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Apply to become a GUDMAP Collaborating Project | ATLAS-D2K Center

Apply to become a GUDMAP Collaborating Project

Understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive cellular processes during anial development has been the aim of developmental biology research for many years. Emerging studies have now revealed several surprising and fundamental commonalities between development and disease. As such, a clear understanding of fundamental developmental mechanisms may shed light into disease processes and ultimately provide insight into possible therapeutic interventions. Therefore, a solid understanding of development is essential. To accomplish this, the Genitourinary Developmental Molecular Anatomy Project (GUDMAP) initiative was established by the NIDDK to provide this foundational knowledge for the developing urogenital tract (UGT).

Over the past fifteen years, the GUDMAP project has been building upon its long-term objectives of understanding kidney and urinary tract development to identify new functional and anatomical domains, cell types, and to determine cell-fate relationships. Today, the GUDMAP consortium is pushing the limits of discovery and utilizing sophisticated single-cell modalities and high-resolution imaging approaches to interrogate the developing UGT in the mouse as well as the lower urinary tract from juvenile and adult human samples that will provide unprecedented insight into developmental processes. The GUDMAP consortium is generating molecular atlases from the human and mouse lower UGT. Specifically, the consortium is focusing upon the following developmental tissues:

  • Human tissues (neonatal to adult only)
    • Normal development of the vascular and/or and lymphatic systems
    • Innervation of the kidney and lower urinary tract.
    • Normal development of the lower urinary tract, including the male external genitalia.
  • Mouse tissues
    • Normal development of the lower urinary tract, including the male external genitalia
    • Normal development of the vascular and lymphatic systems
    • Innervation of the kidney and lower urinary tract.
    • Development of the lower urinary tract, including the male external genitalia of mouse pre-clinical models of urinary developmental diseases or defects (e.g., congenital anomalies of the UGT).

ATLAS-D2K Center: GUDMAP Collaborating Projects

For the GUDMAP consortium to fully achieve the goals of understanding lower urinary tract development, collaboration with the broader research community is essential. As such, the GUDMAP consortium will be augmented by Collaboration Projects, defined as projects working in areas of high relevance to GUDMAP and currently supported by other significant non-GUDMAP funding sources. Principal Investigators (Pls) of such projects may apply for integration of their project into the GUDMAP consortium.

Successful Collaborating Projects are expected to be mutually beneficial. Applicants should describe how their “parent” project will benefit from being part of the GUDMAP consortium and how the GUDMAP consortium will benefit from partnering with their “parent” project. The PIs of Collaborating Projects will be closely engaged with the activities of the consortium and will have the same responsibilities and access to data and results as other GUDMAP PIs. Investigators who are supported under Collaborating Projects are expected to adhere to the Standards of Conduct, and the participating Institutions are expected to sign-on to the Consortium’s Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Policy. Applications will be considered by the GUDMAP Steering Committee (SC).

Eligible projects should be working in areas of relevance to GUDMAP, have independent funding (examples of other significant funding sources include, but are not limited to, an NIH R01, RC2, DP2, or U01 award, or a VA MERIT award), and will be expected to send representatives to the GUDMAP annual meeting in Bethesda, MD and attend monthly Zoom SC meetings. Funding opportunities for travel will be available, especially for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, and early-stage investigators to participate in face-to-face meetings. There are no application deadlines and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Interested parties should complete this form, to submit the following information to Drs. Todd Valerius and Sanjay Jain, PIs of the ATLAS-D2K Center:

  • Name(s), addresses), and telephone numbers) of the PD(s)/PI(S)
  • Names of other key personnel
  • Participating institution(s)
  • Title of the funded research project
  • Abstract of the funded research project
  • Project period (i.e., project start, and end dates documented in notice of grant award)
  • Include a description of the project’s relevance to the goals of GUDMAP.
  • How would the project/investigator benefit from interactions with the GUDMAP PIs and, conversely, how would GUDMAP benefit from collaborating with the project/investigator?

Approved Projects To Date

  • Maho Shibata, The George Washington University/Georgetown University - “Regulation of prostate organogenesis by tissue-resident macrophages”