Funding Opportunities

The NIH is committed to supporting the biomedical research enterprise as the nation implements the President's Guidelines for Re-Opening America Again. This Notice provides guidance for investigators and institutions preparing NIH grant applications for the May 2021 Council round, beginning with applications submitted for the September 25, 2020 due date.

Given the urgency of the COVID-19 crisis, we are accepting requests in the AI for Health program for COVID-19 grant proposals from nonprofits, academia, and governments. This is a focused effort for COVID-19 grant requests only. We will accept grant proposals until July 15th, 2020. Following this submission period, we will review all grants and respond to applicants by August 15th, 2020.

The goal of this Request for Applications is to use the Letter of Intent process to identify basic science research projects that aim to improve our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis in cystic fibrosis.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) aims to support research to strengthen the healthcare response to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and future public health emergencies, including pandemics. While research related to the direct clinical effects of COVID-19 are supported by other funding opportunities, the purpose of this funding opportunity is to focus on the role and impact of digital health interventions [e.g., mobile health (mhealth), telemedicine and telehealth, health information technology (IT), and wearable devices] to address access, reach, delivery, effectiveness, scalability and sustainability of health assessments and interventions for secondary effects (e.g., behavioral health or self-management of chronic conditions) that are utilized during and following the pandemic, particularly in populations who experience health disparities and vulnerable populations.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is issuing this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to highlight the need for projects that address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency. The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program is uniquely qualified to contribute to these efforts. NCATS is soliciting applications for Administrative Supplements (through PA-18-591) from current Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UL1 and U24 award recipients as follows:

WorkRise, a research-to-action network for jobs, workers, and mobility hosted by the Urban Institute, is launching a drive to rapidly develop and share actionable evidence about what works to shore up workers’ economic security in the short-term and promote upward mobility in the medium- and longer-term.
Internal Submission Deadline: June 19, 2020
Penn State Contact for questions: Sophie Penney, Ph.D., (swp2@psu.edu or 814-867-0547) 

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) highlights the urgent need to understand and address COVID-19 morbidity and mortality disparities among underserved and vulnerable populations across the United States. These two-year community-engaged Testing Research Projects will examine SARS-CoV-2 infection patterns and efforts to increase access and effectiveness of diagnostic methods through the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative. The overarching goal is to understand factors that have led to disproportionate burden of the pandemic on these underserved populations so that interventions can be implemented to decrease these disparities. The funding for this supplement program is provided from the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, 2020.

The Office of the Director (OD) is therefore offering Emergency Competitive Revisions to active eligible grants and cooperative agreements addressing the objectives described below. This NOSI is one of four related RADx-UP funding opportunities. This Testing Research Projects NOSI will support supplements to NIH grantees that are part of large-scale networks, consortia, centers and other current programs that have adequate capacity, infrastructure, and established community-engaged relationships to support large-scale testing.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is issuing this Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to highlight the need for projects that address the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) Public Health Emergency. The Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program is uniquely qualified to contribute to these efforts. NCATS is soliciting applications for Administrative Supplements (through PA-18-591) from current Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) UL1 and U24 award recipients as follows:

The goal of RADx-UP is to reduce COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality disparities for those vulnerable and underserved populations that are disproportionately affected by, have the highest infection rates of, and/or are most at risk for adverse outcomes from contracting the virus. This Notice encourages researchers to leverage partnerships with key stakeholders to conduct community-engaged research to understand COVID-19 disparities and to increase access and effectiveness of diagnostic testing interventions among underserved COVID-19 medically and/or socially vulnerable populations.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits grant applications that propose research that can be translated into interventions in order to reduce infection and transmission of HIV in patients with alcohol use disorders.

This Notice encourages investigators to acquire and leverage partnerships with digital health developers and/or existing well-established digital health delivery platforms, to consider applying for research support that follows a deployment-focused model of services design and testing. Research areas supported under this program include: reach, access, engagement, and effectiveness to screen and treat health conditions at scale not possible through traditional healthcare settings, including for areas and populations where healthcare access may be limited or not utilized. Proposed research should reflect the highest impact, with rigorous methods including sufficient power, and consideration of urgent public health needs in the context of populations eligible for consideration under this effort. This FOA will require focus on health disparate and vulnerable populations.

*To meet the intent of this RPP, each proposal MUST ADDRESS ALL THREE TASKS described below. Proposed projects that do not meet the full scope of all three tasks and technical requirements described herein will not be considered for funding.
Task 1: iMAS Patient Operational Remote Tele-monitoring Advanced Layout (PORTAL)
Task 2: iMAS Trauma Room/Emergency room (TR/ER)
Task 3: Medic Instrument for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

This award is to assist in the development of a young faculty member who is engaged in research to understand the impact of COVID-19 on GI disorders and empower providers, health systems, policy makers, and other stakeholders to better treat patients with COVID-19 and GI conditions, and allocate resources accordingly. The SSAT award of $20,000 per year for two years is meant to support investigators within 10 years of faculty appointment.

In addition, the SSAT is particularly interested in research evaluating the effects of COVID-19 on health care disparities, basic science, or outcomes in patients with GI disorders. The SSAT is also interested in applications exploring innovation including the role of telehealth on treating GI disorders in the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Global Call is aimed at identifying “Innovative Ideas and Technologies vs. COVID-19 and beyond”, namely scalable solutions to cope with the direct and indirect impact of COVID-19 in developing countries and economies in transition, and their respective needs in the transition to post-crisis socioeconomic realities in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The Global Call offers an opportunity at international level to identify and promote innovative solutions contributing to tackle COVID-19 effects in developing countries and make their economies more resilient, in alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The initiative, inspired by ITPO Italy, is promoted by UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Development Organization – through its network of ITPOs, Investment and Technology Promotion Offices around the world.

