Notice Number: NOT-DA-12-020

Key Dates
Release Date: September 18, 2012

Estimated Publication Date of Announcement: Autumn 2012
First Estimated Application Due Date: January 2013
Earliest Estimated Award Date: October 2013
Earliest Estimated Start Date: October 2013

Issued by
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Purpose

The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), intend to promote a new initiative by publishing a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) to solicit applications from United States (U.S.)-funded institutions with a Russia-institution partner in collaboration with the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) to establish Collaborative Research Partnerships (CRP) for research in the field of HIV/AIDS in preventing, treating, or ameliorating HIV and HIV-related co-morbidities such as malignancies, metabolic complications or opportunistic infections (OIs).

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 autumn 2012 with an expected receipt date in early 2013.

This FOA will utilize the R21 activity code. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.

Research Initiative Details

This FOA will solicit Exploratory/Developmental (R21) applications from United States (U.S.)-funded institutions with a Russia-institution partner in collaboration with the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) to establish Collaborative Research Partnerships (CRP) in the field of HIV/AIDS in preventing, treating, or ameliorating HIV and HIV-related co-morbidities such as malignancies, metabolic complications or opportunistic infections (OIs). The U.S.-Russia Bilateral CRP Program is designed to develop collaborations between scientists and institutions in the U.S. and Russia to conduct high quality HIV/AIDS research of mutual interest and benefit to both countries while developing the basis for future institutional and individual scientific collaborations. This FOA will utilize the research capacities of the institutions and scientists in both countries to advance the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment research.  Fundamental and applied research including capacity building is encouraged in a variety of HIV-affected populations (for example women, men who have sex with men, substance users and adolescents) in the following priority areas:

• Research toward a cure for HIV/AIDS including studies on: HIV reservoirs, latency, and persistence; screening and testing of novel compounds; developing and testing novel approaches to combining virologic-, immunologic -, and cellular-based therapies, as well as strategies to activate latent virus; and adherence to treatment regimens, as well as research at the individual, community, and population levels on developing and applying a cure for HIV/AIDS.
  
• HIV vaccines, vaccines in the context of HIV disease, and vaccines for co-infections in the context of HIV disease
  
• Microbicides
  
• Molecular biology and immunology studies on HIV disease and HIV-related co-morbidities including microbiome studies
  
• Behavioral and social science research
  
• Genomic studies to identify or characterize genomic factors that improve the understanding of HIV pathogenesis and that may affect or predict the effectiveness of prevention and/or intervention strategies for HIV and HIV-associated co-morbidities
  
• Tuberculosis research that is applicable to TB/HIV co-infection
  
• Co-morbidities of HIV, for example, HIV-associated cancers or liver disease and studies on etiologies of such co-morbidities including, for example, EBV or Hepatitis B and C viruses in the context of HIV infection
  
• Behavioral and integrated biomedical and behavioral research to address the intersection of injection and non-injection drug use, alcohol abuse, and mental health problems for individuals at risk for or with HIV/AIDS 

APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Bob Eisinger and Joan Romaine at [email protected].