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National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

The purpose of this Notice is to alert the community that NHGRI plans to publish a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for a new Non-Human Primate Developmental Genotype-Tissue Expression (NHP dGTEX) project. This project is intended to provide funds for non-human primate (NHP) tissue collections and genomic assays for comparative genomic assessment to address gaps in our understanding of tissue-specific gene expression at distinct developmental stages.

The FOA is expected to be published in Spring of 2021 with an expected application due date in the Summer of 2021.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects.

This FOA will utilize the U24 funding mechanism. Details of the planned FOA are provided below.

The major goal of this initiative is to study gene expression patterns in multiple reference tissues across developmental stages in NHPs and compare them to human gene expression patterns. This will be achieved through two objectives:

Creation of a tissue resource and generation of gene expression data in developing non-human primates by: a) collecting and banking tissues from multiple animals at a minimum of 6 developmental stages spanning prenatal and postnatal development for at least two NHP species (at least one each of Old and New World species) commonly used in biomedical research; and b) performing whole genome sequencing in blood on each animal and RNA sequencing on whole tissues and single cell populations for at least 30 tissue types per animal. These data should be collected with design considerations that maximize their utility to validate and interpret the human data generated in dGTEx (e.g., assaying a combination of comparable and complementary tissues and developmental stages; coordinated sample collection and preservation procedures; standardized quality control/quality assessment, metadata and common data elements) as well as to provide reference data for follow-up functional experiments and experimental interventions in NHPs.

Making the NHP tissue resource and data available and useable to the community by: a) monitoring study progress and laboratory performance; b) performing quality control and basic analysis of expression data; c) identifying and implementing standards for data and metadata; and d) submitting datasets to appropriate resources. In order to maximize impact, it will be important to leverage and integrate the data from this effort with existing developmental genomic data from humans and other species.

Applications are not being solicited at this time. 

Please direct all inquiries to:

Jennifer Troyer, Ph.D
National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI)
301-312-3276
[email protected]