Notice Number: NOT-RM-13-004

Key Dates
Release Date: December 20, 2012

Issued by
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)

Purpose

On November 30, 2012 the NIH issued the Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) RFA-RM-12-021 "Evaluation of Multi- omic Data in Understanding the Human Microbiome’s Role in Health and Disease (U54)".

To assist potential applicants to the above-referenced FOA, this Notice provides the following information:
1. A FAQs page is available to prospective applicants.
2. An Applicant Information Webinar will be provided on January 8, 2013.
3. Prospective applicants should be aware of recent findings about microbiome identifiability which are relevant to the consents language for proposed cohort studies.

FAQs page
As a result of discussions with potential applicants, NIH has provided a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and answers. The FAQs for this FOA can be found at: http://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/faq.aspx. This information may be updated without additional notice. In addition to the FAQs, NIH staff will also respond to questions submitted by potential applicants who contact the program, grants management, and review staff listed in the FOA under the Agency Contacts section.

Applicant Information Webinar
An Applicant Information Webinar will be held Tuesday, January 8 from 2 - 3pm (Eastern Time) to provide information about the FOA to prospective applicants. NIH staff will provide an overview of the FOA and the application review process and answer questions from prospective applicants. The webinar is open to all prospective applicants, but participation in the webinar is not a prerequisite to applying. Information about how to participate in the webinar will be posted here: http://commonfund.nih.gov/hmp/. Afterwards, the webinar slides will be posted on the same site.

New findings on microbiome identifiability and human subjects
In addition to reviewing the Human Subjects section under the Research Plan in the FOA for information about consents for the cohort studies, prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to see http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11711.html. Findings from this recent publication suggest that microbiome sequence information may be identifiable to the individual.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Lita Proctor, Ph.D.
National Human Genome Research Institute
5635 Fishers Lane
Suite 4076
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-496-4550
Fax: 301-480-2770
Email: lita.proctor@nih.gov