Penn State Office of Foundation Relations Contact Person: Sophie Penney, Ph.D., swp2@psu.edu .

The initiative will:
1. Provide up to $2 million for pilot initiatives and other research to rapidly develop rigorous evidence that can inform and drive effective action toward a labor market that boosts workers’ mobility;
2. Create a clearinghouse for innovative responses to the current labor market crisis taken by the private sector, civil society, and government;
3. Elevate promising policies and practices to key decision-makers, including philanthropy, policymakers at the local, state, and federal level, worker advocates, and business leaders.

To achieve these objectives, we are issuing both a Request for
Proposals (RFP) and a Request for Information (RFI) to identify and accelerate innovative solutions—including programs, policies, and practices—that not only provide immediate economic relief to struggling workers and those who are out of work, but also create pathways for greater economic security and upward mobility in the long term. The RFP is designed for those with research projects in need of funding, while the RFI is designed for those who have identified promising, scalable practices in need of additional support and/or research and evaluation. Both the RFP and the RFI are open to all—practitioners, policy makers, researchers, advocates, employers, and others. Select RFI respondents will be offered support in developing a response to the RFP that includes a research or data-focused outcome and, where appropriate, additional program funds.

Healthy Eating Research has a limited amount of rapid-response research funds available to commission: 1) issue briefs/commentaries or papers/research reviews and; 2) small studies to explore the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on nutrition and diet quality, food security, and related health consequences for children and families.

This funding opportunity is focused on USDA Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs serving children and families. The goal is to inform decision-making regarding innovative policies and/or programs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Please download the full funding announcement for a brief description of topics of interest, as well as study parameters.

The goal of RADx-UP is to reduce COVID-19 associated morbidity and mortality disparities for those vulnerable and underserved populations that are disproportionately affected by, have the highest infection rates of, and/or are most at risk for adverse outcomes from contracting the virus. This Notice encourages researchers to leverage partnerships with key stakeholders to conduct community-engaged research to understand COVID-19 disparities and to increase access and effectiveness of diagnostic testing interventions among underserved COVID-19 medically and/or socially vulnerable populations.

NIH plans to publish three NOSIs for competitive revision awards as follows:

1. To solicit emergency competitive revision applications to existing awards for large consortia, multi-site trials, centers and other current networks that have adequate capacity, infrastructure, and established community-engaged relationships to support large-scale testing interventions or have the capacity to ramp up quickly to reach underserved or vulnerable populations.
2. Similar to the above, but shifts eligibility to collaborative and individual research awards, generally focused on smaller underserved or vulnerable populations.
3. To solicit research to understand the social, ethical, and behavioral implications (SEBI) of COVID-19 testing in these populations.

The fourth funding opportunity using the U24 activity code will be announced for a Coordination and Data Collection Center (CDCC), a key component of the consortium. The CDCC will serve as a national resource, working with NIH scientific staff and consortium members to provide overarching support and guidance in the following four domains: (1) Administrative Operations and Logistics, (2) COVID-19 Testing Technology, (3) Community and Health System Engagement and (4) Data Collection, Integration and Sharing.

The NIH intends for the awardees of the three NOSIs to serve as one consortium of interlinked, community-engaged, intervention projects across the United States (coordinated by the CDCC)to deploy implementation strategies to improve the reach, acceptance, uptake, and sustainability of COVID-19 testing and ultimately understand COVID-19 health disparities.

Researchers planning to apply are strongly encouraged to read all four of these interrelated funding opportunities.

The purpose of this NOSI is to encourage eligible ECHO cohort grantees to apply for this administrative supplement aimed at fostering time-sensitive ECHO-wide Cohort science related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ECHO Program’s mission is to enhance the health of children for generations to come. Understanding the effects of a broad array of early environmental exposures on child health and development, including issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a priority for the NIH.

Research Objectives: Applications must be within the scope of the parent award, including 1) address the mission of ECHO, 2) contribute to at least one of the ECHO Program’s five key pediatric outcomes: pre-, peri-, and postnatal, upper and lower airway, obesity, neurodevelopment, and positive health, and 3) contribute to ECHO-wide Cohort science; and they must 4) use REDCap Central for data collection, so that populating the ECHO-wide Cohort data platform is timely and automatic.

-One proposal will be awarded a placement of a Quanterix SP-X® Instrument, Simoa® Microplate Washer, and Simoa® Microplate Shaker, plus all necessary assay kits and consumables to run the proposed study. Awardee will be trained by a Quanterix Field Application Scientist and supported through completion of the study. Should the awardee commit to additional projects utilizing Simoa® assay kits, the instrument placement will be permanent.

-Four proposals will be awarded free of charge sample analysis at Quanterix’ in-house, state-of-the-art CLIA certified Simoa® Accelerator Laboratory to complete the proposed study.

Applicants are encouraged to present an experimental plan for sample testing utilizing current Simoa assays to measure specific analyte levels. Preferred projects will address a basic or pre-clinical question aimed at demonstrating the use of specific protein biomarkers in diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment efficacy studies for diseases engaging the immune system. Up to 130 samples may be submitted for analysis with one assay kit, or up to 65 samples may be submitted for analysis with two assay kits. Appendix A lists the assay kits available for this grant.