CDMRP System Offers Funding Opportunity to Help Military Mesothelioma Sufferers
The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a contract to SRA International, Inc., a provider of technology and strategic consulting services and solutions to government organizations, to continue to support the receipt and scientific review of research grant applications to DoD’s Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) system. The Department of Defense (DoD) is responsible for funding and promoting research on diseases related to military service, and in 2008 the first funds were allocated towards mesothelioma research.
The study of mesothelioma, a serious cancer that occurs in individuals exposed to airborne asbestos fibers, is applicable to military and veteran populations because of their disproportionate exposure to asbestos.
Asbestos was widely used in the military between the 1940s and 1970s putting workers at a greater risk of asbestos exposure. Some soldiers worked in close quarters, such as ship engine rooms, where loose asbestos fibers circulated in the air. Asbestos was used in equipment in boiler rooms and engine rooms of ships as well as in numerous products, including gaskets, pumps, valves, boilers and turbines. It was also used in thousands of buildings and Navy ships from World War II until the 1970s. Veterans account for nearly 30 percent of all cases of mesothelioma.
SRA Health Programs Vice President Paul Nedzbala said, “CDMRP plays an important role in supporting disease-specific research, and in addressing the issues faced by our military members and their families. SRA fully shares this mission and we are proud that CDMRP will allow us to continue this partnership.”
In 2008 $1.3 million was awarded through the system to University of California researchers for a 3 year project to determine the “Role of Macrophage-Induced Inflammation in Mesothelioma” with a goal to find useful information that can be applied to clinical trial design for patients with mesothelioma.
An additional $1.2 million in funding was awarded in 2009 to the New York University School of Medicine to develop screening tests for mesothelioma leading to improvements in early detection of the disease.
2010 mesothelioma grant applications are accepted under the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) of CDMRP. Applications have already been presented with the scientific peer review held in July, and the final programmatic review to be held in December 2010.
Sources:
