Key Dates

Related Announcements

• February 29, 2024 - Notice of Technical Assistance Webinar for Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Innovative Technologies for Research on Climate Change and Human Health. See Notice NOT-ES-24-012
• July 12, 2023 – PHS 2023-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC and FDA for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44] Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See PA-23-230
• July 12, 2023 – PHS 2023-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH and CDC for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44] Clinical Trial Required). See PA-23-231 
• July 12, 2023 –  PHS 2023-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH for Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (Parent STTR [R41/R42] Clinical Trial Not Allowed). See PA-23-232
• July 12, 2023 – PHS 2023-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH for Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (Parent STTR [R41/R42] Clinical Trial Required). See PA-23-233

Issued by

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)

National Eye Institute (NEI)

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)

National Institute on Aging (NIA)

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)

National Library of Medicine (NLM)

National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

Purpose

The National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS), in partnership with other NIH Institutes, is leading an NIH-wide Climate Change and Health Initiative (CCHI) with the goals of: reducing the health threats posed by climate change across the lifespan; improving the health of people who are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts; and building health resilience among individuals, communities, and nations around the world. As a part of this CCHI, this NOSI encourages Phase I (R43), Direct to Phase II (R44), Fast-track (R44) and SBIR and STTR Phase I (R41) and Phase II (R42) grant applications from SBCs to develop commercializable tools, resources, and approaches to capture the effects of climate change and the associated impacts of extreme weather events on human health, and to support adaptation or mitigation strategies to minimize health hazards and impacts from climate change. Technologies may include new approaches for detecting climate change-associated exposures, including temperature and air quality, training tools on climate change and mitigation strategies for patients with underlying health conditions, intervention approaches for reducing contaminants water or in indoor air, modeling and prediction tools for climate-change-related weather events and related health effects, and technologies for delivery of health care, including mental health services to communities during extreme weather events.

Background 

Climate change poses substantial threats to human health across a wide range of illnesses and injuries, including asthma, respiratory allergies and airway diseases, cardiovascular disease and stroke, heat-related illness and deaths, reproductive, birth outcomes and developmental effects, mental illness, and extreme weather-related morbidity and mortality. Strong evidence indicates that climate change also disproportionately adversely affects communities that experience socioeconomic, behavioral, and environmental vulnerabilities. Such communities include underserved and health disparity populations, especially racial and ethnic minority populations, underserved rural populations, less privileged socioeconomic status (SES) populations, sexual and gender minorities (SGM), and those unduly burdened by exposure to environmental pollution. In addition to the need for research on understanding the effects of these emerging threats on human health, there is a significant need for adaptation efforts to reduce the hazards and negative impacts of climate change on human health. Development of innovative tools, technologies, methodologies on climate change and health will significantly increase the potential for understanding the complex drivers of adverse health outcomes and enable effective and impactful interventions.

Objectives

Areas of interest and examples of applications that are responsive to this NOSI include, but are not limited to development of technologies from these Institutes and Centers:

NIEHS 

The mission of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) is to discover how the environment affects people in order to promote healthier lives, with a vision of providing global leadership for innovative research that improves public health by preventing disease and disability www.niehs.nih.gov. NIEHS achieves its mission and vision through a multidisciplinary biomedical research program, prevention and intervention efforts, and a communication strategy that encompasses training, education, technology transfer and community outreach. https://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/supported/translational/sbir/index.cfm. 

• Water quality measurement technologies – e.g., monitoring the release of harmful industrial chemicals in floods or the concentration of toxic metals, pesticides in source water in drought conditions.
• Disaster Response technologies – sensors and exposure assessment tools before, during and after extreme weather events. Technologies that assist in the training and education of workers and their communities addressing the hazards associated with climate change. Data sharing platforms to rapidly share disaster response information across local, municipal, state and/or national levels.
• Sampling technologies that collect/preserve samples (air, water, soil) for later analysis to assess extent of climate change-related contamination events.
• Approaches to capture the mental health status of psychiatric conditions in communities affected by extreme weather events and climate changes, including communities that are most vulnerable to these effects impact (multiple ICs).
• Training tools on climate change and mitigation strategies and STEM education related to changing climates.
• Modeling and prediction tools for climate-related extreme weather events to improve our ability to use data-driven technologies to understand the impacts of climate change on human health and disease (multiple ICs).
• Prediction and modeling tools for harmful algal blooms related to human health.
• Technologies for purifying household drinking water in response to flooding and extreme weather events and rapid detection technologies for drinking water quality.
• Technologies for purifying indoor air in response to wildfires and other extreme weather events.

NIEHS and NHLBI

• Sensors and biomonitoring technologies for detecting spatiotemporal climate change-related exposures (e.g., temperature, air pollution, mold and fungal toxins) related to lung and cardiovascular diseases.
• Technologies to protect at-risk patients from environmental stressors including extreme heat events and fine particulate matter (e.g., more comfortable masks/respirators, inhalers, etc.).
• Translational in vitro microphysiological science (MPS) tools for evaluating the effects of environmental pollutants (PM2.5, mold and fungal toxins, ozone, etc.) and other climate change-related factors on cardiac and pulmonary function.

NHLBI

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) provides global leadership for a research, training, and education program to promote the prevention and treatment of heart, lung, blood, and sleep (HLBS) disorders and enhance the health of all individuals so that they can live longer and more fulfilling lives.

The NHLBI stimulates basic discoveries about the causes of disease, enables the translation of basic discoveries into clinical practice, fosters training and mentoring of emerging scientists and physicians, and communicates research advances to the public. It creates and supports a robust, collaborative research infrastructure in partnership with private and public organizations, including academic institutions, industry, and other government agencies. The Institute collaborates with patients, families, health care professionals, scientists, professional societies, patient advocacy groups, community organizations, and the media to promote the application of research results and leverage resources to address public health needs. The NHLBI also collaborates with international organizations to help reduce the burden of heart, lung, and blood diseases worldwide. To learn more about the NHLBI Small Business Program, please visit https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/about/divisions/division-extramural-research-activities/office-innovation-and-commercialization. Examples of technologies of interest to the NHLBI include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

• Apps or tools to provide information to patients on current environmental risks (e.g., high temperatures, air quality alerts, asthma triggers etc.) that might adversely affect HLBS health.
• Technologies for addressing blood shortages that might occur due to increased prevalence of vector-borne diseases (i.e., blood purification technologies).
• Educational tools to improve awareness and increase health literacy regarding the adverse effects of extreme weather events on HLBS health among underserved and vulnerable populations, including those whose first language is not English
• Innovative tools and strategies to improve the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based practices to reduce exposures to climate change-related health risks in patients with HLBS diseases
• Software programs and technologies that leverage AI/ML approaches to promote behaviors that reduce exposures to climate change-related risks to HLBS health

The NHLBI is particularly interested in funding the development of technologies that detect and prevent climate change-related HLBS health risks in underserved, health disparity, and vulnerable populations. 

NEI

The mission of the National Eye Institute (NEI) is to eliminate vision loss and improve quality of life through vision research. NEI is interested in developing novel tools, therapies, and diagnostics to treat diseases and disorders of the visual system. For additional information on NEI’s SBIR/STTR program, please refer to https://www.nei.nih.gov/grants-and-training/funding-opportunities/programs-and-research-priorities/small-business.

The development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and disease prevention solutions for eye diseases and disorders exacerbated by climate change and other related environmental factors including toxin exposure, UV radiation, ozone depletion, and other related stress disorders affecting vision. NEI is particularly interested in supporting applications examining the impact of climate change and related environmental factors on dry eye disease, refractive error, photokeratitis, cataract onset and progression, and vector-borne diseases. Applications developing technologies, apps, or tools to enable effective delivery of eye health services impacted by climate events are also requested.

NIA

The mission of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) is to support and conduct genetic, biological, clinical, behavioral, social, and economic research on aging, foster the development of research and clinician scientists in aging, provide research resources, and disseminate information about aging and advances in research to the public, health care professionals, and the scientific community, among a variety of audiences (https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/sbir). For clinical trial research, NIA solicits mechanism-focused intervention development research at Stages I through V of the NIH Stage Model for Behavioral Intervention Development to address the care needs and promote the health, function, and well-being of racial and ethnic underrepresented groups of older adults. This includes the development, testing, and validation of scalable solutions that can be designed and delivered for use at the individual, family, dyad, group, community, or health-systems level. For additional information on seeking NIA support and investigative resources for clinical trial research, please visit https://www.nia.nih.gov/research/clinical-trials#investigators.

