[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 156 (Monday, August 13, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48162-48164]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19801]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Announcement of Requirements and Registration for the Challenge
To Identify Audacious Goals in Vision Research and Blindness
Rehabilitation
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 3719.
SUMMARY: The National Eye Institute (NEI) is announcing the launch of
the Challenge to Identify Audacious Goals in Vision Research and
Blindness Rehabilitation (Challenge) to stimulate innovation in
establishing a national vision research agenda. This Challenge seeks
entries from the general public, not just those typically engaged in
vision research. The challenge calls for submission of audacious goals
in any area relevant to NEI's mission to conduct and support research,
training, health information dissemination, and other programs with
respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of
visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems
and requirements of the blind (42 U.S.C. 285i).
The NEI will select up to 20 winners to receive a $3,000 cash prize
and will host the winners at the NEI Audacious Goals Development
Meeting to present and discuss their winning entries with a broad
audience of scientists, NEI staff, and other stakeholders. This
challenge will generate valuable contributions from NEI's many and
varied stakeholders to inform the Institute's strategic plan, energize
the Institute's research efforts, increase public awareness of vision
research, and enhance the national effort to reduce the burden of
ocular disorders and diseases worldwide.
DATES:
(1) Submission period begins August 13, 2012.
(2) Submission period ends November 12, 2012, 6:00 p.m. ET.
(3) Winners notified January 7, 2013.
(4) Winners present and discuss their winning entry at the NEI
Audacious Goals Development Meeting in early 2013 (date will be
announced on http://www.nei.nih.gov/challenge).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard S. Fisher, Ph.D., Associate
Director for Science Policy and Legislation, National Eye Institute,
Phone: 301-496-4308. [NEIPlan@mail.nih.gov.]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Subject of Challenge Competition
This Challenge to Identify Audacious Goals in Vision Research and
Blindness Rehabilitation (Challenge) adds an exciting, unique component
to the NEI's current strategic planning effort. In the past, these
planning efforts relied primarily on the expertise of NEI-funded
scientists to review the state of the science and describe current
specific research needs and opportunities. This Challenge seeks input
from all eligible individuals (Contestants)--not just vision research
scientists--to describe (a) an audacious goal in vision research and
blindness rehabilitation, (b) how to achieve the goal within about 10
years, and (c) the impact of reaching the goal.
Rules for Participating in the Competition
1. Eligibility: To be eligible to win a prize under this Challenge,
a Contestant:
[cir] Shall have registered to participate in the competition under
the rules promulgated by the NEI and explained in this Notice;
[cir] Shall have complied with all the requirements under this
section;
[cir] Shall be an individual at least 18 years of age and shall be
a citizen or permanent resident of the United States;
[cir] May not be a Federal entity or Federal employee acting within
the scope of their employment. Federal employees seeking to participate
in this contest outside the scope of their employment should consult
their ethics official prior to developing their submission;
[cir] May not be employees of the NIH or any other company or
individual involved with the design, production, execution, judging, or
distribution of the Challenge and their immediate family (spouse,
parents and step-parents, siblings and step-siblings, and children and
step-children) and household members (people who share the same
residence at least three (3) months out of the year);
2. Federal grantees may not use Federal funds to develop America
COMPETES Act Challenge applications unless consistent with the purpose
of their grant award (Grantees should consult with their cognizant
Grants Management Official to make this determination); and
3. Federal contractors may not use Federal funds from a contract to
develop a Challenge entry or to fund efforts in support of a Challenge
submission.
4. A Contestant shall not be deemed ineligible because the
individual used Federal facilities or consulted with Federal employees
during a competition if the facilities and employees are made available
to all individuals participating in the competition on an equitable
basis.
5. Liability: By participating in this Challenge, Contestants agree
to assume any and all risks and waive claims against the Federal
Government and its related entities, except in the case of willful
misconduct, for any injury, death, damage, or loss of property,
revenue, or profits, whether direct, indirect, or consequential,
arising from participation in this prize contest, whether the injury,
death, damage, or loss arises through negligence or otherwise.
6. Indemnification: By participating in this Challenge, Contestants
agree to indemnify the Federal Government against third party claims
for damages arising from or related to competition activities.
7. Insurance: Based on the subject matter of the contest, the type
of work that it will possibly require, as well as an analysis of the
likelihood of any claims for death, bodily injury, or property damage,
or loss potentially resulting from contest participation, Contestants
are not required to obtain liability insurance or demonstrate financial
responsibility in order to participate in this contest.
8. By participating in this Challenge, each individual agrees to
abide by all rules set forth in this Notice and the Challenge.gov Terms
of Participation (http://challenge.gov/terms).
9. Each Entry Must:
[cir] Be limited to a maximum of 4,000 characters, including spaces
(roughly a single page). In addition to information requested by http://www.nei.nih.gov/challenge to identify the entry, Contestants must
complete three statements about the proposed audacious goal. The
following statements, which will be the subject of the judging, are:
[ssquf] It would be fantastic if * * *'' (Explain why the goal is
audacious and
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how the goal fits within NEI's mission, which is listed in the
Challenge summary.)
