SPARC Components
SPARC5 (SP5)
Visceral Pain Circuitry
SPARC5 supports detailed anatomical and functional mapping of neural circuitry mediating visceral organ pain. This Common Fund-supported initiative enhances the objectives of the HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-termSM) Initiative, an aggressive, trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis. Specifically, SPARC5 is a participant in Translational Devices to Treat Pain (TDTP), a joint effort with NINDS and NIBIB to develop device-based approaches for safe, effective, and non-addictive treatment of pain. SPARC5 delivers scientific discoveries and other SPARC resources into the TDTP pipeline, bridging device design and targeting to clinical study. SPARC5 is funded by the NIH Common Fund, and not the NIH HEAL InitiativeSM, and represents an additional commitment by the NIH to address the opioid public health crisis.
It is expected that SPARC5 teams will leverage ongoing mapping activities in SPARC, employ new technologies developed by the BRAIN initiative, and deliver novel therapeutic targets to other TDTP Initiatives. Applicants are encouraged to use devices made available through the SPARC program and the BRAIN initiative, along with template partnership documents developed to assist applicants for these NIH programs when establishing industry collaborations and use of collaborators’ existing medical technology in proposed studies. Ultimately, it is hoped that the translation of these discoveries into effective stimulation devices for non-addictive pain treatment will improve patient outcomes and decrease or eliminate the need to prescribe opioids.
Specific objectives for TDTP projects differ based on the respective funding opportunities listed below. The resulting projects will be available for partnering and collaborating activities within and outside the SPARC/TDTP consortium. Additional information is available via the “Developing Medical Devices to Treat Pain” webinar slides.
- (RFA-RM-19-001) HEAL Initiative: Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC): Anatomical and Functional Mapping of Pain-Related Visceral Organ Neural Circuitry (U01 Clinical Trial Optional)
No funded project at this time.
- (RFA-EB-18-003) HEAL Initiative: Translational Development of Devices to Treat Pain (U18 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
No funded project at this time.
- (RFA-NS-19-016) HEAL Initiative: Translational Devices to Treat Pain (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Optional)
No funded project at this time.
- (RFA-NS-19-017) HEAL Initiative Translational Devices to Treat Pain (U44 Clinical Trial Optional)
No funded project at this time.
- (RFA-NS-19-018) HEAL Initiative: Clinical Devices to Treat Pain (UH3 Clinical Trial Optional)
No funded project at this time.
Publications:
No publications at this time
This page last reviewed on January 24, 2020