The general purpose is to improve our understanding of mental health disorders through collaborative efforts among researchers in the Division of Intramural Research Programs (IRP). Within the IRP collaboration, the main objective of our group is to advance research on mood disorders affecting children and adults. We aim to accomplish this through the exploration of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying mood disorders and their dimensional manifestations. By identifying associations between objective measures of motor activity and sleep to mood reactivity and instability, we hope to establish biomarkers of mood disturbances that can be used to identify profiles of risk for adverse outcome.
Background/Description of Requirement
The NIMH Family Study is focused on mood disorders and its chief goals are to identify their diagnostic thresholds, subtypes, and boundaries with other disorders in order to identify the genetic, biologic, and environmental risk factors for these conditions. The major research questions focus on the specificity of familial transmission of the mood disorder spectrum (i.e., symptoms, symptom clusters, subtypes) and the role of comorbidity with anxiety disorders and migraine in defining subtypes of mood disorders. Biologic factors underlying the major components of these disorders are studied in order to identify the core components of these
conditions and familial endophenotypes that breed true in families, thereby more closely indexing the expression of underlying genes.
The Rhythms & Blues Study at the NIH Clinical Center investigates the core components of mood disorders using more in-depth assessments of research participants (some of whom are selected from the NIMH Family Study) that include techniques and approaches administered at the NIH Clinical Center.
Neurological factors have been implicated in the etiology and expression of mood disorders. This award will include consultation and clinical supervision to support neurological assessments that are considered key to understand the neurophysiology of mood disorders. Their inclusion in the Rhythms & Blues Study will provide important biological insights into the cognitive, behavioral, and other core components of mood disorders.
The contractor shall:
• Provide supervision and train research coordinators in the neurological assessments of the NIMH Family Study and the Rhythms & Blues Study in the NIH Clinical Center.
• Aid in the development of parent and youth feedback on neurological assessments.
• Advise on the identification and selection of informative subgroups from the NIMH Family Study for recruitment into the Rhythms & Blues Study at the NIH Clinical Center study.
• Advise on the creation of data analytic plans, publication strategies and priorities, and communication plans of scientific findings.
Interested parties may identify in writing their interest and capability in response to this requirement. Responses to this notice shall contain sufficient information to establish the interested parties’ bona-fide capabilities for fulfilling the requirement and include: unit price, list price, shipping and handling costs, the delivery period after contract award, the prompt payment discount terms, the F.O.B. Point (Destination or Origin), the Dun & Bradstreet Number (DUNS), the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), and the certification of business size. All offerors must have an active registration in the System for Award Management (SAM) www.sam.gov.
All responses must be received by closing date and must reference the announcement. Responses may be submitted electronically to the attention of the contract specialist. Fax responses will not be accepted.
All responsible sources may submit a bid, proposal, or quotation which shall be considered by the agency.
