum of science and new technologies, and have the potential to advance understanding and treatment of common diseases – including diabetes, anemia, corneal and other eye diseases, and chronic skin ulcers -- as well as rare diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, inherited skin diseases, and sickle cell disease.

Several awards will explore the use of adult stem cells to make specialized cells and tissues that could help reduce the need for whole organ transplants or otherwise restore normal function. Others aim to develop reliable methods of generating red blood cells and platelets in the lab to improve the safety and supply of blood available for transfusion.

The awardees funded by the Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project in FY 2017 include:

• Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York
  Eric E. Bouhassira, Ph.D.
  Optimization of Reagent Red Blood Cell Production
  GRANT Number:
• Boston Children’s Hospital
  Markus H. Frank, M.D.
  ABCB5-Positive Stem Cells for Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency (LSCD) Therapy
  Grant Number:
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
  Mortimer Poncz, M.D.
  Optimization of Ex Vivo- and In Vivo-Generated Platelets
  Grant Number:
• Columbia University Health Sciences, New York
  Hans-Willem E. Snoeck, M.D., Ph.D.
  Modeling, pathogenesis and treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
  Grant Number:
• Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
  Douglas A Melton, Ph.D.
  Production of Clinical-Grade Diabetes Patient-Specific Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines Intended for Autologous Beta Cell Replacement Therapy
  Grant Number:
• Maine Medical Center, Portland
  Leif Oxburgh, D.V.M., Ph.D.
  Engineering Erythropoietin-Producing Cells
  Grant Number:
• University of Colorado Denver
  Dennis Roop, Ph.D.
  Testing the Therapeutic Potential of iPS Cells for Inherited Skin Diseases
  Grant Number:
• Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
  Mark W. Saltzman, Ph.D.
  Optimizing Therapeutic Revascularization by Endothelial Cell Transplantation
  Grant Number:

NIH expects to solicit new applications for RMIP research in FY 2018 and beyond to establish a sustainable evidence-based foundation so the field can continue using rigorous science approaches to bring new advances into clinical practice.

The RMIP is one of four Innovation Projects authorized under the Cures Act; the others are the Precision Medicine Initiative (“All of Us”), the Cancer Moonshot, and the BRAIN Initiative.