The purpose of this Notice is to inform potential applicants of an area of special interest in developing tools for continuous monitoring of circulating or interstitial nutrients, metabolites or hormones relevant to diet and nutrition.

Background

A significant challenge in nutrition research is the difficulty in establishing quantifiable links between the consumption of specific diets and biophysiological processes, such as metabolism, inflammation, aging, and the susceptibility to of chronic diseases. While several factors underlie this challenge, one key factor is individual variability in responses to dietary exposures. Precision nutrition is a field of research and practice that leverages this variability. Recent advances in precision nutrition and circadian metabolism have come from studies utilizing continuous glucose monitors. However, diet leads to metabolic excursion of thousands of nutrients, metabolites and hormones, some linked to gut microbiota metabolism. Hypothetically, new types of probes, dual purpose (e.g., glucose/Na) or multiplexed probes could help advance precision nutrition and circadian metabolism research along with clinical care.

NIDDK Statement of Interest

NIDDK is interested in projects proposing to develop and test in appropriate models or humans devices that extend the function of existing continuous glucose monitors, develop devices or approaches to continuously monitor other nutrients, metabolites or nutritionally relevant hormones or signaling molecules that affect metabolism, physiology, behavior and/or gene expression. Sensors could be affixed (reversibly) interstitially, or in some other a manner that otherwise allows detection of circulating analytes.

The NIDDK is interested in receiving grants focused on, but not limited, to the following areas:

• Miniaturized implantable ion-selective electrodes or other approaches for monitoring one or more macromineral or trace mineral, especially analytes of public health concern, for example sodium, potassium, calcium, iodine, etc.
• Sensors to detect microbiome metabolites or other metabolites that fluctuate in the circulation in response to dietary intake such as specific amino acids, ketone bodies, phytonutrients, vitamins, lipids or organic acids, such as lactate or citrate.
• Sensors for continuous monitoring of nutritionally relevant small hormones or peptide hormones such as insulin, glucagon, incretins, NO, HS, cholecystokinin, ghrelin, leptin, cytokines, inflammatory mediators, etc.
• Multiplex, multichannel or duplex continuous monitors that detect multiple analytes at one time, such as insulin and glucose or sodium and glucose, etc.
• Genetically engineered cell-based biomedical tattoos with colormetric or other reportable sensing capabilities.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after January 5, 2020 and subsequent receipt dates through January 8, 2023.

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

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

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-DK-20-002 (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.

Investigators planning to submit an application in response to this NOSI are strongly encouraged to contact and discuss their proposed research/aims with the program officer listed on this NOSI in advance of the grant receipt date.

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

Christine Densmore, M.S.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Phone: (301) 402-8714
Email: DensmoreC@mail.nih.gov