Key Dates

Related Announcements

• March 06, 2024 - NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See NOFO PA-24-141.

Issued by

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

National Eye Institute (NEI)

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) is to solicit applications to support a series of annual scientific meetings for the Chemical Countermeasures Research Program (CCRP).

Background

The overall goal of the CCRP is to support discovery research and early development of medical countermeasures (MCMs) to advance the nation's medical and public health preparedness for, response to, and recovery from disasters and public health emergencies resulting from the acute release of highly toxic chemicals. The CCRP is a trans-NIH initiative administered by the Office of Biodefense Research and Surety (OBRS) within NIAID and involves partnership with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Eye Institute (NEI), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The initiative was announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the NIH Office of the Director in 2005 and subsequently implemented by NIAID to address the recommendations of the NIAID Expert Panel Review on Medical Chemical Defense Research.

The civilian chemical threat spectrum includes military warfare chemical weapons, toxic industrial chemicals and materials, pharmaceutical-based agents, and compounds that have been collectively identified by the United States Government (USG) as Chemicals of Concern (CoCs). CoCs are highly toxic and MCMs are urgently needed. To date, almost 200 chemicals have been designated as CoCs. Depending on the route and duration, exposure to CoCs may have acute or chronic health effects on multiple organ systems with lasting molecular, cellular, and behavioral changes. CoCs are broadly categorized by primary mode of toxicity, i.e., toxidromes. These toxidromes include, but are not limited to: 1) Pulmonary Irritants/Corrosives (e.g., chlorine, phosgene, and phosphine), 2) Incapacitants (e.g., ultra-potent synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, carfentanil, and nitazenes) and other respiratory depressants, 3) Vesicants (e.g., Lewisite, sulfur mustard, nitrogen mustard, and phosgene oxime), 4) Knockdown Agents/Cellular Asphyxiants (e.g., blood and metabolic poisons such as arsenic trioxide, cyanide, and hydrogen sulfide), 5) Convulsants (e.g., strychnine and tetramine), 6) Hemolytic (e.g., aniline and arsine), 7) Anticoagulants (e.g., brodifacoum), and 8) Cholinergic (e.g., sarin, soman, parathion, and phorate).

The specific injuries caused by exposure to CoCs often manifest similarly or identically to conditions commonly observed in clinical practice, e.g., seizures, respiratory depression, acute lung injury, myelosuppression, and fibrosis. The CCRP broadly supports research focusing on understanding the mechanism(s) of CoC toxicity and discovery of MCMs to treat the symptoms associated with exposure. Repurposing/repositioning already FDA-approved products (or those further in clinical development) as MCMs are highly encouraged. Within the context of a mass casualty event, the ideal MCM should be rapidly deployable, easily administered in a pre-hospital setting by first responders (or as in-hospital follow-on treatments) and has rapid efficacy as a post-exposure therapy across a broad spectrum of CoCs with shared toxidrome(s). The MCM must also be accessible to public health authorities within local hospitals, pharmacies or other community resources, and importantly, be safe and effective for the entire civilian population.

Objective

The objective of this NOSI is to solicit applications from the research community for the organization of targeted annual in-person scientific meeting series to support the mission and goals of the CCRP. Up to 5 years of support may be requested for the proposed annual conference series; however, future meetings may be contingent on outcomes of the prior year’s Conference.

The first annual CCRP-supported scientific meeting is expected to occur in 2026 and recur each year thereafter. The successful applicant should work closely with NIH CCRP program officials to ensure the R13 award will foster innovation and discussions to advance fundamental knowledge of CoC toxicity and stimulate research towards discovery and early development of new and/or repurposed products as candidate MCMs. Applicants are encouraged to utilize an interdisciplinary team science approach with expertise across the previously described toxidromes and submit co-investigators (Co-I) and/or multiple Program Director/Principal Investigator (M-PD/PI) applications. Applicants should demonstrate an ability to work cooperatively and possess sufficient biomedical expertise in basic and translational chemical toxicity research and MCM discovery/development. Collaboration across multiple institutions is highly desired. Rotation of annual conference program chair(s) among the applicant team is encouraged.