[ssquf] To achieve the audacious goal, * * *'' (Discuss the
feasibility of achieving the goal within about a 10 year period,
including the technological, scientific, or other advances that are
needed to reach the goal.)
[ssquf] If the audacious goal is achieved, the impact would be * *
*''
Note: Examples of what would have been considered audacious goals
in the past can be found at in the ``Additional Information'' section
of this notice.
10. Contestants may submit more than one audacious goal entry, as
long as they are unique.
11. The NEI will not select as a winner an individual who is
currently on the Excluded Parties List (https://www.epls.gov/).
12. Entries must be original works developed solely by the
Contestant and not infringe any intellectual property or any other
rights of any third party.
Process for Registration and Submitting an Entry
For this challenge, registration and submitting an entry are
completed in a single step. Participants can register and submit an
entry for this challenge by following the instructions at the Challenge
to Identify Audacious Goals in Vision Research and Blindness
Rehabilitation Web site: www.nei.nih.gov/challenge.
Amount of the Prize
Up to 20 winners will each be awarded a $3,000 prize and up to
$2,000 in travel reimbursement to participate in the NEI Audacious
Goals Development Meeting in the Washington, DC area in early 2013.
Prizes awarded under this competition will be paid by electronic funds
transfer and may be subject to Federal income taxes. The NEI, one of
the National Institutes of Health, which is a component of the
Department of Health and Human Services, will comply with the Internal
Revenue Service withholding and reporting requirements, where
applicable. Winners will be invited to lead small group discussions on
their submitted goal and understand that the submitted ideas may be
combined with others during the meeting as part of the process to
identify audacious goals. If winners are not present at the meeting,
their entries will still be discussed. Travel expenses to and from the
meeting location, lodging and meals will be separately reimbursed up to
$2,000 and in accordance with Federal Government travel policy. Winners
will need to provide receipts to document travel expenses for
reimbursement purposes in accordance with National Institutes of Health
policy and applicable laws and regulations (http://oma.od.nih.gov/manualchapters/management/1500/).
Basis Upon Which Winners Will Be Selected
The audacious goals entries will be de-identified and then will be
judged by a selection board composed of NIH employees in compliance
with the requirements of the America COMPETES Act and the Department of
Health and Human Services judging guidelines (http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/challenges/judges_guidance.html). Judges will be named
after commencement of the challenge and will consist of senior
scientists and clinicians with knowledge of vision research and ocular
disorders as well as allied biomedical disciplines. The judges will
consult with technical advisors from biomedical, clinical, or other
scientific disciplines if it is necessary to properly evaluate entries.
The judges will make selections based upon the following criteria:
1. Relevance to the NEI Mission: Each entry will be rated on how
the goal would further the NEI mission to conduct and support research,
training, health information dissemination, and other programs with
respect to blinding eye diseases, visual disorders, mechanisms of
visual function, preservation of sight, and the special health problems
and requirements of the blind.
2. Audaciousness: Each entry will be rated on whether the proposed
goal is bold, daring, original or unconventional, exceptionally
innovative, creative, novel, or any combination.
3. Feasibility: Although it is recommended that contestants
consider about a 10 year time period for achieving a proposed goal, NEI
recognizes that estimates of the timeframe for an audacious goal could
vary considerably depending on the nature of the goal. Thus, audacious
goals with shorter or longer time periods may be acceptable. Each entry
will be rated on how well it describes the technological, scientific,
or other advances that are needed to reach the goal.
4. Scope: Each entry will be rated on the extent to which it is
broad and/or far-reaching. Goals can include basic, translational,
clinical research, or any combination. Goals may also encompass
training or health information dissemination as appropriate within the
NEI Mission. The goal could have multiple components, for example
research requiring multidisciplinary approaches or involvement of
multiple laboratories. Even a goal that addresses a disease affecting a
relatively small number of patients may be considered broad and far-
reaching if it requires the development of tools and techniques that
can be applied to other problems (see the historical example of Lebers
Congenital Amaurosis in the additional information section below).
5. Impact: Each entry will be rated on its transformative
potential; its value in exerting a positive and powerful influence on
the NEI mission.
The evaluation process will begin by de-identifying the entries and
removing those that are not responsive to this Challenge or not in
compliance with all Challenge rules. The judges may consult with
technical advisors with relevant expertise if it is necessary to
properly evaluate entries. Judges and technical advisors will examine
multiple entries in accord with the aforementioned judging criteria.
The judges will meet to discuss the most meritorious entries. Final
selection of up to 20 winners will be determined by a vote of the
judges.
Additional Information
NEI is one of 27 institutes and centers of the National Institutes
of Health, a component of the Department of Health and Human Services.
