The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) intends to promote a new initiative by publishing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit exploratory/developmental projects focused on developing effective diagnosis/screening, interventions and treatment approaches for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). This solicitation is open to all, with an expressed emphasis on new and innovative concepts, approaches, and technologies. To maximize the impact of their research, awardees will be encouraged to establish a collaborative relationship with the NIAAA-supported CIFASD consortium.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop responsive projects.

The FOA is expected to be published in the spring of 2020 with an expected application due date in the spring of 2020.

The FOA will utilize the UH2 activity code, which provides a mechanism for fostering a mutually beneficial collaboration between the awardee and the team of interdisciplinary investigators in the CIFASD consortium conducting research centered on major challenges in FASD. In addition to the collaborative team research environment, awardees may have access to the shared resources within CIFASD consortium. Applications funded by this FOA require the appointment of an NIH Project Scientist, who will have substantial involvement above and beyond the normal program stewardship of the award.

Despite the advances made in the recent decades, there are significant unmet needs in the diagnosis, prevention, and intervention of FASD. These include a consensus on the diagnostic standards for FASD research, scalable and validated methodologies for diagnosis and screening, identification and a mechanistic understanding of risk and resilience factors of high impact, and development of effective interventions targeting cognitive and behavior deficits.

Thus, this FOA solicits exploratory/developmental studies with Cooperative Agreement (UH2), a funding mechanism intended for innovative and high-risk/high-impact projects with no or minimal preliminary data.

NIAAA encourages the submission of exploratory and developmental human or animal studies that focus on, but not limited to:

• Diagnosis and screening
• Etiology and mechanism
  • Prevention approaches
• Interventions

Research that includes or focuses on vulnerable populations such as racial and ethnic minorities and other health disparities populations is encouraged.

AIDS-related research applications will not be accepted in response to this RFA.