The primary goal of the CCRP annual scientific meeting series is to provide a forum for the exchange of scientific data and ideas, and to foster collaborations between scientists at different institutions and career stages, e.g., early, mid-, and established, across complementary fields. The meeting should provide career development and education opportunities for young scientists, e.g., undergraduates and graduate students, trainees, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members, interested in the research and development of MCMs. The meeting is not intended to be a venue for the reporting of annual project progress of the CCRP-supported research portfolio: rather, the meeting program is expected to be comprised of presentations from a select subset of CCRP projects presenting novel data/transformative ideas or hypotheses to stimulate the field. These CCRP project presentations would be complemented with talks from the broader chemical MCM research field funded by other USG agencies and clinical communities with scientific relevance based on, for examples, shared mechanism(s) of injury, medical/clinical indications, and therapeutic advances and approaches.

Applicants are encouraged to utilize an abstract collection and evaluation approach to identify prospective talks/presentations for the scientific meeting. Additionally, applicants may consider inclusion of plenary sessions covering thematic topics such as, but not limited to: 1) Partner scouting lessons to identify commercialization entities for new or repurposed therapeutics as MCMs from the market, 2) Technical, clinical, regulatory, and commercialization perspectives from stakeholders, lessons learned, and education in developing novel and repurposed therapies and technologies as MCMs, 3) Bridging Chemical, Biological, Radiation and Nuclear (CBRN) disciplines to uncover overlapping mechanisms of injury and therapeutic strategies, 4) Professional development and capacity-building of new and early-stage investigators (see NOT-OD-20-031).

For applications responding to this NOSI, the proposed meeting(s) must be open and transparent. Practices consistent with openness and transparency may include, but are not limited to, recording the meeting and posting the recording on the meeting website or ensuring broad participation by widely publicizing the meeting and providing virtual options for participation. An implementation plan for encouraging broad participation must be discussed in the application for evaluation and consideration. It is highly recommended that applicants propose additional topics and creative approaches to maximize the outreach and impact of the meeting.

Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to review the NIAID Conference Awards SOP prior to submission and contact the NIAID Scientific/Research staff early to verify the consistency and scope of their intended application with the goals of this NOSI and NOFO.

Responsiveness

Applications nonresponsive to this NOSI's terms will not be considered and will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative. Specific examples of nonresponsive applications are listed below:

• The proposed topic is not aligned with CCRP's priorities and interests.
• Applications fail to address the issue of openness and transparency. 

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after December 12, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through September 7, 2027.

Submit applications for this initiative using the following notice of funding opportunity (NOFOs) or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

• PA-24-141 - NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (Parent R13 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the Notice of Funding Opportunity announcement used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-AI-24-066” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B will not be considered for this initiative.

Budget

• NIH will award up to $70,000 direct costs annually and no more than 5 years of support for the proposed series of annual meetings.
• Review the NIH Efficient Spending Policy and Conference Grants Frequently Asked Questions for additional budget and costs considerations information, including unallowable budget categories for conference grants, such as food and meal and Facilities and Administrative (F&A) indirect costs.
• Applicants may request full or partial NIH support for the proposed annual scientific meetings.
• If funding is being requested solely from the NIH, state so in the application.
• When partial support is requested from the NIH, all potential sources and amounts of other funding for the scientific meeting must be clearly identified.
  • In addition to the required detailed budget reflecting the amount of funding requested, applications must include a Composite Categorical Budget, in the Budget Justification Section of the Research & Related Budget Component of the SF-424 (R&R). The Composite Categorical Budget must reflect the total cost of the scientific meeting including ALL anticipated sources of funding (including from the applicant organization and non-federal entity sponsorship).
  • Any anticipated program income (e.g., registration fees) should be specified. Note: Program Income may not be used for otherwise unallowable costs.
• When partial support is requested from the NIH, peer reviewers will still consider the overall structure and design of the scientific meetings.

Applications nonresponsive to terms of this NOSI will not be considered for the NOSI initiative.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity with the following additions/substitutions:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Dave Yeung, Ph.D.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 301-796-7237
Email: [email protected]

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Tamia Powell
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: (240) 669-2982
Email: [email protected]