• Technology that mitigates the impacts of climate change and extreme weather on health and/or well-being, pace of aging, and aging-related physiological processes (e.g., immune function, circadian rhythm, etc.) across the life span.
• Technology that measures interactions or additive effects on rates of aging due to environmental exposures or changing environmental hazards (e.g., particulates endocrine disrupters, residuals from manufacturing or other toxins, or extreme weather) on molecular, cellular, and physiological perturbations that impact health and/or well-being across the lifespan.
• Technology that measures interactions or additive effects of environmental exposures or changing environmental hazards (e.g., heightened amounts of air pollutants, extreme heat or cold) on affective, social, and cognitive functions over the life course, as well as effects on brain health across the lifespan.
• Tools, devices, or technological applications to support midlife and older adult health promotion, adaptation, and resilience in the face of climate change and in the aftermath of extreme weather events.
• Digital health tools to support functional abilities in midlife and older adult populations (e.g., day-to-day activities, physical limitations, sensory deficits, etc.) in the context of climate change or extreme weather conditions.
• Technology that mitigates the impact of age-related change in affective, social, and cognitive factors on individual responses to climate change, and on how individuals initiate and maintain the behavior changes needed for preparedness and adaptation to extreme weather events.
• Health services delivery technology and digital healthcare infrastructure preparedness in the context of climate change and extreme weather events.
• Technology that facilitates reducing healthcare facilities’ and systems’ contribution to climate change.
• Tools that develop, implement, and evaluate the effectiveness of communication or educational resources about health impacts of climate change for specific older adult populations or stakeholders, including individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and individuals and institutions that provide care for these individuals.

NIAID 

The mission of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is to conduct and support basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Our small business programs help bridge the gap between basic science and commercialization of new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies. Additional information can be found here: https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/small-businesses. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Novel tools and technologies to assess and quantitate, especially at the level of individual risk, the presence of aeroallergens likely to be affected by climate change.
• Novel tools and technologies to assess the impact of environmental and ecologic factors affected by climate change on the breeding, size, distribution, range and/or spread of populations of insect vectors of human disease or intermediate hosts of pathogens responsible for human disease.
• Novel or improved diagnostic tools and technologies suitable for population surveillance and monitoring for allergic and infectious diseases likely to change in incidence or prevalence due to climate change, and capable of yielding timely results for actionable risk mitigation.
• Tools and technologies to assess water safety at sites (environmental, recreational, or drinking waters) to prevent or reduce transmission of water-borne pathogens, such as Campylobacter jejuni, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Entamoeba histolytica, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Giardia, Isospora, microsporidia, Naegleria, diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp., when extreme weather events (floods, heatwaves, and droughts) increase risk of human disease caused by these pathogens.
• Tools and technologies to assess enteric pathogen burden in wastewaters to develop strategies for management of infectious disease outbreaks.
• Diagnostics (simple, rapid, and point of care (POC) capable of detecting multiple enteric pathogens (e.g., Campylobacter jejuni, Cryptosporidium, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Giardia; diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp.) and associated antimicrobial resistance profiles directly from patient specimens (e.g., stool samples).
• Vaccines for primary prevention of diseases caused by food- and water-borne enteric bacterial and parasitic pathogens (e.g., Campylobacter species, Cryptosporidium, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Giardia, diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp.).  

NIAMS

The mission of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is to support research into the causes, treatment, and prevention of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases, the training of basic and clinical scientists to carry out this research, and the dissemination of information on research progress in these diseases. For information on NIAMS SBIR/STTR program, please refer to https://seed.nih.gov/NIAMS_SBIR_home.

• NIAMS supports the development of tools and technologies to mitigate the impact of climate changes on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of musculoskeletal, rheumatic and skin diseases. NIAMS will not support clinical trials with this NOSI.

NCATS

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) strives to promote innovations that help mitigate bottlenecks in translational research pipeline that will ultimately result in better management of various human diseases. Global climate change is an unfolding crisis, and it is important to understand the effects it will have on human health. https://ncats.nih.gov/smallbusiness/resources

NCATS Will Not Support Clinical Trials With This NOSI.

• Data interoperability and predictive modeling for health and healthcare with respect to environmental change, public health emergencies or disasters.
• Validation and improved measurement of human health metrics, and subsequent impact(s) to health from climate change, with digital health technologies as well as other ambient sensing tools or methodologies.
• Technologies to shorten time of intervention adoption in the event of environmental changes or disasters.
• Technologies to reduce impact to clinical trials in the event of public health emergencies or disasters (e.g., decentralized clinical trial infrastructure, telemedicine).
• The dissemination and implementation of tools and technologies with respect to environmental change, public health emergencies or disasters to aid in the continuity of clinical research.
• Tools and technologies to train and scale up the healthcare workforce rapidly in the event of environmental change, public health emergencies or disasters.
• Novel approaches utilizing Microphysiological systems (MPS)/Tissue Chips and 3D bioprinting technologies to study and identify physiological changes/biomarkers associated with changes in the environment.
• Technologies and tools to maintain continuation of rural and underserved patient care during emergencies and disasters.
• Tools to detect geographic re-distribution of diseases and conditions.
• Health research and health care reduction of footprint

