Unlock $20M for Health Research & Vaccine Innovation

Purpose. This NIH Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), supported by funds provided to the NIH under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act or ARRA), Public Law 111-5, invites new applications from single domestic institutions, or consortia of institutions, to participate in creating a network of human immunology profiling research groups. Applications are sought that propose to study human immune responses (1) following infection, (2) prior to and following vaccination against an infectious disease, or (3) prior to and following treatment with an immune adjuvant that targets a known innate immune receptor(s). The purpose of this FOA is to capitalize on recent advances in immune profiling to measure the diversity of human immune responses under a variety of conditions, using bioinformatic, multiplex, and/or systems biology approaches to study samples from well-characterized human cohorts and to measure aspects of the human transcriptome and/or proteome.

Mechanism of Support. This FOA will utilize the U01 and U19 cooperative agreement grant mechanisms. Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards. The NIAID intends to commit approximately $20 million in total costs (direct plus indirect costs) in fiscal year 2010, which includes support for an Infrastructure and Opportunites Fund of up to $2 million total costs in year one and up to $5 million total costs in years two through five.

The Infrastructure and Opportunites Fund will support consortium infrastructure, collaborative projects, pilot projects, and new research opportunities that arise post-award. Recovery Act funds will be used to support this FOA in fiscal year 2010 only; the NIAID will provide funds for four future years (FY 2011-2014). The NIAID anticipates that 6-10 awards will be made for fiscal year 2010, pending the number and quality of applications and the availability of funds.