The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support research that will identify changes in immune mechanisms and markers because of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) exposure, infection or disease in pediatric populations exposed to or infected with HIV-1.
NIDDK requests applications to join a new research consortium "Microphysiological Systems (MPS) for Modeling Diabetes (MPS-MOD)". NIDDK will support the development and validation of human tissue chips that closely mimic the normal physiology of key metabolic tissues, including the pancreatic islet, liver, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissue (WAT). Experimental designs for the MPS-MOD platforms should incorporate strategies to measure pathophysiological changes associated with metabolic disease, including the impact of immune cells on metabolic dysfunction. Once developed, these multi-dimensional MPS-MOD platforms will serve as the foundation for NIDDK's advanced strategy to identify new and novel therapeutics for diabetes. The utility and validity of model systems developed under this initiative will be measured, in part, through the ability of known diabetes therapeutic agents and biomarkers to influence biology of the system, using best practices and rigorous study design. The need for high-quality, well-characterized isogenic/patient derived iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cell) lines and standardized differentiation procedures is a critical step in turning disease-specific lines into tools for discovery. In the future, iPSC-based human tissue chips could play a central role in drug development, testing, screening, drug repurposing and toxicity testing.
The purpose of the Academic Research Enhancement Award (AREA) program is to stimulate research in educational institutions that provide baccalaureate or advanced degrees for a significant number of the Nation's research scientists, but that have not been major recipients of NIH support. AREA grants create opportunities for scientists and institutions otherwise unlikely to participate extensively in NIH research programs to contribute to the Nation's biomedical and behavioral research effort. AREA grants are intended to support small-scale research projects proposed by faculty members of eligible, domestic institutions, to expose undergraduate and/or graduate students to meritorious research projects, and to strengthen the research environment of the applicant institution.
Age is the number one risk factor for diagnosis of many age-related lung diseases, including COPD and pulmonary fibrosis. Despite this, little is known regarding the interactions that likely occur between the molecular and cellular mechanisms of disease and the changes in molecules and cells that can be attributed to normal aging. In fact, very little is known about the normal aging process in the lung at the cellular and molecular level. In 2015, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) co-sponsored a workshop that identified a major knowledge gap in the understanding of normal lung aging in humans, as well as the need to develop a map of molecular changes that occur during normal aging in the lung that can serve as a reference for studies of age-related lung diseases.
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through the BRAIN initiative or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience research.
The goal of this Funding Opportunity Announcement [FOA] is to support research that will define and validate a set(s) of molecular biomarkers and/or bio-signatures indicating the degree of loss of functional reserve, or of resilience of the host defense mechanisms, at different phases of HIV-1 pathogenesis in individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs).
To date, the pursuit of disease-modifying therapy development for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been primarily informed by the study of diseased individuals, often by comparing genomic and other molecular, cellular and physiologic features in AD cases and controls. This has proven extremely challenging given the disease's heterogeneity and its multifactorial etiology. There is a growing appreciation that the development of effective treatment and prevention for complex diseases such as AD can benefit from gaining a much deeper understanding of what it means to be well and which genomic, epigenomic, environmental, social, and behavioral factors promote wellness and protection against disease.
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to establish state-of-the-art Tissue Mapping Centers (TMCs) that will generate high-resolution, high-content, multiscale maps of non-diseased human organs and systems. Centers will be expected to integrate and optimize all parts of the data generation pipeline, from tissue collection and preservation through to data integration, analysis and interpretation. Centers will also be expected to work closely with the other funded projects as part of the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program to catalyze development of a framework for mapping the human body at high resolution.
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the development of novel tools and technologies through the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program to advance the field of neuroscience research. This FOA specifically supports the development of novel neurotechnologies as well as the translation of technologies developed through the BRAIN initiative or through other funding programs, towards commercialization. Funding can support the iterative refinement of these tools and technologies with the end-user community, with an end-goal of scaling manufacture towards reliable, broad, sustainable dissemination and incorporation into regular neuroscience practice.
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to solicit transformative technologies that will significantly expand throughput, multiplexing and discrimination of biomolecules in human tissues for comprehensive mapping of individual cells and their context in human tissues. This FOA supports the accelerated proof-of-principle demonstration and validation of promising tools, techniques and systems that can be integrated, scaled and applied to multiple human tissues. The initial two-year UG3 phase will support accelerated development and demonstration of feasibility of these emerging, high impact technologies. The subsequent two-year UH3 phase will support validation in human tissues, optimization, scale-up, and generation of data. Funded projects will be expected to work closely as part of the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program to catalyze development of a framework for mapping the human body with high resolution.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for NextGen Tissue Chip Testing Center(s) (NextGen TCTC) that will provide resources and infrastructure for the validation of tissue chips being developed as part of the NIH Tissue Chip (TC) for Drug Screening Program or NIH Microphysiological Systems (MPS) Program. The MPS program supports a consortium of investigators developing accurate cellular and organ microsystems representative of human physiology for the evaluation of drug efficacy and toxicity (RFA-RM-11-022; RFA-TR-16-017; RFA-TR-16-019). The developed in vitro MPS platforms are representative of major organs and tissues in the human body, and need to be validated for their predictive capabilities of the assessment of biomarkers, and the bioavailability, efficacy, and toxicity of therapeutic agents prior to entry into clinical trials.