NEI is the principal U.S. government agency that supports vision
research, both in its own labs and in universities and research
facilities throughout the U.S. and around the world. NEI has the
responsibility of establishing a national agenda for vision research.
Since NEI was established over 40 years ago, it has conducted strategic
planning activities culminating in a series of national plans and
workshop reports that identify needs and opportunities in vision
research. These planning efforts have relied primarily on the expertise
of NEI-funded investigators to review the state of the science and
describe current specific research needs and opportunities.
The current NEI strategic planning effort consists of three phases:
Phase I: (Completed). Reports of six NEI-assembled panels
of experts in vision research are compiled in a document entitled,
Vision Research: Needs, Gaps, and Opportunities (http://www.nei.nih.gov/strategicplanning/).
Phase II: This Challenge to Identify Audacious Goals in
Vision Research and Blindness Rehabilitation invites submissions of
audacious goals. Winners of this challenge will present their goals at
the NEI Audacious Goals Development Meeting of vision research
stakeholders. The NEI and the National
[[Page 48164]]
Advisory Eye Council will then select the most compelling audacious
goals for the national vision research agenda and to motivate funding
agencies in the United States and worldwide to stimulate research
efforts to address these goals. The NEI seeks broad and diverse input
not only from vision researchers and other biomedical and scientific
research communities, but also more widely from all interested
individuals. Fresh ideas and approaches are expected to energize
research efforts, increase public awareness of vision research, and
make important contributions to planning that will enhance our effort
to reduce the burden of ocular disorders and diseases worldwide. The
creativity arising from a variety of new perspectives is expected to
generate new research avenues and approaches.
Phase III: NEI will develop an implementation plan that
will outline how the NEI priorities, programs, and operations will
address the needs, gaps and opportunities identified in Phase I of the
strategic planning process and the newly identified audacious goals.
The following historical examples are presented to provide a sense
of what is meant by ``audacious goals.'' These were, or would have been
big, bold ideas at that time. Each of these examples required multiple
components and advances in a variety of areas. The NEI mission
encompasses a variety of areas including basic and clinical research,
epidemiology, diagnostics, information dissemination, technology
development, training, and education and awareness of the special
health problems caused by visual impairment. We invite audacious goals
that contribute to NEI's mission.
An audacious goal in 1997 would have been to develop gene
therapy to cure an inherited form of childhood blindness in less than
10 years. The first genetic mutations causing Lebers Congenital
Amaurosis, a rare form of inherited childhood blindness, were
identified in 1997. Multiple research groups then worked on developing
gene therapy to treat this form of LCA, leading to the start of human
clinical trials in 2007 and reports of success from three groups in
2008 (http://www.nei.nih.gov/lca/backgrounder.asp).
An audacious goal in 1990 would have been to develop
imaging techniques to view the microscopic structures of a living human
eye to aid the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
Correcting telescope images for the blurring from turbulent
atmosphere was first conceived in 1953 and applied successfully by the
late 1980s. The technology was developed because the Department of
Defense needed to view satellites from ground-based telescopes, but
atmospheric turbulence distorted the images. Similarly, doctors could
not see the microscopic structures in the back of the eye because their
view was blurred by the optics of the patient's eye. The technology
developed for astronomy was modified to view the back of the eye, and
successful use of this approach allowed visualization of the main
light-sensing cells in retina, the cone photoreceptors, in 1999 by
Roorda and Williams.
An audacious goal in 1986 was to sequence the entire human
genome in 15 years.
The Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health
officially began the Human Genome Initiative in 1990. Important
requirements at the time included enhancing sequencing and analytic
technologies as well as computational resources to support future
research and commercial applications, exploring gene function through
mouse-human comparisons, studying human variation, and training future
scientists in genomics. This required multiple approaches, labs, and
expertise. A draft of the human genome was reported in 2000 and a
complete genome was announced in 2003.
Contacting Challenge Winners and Displaying Winners' Information and
Entry
Using information provided in the Audacious Goal Form, winners will
be notified by email, telephone, or mail after the judging is
completed. Winners' names, hometown, state, and their audacious goal
description will also be posted on the Challenge Web site
www.nei.nih.gov/challenge.
Intellectual Property Rights
By participating in this Challenge, each Contestant grants to NEI
an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty-free, nonexclusive worldwide license
to post, share, and publicly display the Contestant's audacious goal
description on the Web, newsletters or pamphlets, and other
informational products. Each Contestant understands and agrees that if
his/her entry is selected as a winning entry, it will be discussed and
refined at the NEI Audacious Goals Development Meeting early in 2013
and may ultimately assist NEI in its prioritization of research goals
or funding for research funding.
General Conditions
NEI reserves the right to cancel, suspend, and/or modify the
Competition for any reason, at NEI's sole discretion.
Dated: August 8, 2012.
Paul A. Sieving,
Director, National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.
[FR Doc. 2012-19801 Filed 8-10-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4140-01-P