NLM

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the largest biomedical library in the world, is committed to meeting the evolving needs of the research and clinical communities and to serve the public at large. The NLM's research in information science, informatics, and data science is focused on meeting the challenges of this rapidly changing biomedical space. The NLM areas of research interest include: representation, organization and retrieval of biomedical and biological data and images; enhancement of human intellectual capacities through virtual reality, dynamic modeling, artificial intelligence, and machine learning; medical decision-making; linguistic analyses for natural language processing and understanding; informatics topics relevant to public health and informatics for disaster management. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Novel tools or technologies that aid in the integration of climate change related data with health data to study or address the effects of climate change on human health.
• Modeling and prediction tools for climate-related extreme weather events to improve our ability to use data-driven technologies to understand the impacts of climate change on human health and disease.
• Approaches to capture the mental health status of psychiatric conditions in communities affected by extreme weather events and climate changes, including communities that are most vulnerable to these effects impact.
• Data sharing platforms to that aid in data-driven decision-making in response to extreme weather events or health concerns stemming from climate change.

In developing technologies and approaches for research, applicants should consider cost, feasibility, and the potential end-users and markets for these technologies. Applicants should also clearly articulate how these technologies can be applied in real-world scenarios to address the impacts of climate change and the associated extreme weather events and to reduce the adverse effects of exposures (e.g., excessive heat, poor air quality, water contamination, chemicals, mold and other toxins, and psychosocial stress) on individuals or communities

Applicants should provide clear, measurable (quantitative) milestones, particularly for Phase I applications and Phase I components of Fast-track applications.

NIH’s broad scientific expertise situates it in a unique position to tackle the complex set of factors that coalesce in the problem of climate change impacts on health.

Application and Submission Information

Applicants must select the IC and associated notice of funding opportunities (NOFOs) to use for submission of an application in response to this NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed above in order to be considered responsive to that NOFO. Non-responsive applications will be withdrawn from consideration for this initiative. In addition, applicants using NIH Parent Announcements (listed below) will be assigned to those ICs on this NOSI that have indicated those NOFOs are acceptable and based on usual application-IC assignment practices.

This NOSI applies to due dates on or after April 5, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through April 5, 2025,

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following notice of funding opportunities or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this notice.

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

• For funding consideration, applicants must include "NOT-ES-24-002" 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. Applicants must select the IC and associated NOFO to use for submission of an application in response to the NOSI. The selection must align with the IC requirements listed in order to be considered responsive to that NOFO. 

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

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to the Scientific/Research, Peer Review, and Financial/Grants Management contacts in Section VII of the listed notice of funding opportunity.

Please direct all inquiries related to this NOSI to the following:

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Daniel Shaughnessy, PhD
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Telephone: (984) 287-3321
Email: shaughn1@niehs.nih.gov

Stephanie Davis, PhD
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Telephone: 301-496-8412
Email: stephanie.davis3@nih.gov

Tony Douglas Gover, PhD
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Phone: 301-529-7370
E-mail: tony.gover@nih.gov

Rajesh Kumar, Ph.D.
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Phone: 301-402-7785
E-mail: niasmallbusiness@mail.nih.gov

Adriana Costero-Saint Denis, PhD
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Telephone: 301-496-2544
E-mail: acostero@niaid.nih.gov

Xibin Wang, Ph.D.
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Phone: 301-451-3884
E-mail: wangx1@mail.nih.gov

Meena Rajagopal, Ph.D.
National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS)
Telephone: 301-827-1921
Email: meena.rajagopal@nih.gov

Allison Dennis, PhD
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Phone: 301-827-9721
Email: Allison.Dennis@nih.gov 

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)

Clark Phillips
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
Telephone: 984-287-4037
Email:clark.phillips@nih.gov

Andre D Walker
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Phone: (301) 827-8061
E-mail: aw217k@nih.gov

Karen Robinson Smith
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Phone: 301-435-8178
E-mail: kyr@nei.nih.gov

Jessi Perez
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Phone: 301-496-1472
E-mail: perezj@mail.nih.gov

Jason Lundgren
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Phone: 240-669-2973
Email: jason.lundgren@nih.gov

Victoria C Matthews
National Institutelnstitute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Phone: 301-594-5032
E-mail: victoria.matthews@nih.gov

Imoni Williams, J.D.
National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS)
Telephone: 301-435-2939
Email: imoni.williams@nih.gov  

Samantha Tempchin
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Phone: 301-496-4222
Email: samantha.tempchin@nih.gov