The MPS DC is expected to be the central clearinghouse for TC data management, and will incorporate novel approaches and technologies for data management, data mining and meta-analyses, and data sharing across many organs and tissues, diseases, data types, and TC platforms. The MPS Data center is expected to provide different levels of public and tiered access to TC information for basic and clinical researchers, academic and practicing physicians, the pharmaceutical industry, NIH, FDA and other government agencies, patients, and the lay public. The MPS Data Center will work with IQ Consortium members to develop and make available a secure, customizable coordinated data management system for collection, storage, and analyses of diverse data types from multiple TC platforms being developed and used for drug screening, safety and efficacy testing.
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support multi-component, multi-disciplinary projects that address scientific questions relevant to AIDS prophylactic vaccine discovery research. Extensive modeling of vaccine concepts in non-human primates may be included.
The goal of this FOA is to establish functional genotype-phenotype relationships of genetic variants, suspected of altering the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), in neural cells using human induced pluripotent stem cells or other human cell reprogramming approaches. The causal linkage of AD-associated genetic variants identified in genome-wide association studies and genome sequencing studies to molecular and biological cell phenotypes in human neural cells is expected to give greater insight into molecular targets contributing to the etiology of AD. Studies of human genetics in human cells are essential to understanding the etiology of AD.
The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to stimulate research to understand the biological basis by which environmental exposures alter brain and behavioral functioning to increase risk for psychiatric disorders with onset in late-childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. A range of approaches are encouraged, from mechanistic experiments using whole organism models or in vitro and in vivo systems to human studies that add new data collection activities and/or make use of extant data or biospecimens. Investigations that further advance our understanding of the joint contribution of genes and environment in the risk for psychiatric disorders are welcomed. Applications should address either categorically defined psychiatric diagnoses and/or continuous traits expressed in the general population. Applicants are encouraged to propose studies that consider co-occurring psychiatric conditions and potential shared etiologies. It is anticipated that knowledge gained from the research supported by this FOA will inform the development of improved intervention, prevention and/or therapeutic strategies.
Also listed under R21.
Epidemiological studies have shown that psychiatric disorders, constitute a significant public health burden across diverse populations worldwide. These mental disorders are characterized by marked genetic heterogeneity, with both common and rare variation contributing to the complex phenotypic outcomes. For reasons such as population homogeneity and ease of ascertainment, most genome-wide genetic studies to date have mainly focused on cohorts of European-ancestry, however, no single population is sufficient to fully uncover the variants underlying neuropsychiatric diseases in all populations. The absence of diverse ancestries in genome-wide association studies has therefore negatively impacted their ability to illuminate the full genetic architecture of complex neuropsychiatric traits. Populations with different ancestral origins vary in terms of allele frequencies, biological adaptations, and other properties that affect the detectability and importance of risk variants. Lack of ancestrally diverse genome-wide data can lead to the misidentification of causal variants due to cryptic population stratification or simply overlooking a causal variant altogether, since rare variants are likely to be more recent in origin and more geographically localized.
The SCORE Program is a developmental program designed to increase the research competitiveness of faculty and the research base at institutions with an explicitly stated historical mission and/or a demonstrated track record within the previous 10 years of training and graduating students from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical research. Eligible institutions must award science degrees to undergraduate (B.S. or B.A.) and/or graduate students (M.S. or Ph.D.) and have received less than 6 million dollars per year of NIH R01 support (total costs) in each of the last 2 fiscal years.
The purpose of this initiative is to stimulate basic research, discovery, and early translational research to enable and accelerate the generation of highly efficacious pre-erythrocytic stage malaria vaccines, including sporozoite-based vaccines . Cross-fertilization and collaboration among investigators from malaria vaccine research and other basic research areas such as parasite biology, parasite genomics, pathogenesis, and host immunology are highly encouraged. The goal is to generate one or more promising vaccine candidates against human malaria that exhibit performance superior to currently available sporozoite-based vaccines and are suitable for further downstream process development and future clinical evaluation.
This initiative will support basic and/or translational research to address knowledge gaps that hinder the development and regulation of bacteriophage used to prevent and treat bacterial infections. While individual phage products may be used to assess the research questions, the primary intent is to increase the overall knowledge base on bacteriophage as products. NIAID offers other funding mechanisms for the preclinical and clinical development of phage and other non-traditional antibiotic products.
This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits renewal applications for Biobanks that will support the following NCI clinical trial programs: The NCI National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN; https://research.usc.edu/nci-national-clinical-trials-network-nctn-program/), and NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP). The NCTN Biospecimen Bank (also referred to as NCTN Biobanks) will be responsible for collecting, processing, storing, and distributing well-annotated human specimens from patients with cancer who are participating in NCI-funded NCTN Phase II-III and other clinical treatment trials (CTEP/Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis; DCTD). The main goal is to support NCTN with the state-of the-art banking infrastructure and operations including maintenance of up-to-date specimen inventory. The NCTN Biobanks will distribute to qualified investigators the biospecimens linked to high-quality clinical data (including treatment and outcome information) that are critical for developing and validating biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of responses to therapy. The NCTN Biobanks will work in collaboration with NCTN Groups and Group Statistical and Data Management Centers as well as affiliated institutions to ensure effective operation. Each Biobank needs to maintain association with one specific NCTN Group and needs to be endorsed in that role by the group leaders. NCTN Biobanks will also support biobanking and storage of biospecimens from NCORP cancer control and prevention trials (NCORP/Division of Cancer Prevention; DCP).
