National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

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Mission Statement

The NIAID Mission is to conduct and support basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases.

Interest Areas

General Topics

The NIAID vision is to improve human health through an integrated, person-centered approach to infectious and immune-mediated disease research.  NIAID is dedicated to pioneering research and innovation that advances diagnosis, prevention, treatment and cures.

NIAID supports advancing and applying foundational research to:

  • The immune system, microbe biology, and host-microbe interactions, including:
    • Supporting research on a fundamental understanding of immune mechanisms and microbial pathogenesis
    • Characterizing factors that influence immune system development, function, and disease outcomes including the role of the microbiome
    • Characterizing factors that impact microbe transmission and virulence
    • Study disease processes, clinical course, and patient outcomes
  • Diagnostic and prevention strategies including:
    • Leveraging the human microbiome to prevent or treat disease
    • Developing technologies for the discovery and validation of prognostic and diagnostic disease biomarkers, response to therapy, and correlates of protection
    • Investigating the impact of early life exposures on allergic and autoimmune diseases
    • Developing approaches to prevent and treat solid organ graft rejection
    • Developing targeted immunomodulatory interventions
    • Developing safer vaccines with improved effectiveness in preventing or mitigating disease
  • Treatment and cure strategies including:
    • Supporting implementation science to end the HIV epidemic
    • Developing tools to guide drug repurposing, identify small molecule therapeutics, and target identification for novel antibiotics and antivirals that improve patient outcomes, and non-antibiotic therapies including host directed, phage and microbiome therapies
    • Understanding latency mechanisms, persistent antigen expression, immune evasion, pathogen reactivation, and post-treatment control and rebound
  • Strengthening the scientific workforce by fostering training and career development opportunities to cultivate the next generation of biomedical researchers.

Assistance Listing

Assistance listings are detailed public descriptions of federal programs used across government agencies that provide grants, loans, scholarships, insurance, and other types of assistance awards. They are maintained in the System for Award Management (SAM) and can be used to search for opportunities in Grants.gov.

View NIAID Assistance Listing Numbers

  • 93.855 - Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research

Highlighted Topics

Title Lead ICO Participating ICOs Posted Date Expiration Date

Funding Opportunities and Notices

Search for NIAID’s funding opportunities and notices

ICO Funding Policies and Considerations

Visit NIH Fiscal Policies for NIH-wide information on appropriations and other budgetary information (salary limits, stipends, tuition/fees) and Funding Decisions to learn about NIH's consistent and unified approach for making funding decisions.

NIAID Funding Policies and Considerations builds on that general information.

Additional Information by Funding Category

Administrative Supplements
In addition to our Administrative Supplements overview, consider the following NIAID-specific information.
Administrative Supplement Interest Areas:

NIAID Specific Policies

  • Grant cannot be in the first or last year of the competitive segment. Exceptions are orderly closeout of a clinical trial and, with Council approval, reinstatement of scientific review group reductions (except in the last year of the grant).
  • Administrative supplements cannot pay for:
    • Increased costs due to a PI's transfer or promotion.
    • A PI to move in a new scientific direction or use new technology.
    • Cost of living adjustments/inflationary increases.
  • Supplements are prorated based on time remaining in the budget period in accordance with NIAID policy.
  • Cannot be issued for DP2 awards.
  • Recipient must demonstrate bona fide need; therefore, all of the recipient's current support (including unobligated funds from the prior FY) must be designated for other purposes.
  • For multiproject awards, the applicant must identify the subproject(s) receiving the additional funding (or the additional funds will be reported at the parent award level or evenly distributed to all projects).
Administrative Supplement Contact:

[email protected]

Conferences and Meetings
In addition to our Conferences and Meetings overview, consider the following NIAID-specific information.
Conferences and Meetings Interest Areas:

NIAID encourages grant (R13) and cooperative agreement (U13) applications for scientific meetings, conferences, and workshops in areas related to our mission. 

NIAID gives priority to the following submissions:

  • Applications for open meetings, including conferences that cover broad subject matter and for which the sponsoring institution invites anyone interested to attend but has uniform standards for selecting the final list of participants.
  • Applications that provide funds to graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty members for the purpose of attending conferences.

NIAID may give priority to less visible scientific topics. NIAID must participate in the development of U13 meetings. For both R13 and U13, NIAID reserves the right to discuss how we will participate and make the final decision about our level of involvement.

Conferences and Meetings Budget Considerations:
  • NIAID co-funds or accepts co-funding from other Institutes or Centers for $2,500 or higher.
  • An award must be issued before the conference starts. In rare cases, an award will be issued after a conference has been held to cover post-conference costs, such as publishing the proceedings.
Conferences and Meetings Key Date Considerations:

To be considered for an award, potential applicants should submit their application to a receipt date at least 7 months before the start date of the conference.

Conferences and Meetings Project Period Considerations:
  • NIAID funds scientific meetings through grants and cooperative agreements for up to 5 years. 
  • A permanently sponsoring organization can receive a multi-year award for annual or biennial conferences on a recurring topic. The award is funded by budget period.
Conferences and Meetings Contacts:

Scientific Contact: [email protected]

Financial/Grants Management Contact: [email protected]

Small Business
In addition to our Small Business overview, consider the following NIAID-specific information.
Small Business Interest Areas:

The NIAID Small Business portfolio supports product development and commercialization in the areas of: 

  • The immune system, microbe biology, and host-microbe interactions, 
  • Diagnostic and prevention strategies 
  • Treatment and cure strategies 
Phase IIB & Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP):
NIAID accepts Phase IIB SBIR projects
NIAID accepts Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP) projects
Clinical Trials:
NIAID accepts clinical trials through the SBIR programs
NIAID does not accept clinical trials through the STTR programs
NIAID accepts clinical trials through the Phase IIB SBIR program
NIAID does not accept clinical trials through the Commercialization Readiness Pilot (CRP)
Small Business Contact:

NIAID Small Business Team

[email protected]

See Also

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

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