Key Dates

RFA-OD-19-027 - Resource-Related Research Projects for Development of Animal Models and Related Materials (R24 Clinical Trials Not-Allowed).

Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)

The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) intends to reissue RFA-OD-19-027, Resource-Related Research Projects for Development of Animal Models and Related Materials (R24 Clinical Trials Not-Allowed).

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

The FOA is expected to be published in fiscal year 2022 with an expected application due date in fiscal year 2023.

This FOA will utilize the R24 activity code. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.

ORIP’s intent with the re-issuance funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support resource-related research projects that are aimed at developing and characterizing new animal-based resources, improving existing resources, or acquiring deep understanding of a model system to improve the utilization, accessibility and translational values of animal models to the research community. The NIH-wide mission of ORIP is to support all NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) that fund basic, preclinical, and translational research by strengthening their existing programs, developing research resources, advancing areas of emerging science, and developing new initiatives to move biomedical research forward. Therefore, proposed studies, models, technologies, and biological materials must be applicable to two or more NIH ICs and must explore multiple body systems or evaluate diseases and processes that impact multiple body systems.

An application under the re-issuance FOA may be predominantly research based if that research potentially leads to the development of tools or resources that will have a broad impact on the NIH-wide biomedical research community. An application also may be aimed at final development or enhancement of existing resources.

Applications responding to the re-issuance FOA should:

• Demonstrate the need for the proposed resources or technologies/tools within broad biomedical research communities and the relevance of the resources and technologies/tools to a range of scientific disciplines.
• Address the impact, benefit, utilization, distribution, and accessibility of the proposed resources and technologies/tools to broad biomedical research areas supported by multiple NIH ICs. Describe plans to track potential impact of the proposed resources and technologies/tools.
• Describe potential sources of support for the resources and plans to ensure the continued availability of the resources to the research community after the ORIP-supported grant ends, such as plans to deposit the resources to stock centers or databases accessible to the research community.

Cost recovery is not required for applications responding to the re-issuance FOA.

Proposed studies, models, technologies, and biological materials that relate strictly to a specific disease or research discipline or are relevant to the mission and programs of a single NIH IC will not be considered suitable for the re-issuance FOA. Such applications should be directed to the IC with a specific interest in that mission. For example, investigators interested in developing resources with a primary focus on aging, cancer, heart disease, or neurological disorders should contact respective NIH ICs relevant to these topics. Furthermore, applications proposing studies to develop a limited number of resources or are related primarily to the interest of one NIH IC and only peripherally to the interests of other ICs are not acceptable.

Examples of resource-related projects suitable for the re-issuance FOA, include, but are not limited to:

• Mutant or transgenic animal models for studying fundamental biological processes and investigating mechanisms underlying a broad range of human diseases that impact multiple body systems;
• Generation of antibodies or other reagents and demonstration of their utility for quantifying or characterizing macromolecules or cells in animal models of a variety of human diseases;
• Development of information resources for generating novel hypotheses and improving the utilization of animals in biomedical research, including deep phenotyping of organelles, single cells, cellular networks, microbiomes, or behaviors;
• Informatics tools or systems biology approaches, especially artificial intelligence or machine learning tools, that integrate various types of data, including genomic, proteomic, metabolomic, imaging, or phenotypic data, to generate novel hypotheses and improve the value of animal models for biomedical research;
• Animal-based genetic, genomic, proteomic, metabolomic or phenomic tools for deep characterization and understanding of disease-related biological processes;
• Genetic resources at the genome scale, including DNA or viral vector libraries, for gene editing of cell lines, germplasm, or somatic cells;
• Methods or tools for improving cryopreservation, or other long-term preservation approaches, of animal cells, germplasm, embryos, or genetic stocks;
• Methods or tools for characterizing stem cells and advancing the techniques of regenerative medicine in animal models, in particular humanized animal models;
• Diagnostic, preventive, or treatment methods for emerging or potential pathogens in animal resource facilities;
• Development, improvements or refinements of technologies or methods applicable to animal model research that aim to specifically enhance its rigor and reproducibility;
• Models or resources that may contribute to the understanding of newly emerging human pathogens of interest to multiple NIH ICs and may be applied in response to pandemics and other active NIH public health initiatives;
• Animal resources, including genetically engineered animal models and related biological materials, for supporting NIH-wide initiatives, including Women’s Health, Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias, and the BRAIN Initiative.

Examples of projects that WILL NOT be supported under the re-issuance FOA include those that:

• Develop models that relate strictly to a specific disease or research area, or are primarily relevant to the mission and programs of predominantly one NIH IC.
• Develop cell lines of a single cell type that relate strictly to a specific disease or research area, or that are primarily relevant to the mission and programs of predominantly one NIH IC.
• Primarily focus on husbandry and management of animal colonies.
• Primarily focus on genomic sequencing of model organisms (e.g., only for deposition into a database).
• Primarily focus on creating, expanding, or maintaining genomic or other types of databases.
• Create or maintain individual model organism databases.
• Develop or distribute wild-type animals and related biospecimens treated with diet, drug, toxin, infectious agents, or other environmental factors.
• Develop or distribute wild-type animals and related biospecimens subjected to physical or surgical manipulations.
• Involve threatened or endangered species.
• Develop, expand, or maintain repositories of specific tissues and related bio-specimens (i.e. RNA extracts, processed tissues) from model organisms.
• Primarily involve human subjects, human cell lines, or related biological materials.

The re-issuance FOA will support the development of animal models and related resources to advance a variety of important research areas and have an impact on the NIH-wide biomedical research community. Applications for developing a limited number of resources are not suitable for the re-issuance FOA and may be appropriate for research project grant activities through R21 or R01 awards supported by ORIP or other NIH ICs. Those applications proposing to develop resources should describe plans to deposit resources to stock centers or databases accessible to the research community and register catalogs of their resources with current resource tagging and identification initiatives, such as FORCE 11. These projects should also encourage investigators who use the resources to make use of the Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) in their publications and reports.

Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) planning to work with their institutions to submit applications are strongly encouraged to contact the scientific contacts prior to submission (see Scientific/Research Contacts in Section VII. Agency Contacts) to be advised on appropriateness of the intended resource and research plans for this program, competitiveness of a potential application, and alignment with ORIP's program priorities.

TBD

Applications are not being solicited at this time.

Please direct all inquiries to:

Stephanie Murphy, VMD, PhD
Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)
Telephone: 301-451-7818
Email: stephanie.murphy@nih.gov

Sige Zou, PhD
Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP)
Telephone: 301-435-0749
Email: zous@mail.nih.gov