Key Dates

Related Announcements

PA-20-272– Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)

Issued by

Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund)

Purpose

Purpose

The NIH Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund - https://commonfund.nih.gov/) has generated several valuable and widely available datasets. The purpose of this Notice is to announce the availability of administrative supplements to existing NIH awards to demonstrate usage of these datasets. This includes generating hypotheses, catalyzing discoveries, and guiding translational/clinical studies.

Background

Since its inception as the NIH Roadmap for Biomedical Research, the NIH Office of Strategic Coordination (Common Fund - https://commonfund.nih.gov/) has supported multiple transformative research programs that generate new technologies, methods, and data.  Many of these programs have produced and are continuing to expand and refine rich public data sets containing multi-dimensional molecular and phenotypic data from humans and model organisms.  Established Common Fund (CF) data sets listed below are well-poised for increased community use:

• 4D Nucleome (4DN) (https://www.4dnucleome.org/): Reference nucleomics and imaging data sets, including an expanding tool set for open data processing and visualization
• Extracellular RNA Communication (exRNA) (https://exrna.org/): Catalog of exRNA molecules found in human biofluids like plasma, saliva, and urine; and potential exRNA biomarkers for diseases
• Gabriella Miller Kids First (KF) (https://kidsfirstdrc.org/): Data from whole-genome sequencing of cohorts with structural birth defects and/or susceptibility to childhood cancer, with associated phenotypic and clinical data
• Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) (https://www.gtexportal.org/home/): Whole genome- and RNA sequence data from multiple human tissues to study tissue-specific gene expression and regulation, including tissue samples
• H3Africa (https://www.h3abionet.org/resources/h3africa-archive/): Genomic and phenotypic research data generated by the Human Heredity and Health in Africa program. Includes population-based genomic studies of common, non-communicable disorders (e.g., heart and renal disease), as well as communicable diseases (e.g., tuberculosis).
• Glycoscience (GL) (https://glygen.org/): A data integration and dissemination project for carbohydrate and glycoconjugate related data
• Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) (https://hubmapconsortium.org/): An open and global platform to map healthy cells in the human body to determine how the relationships between cells can affect the health of an individual
• Illuminating the Druggable Genome (IDG) (https://druggablegenome.net/): Data on understudied druggable proteins, including mRNA and protein expression data, phenotype associations, bioactivity data, drug target interactions, disease links, and functional information
• Integrated Human Microbiome Project (iHMP) (https://hmpdacc.org/ihmp/): Microbiome, epigenomic, metabolomic, and phenotypic data for 3 cohorts
• Knockout Mouse Phenotyping Program (KOMP2) (http://www.mousephenotype.org/): Data from broad, standardized phenotyping of a genome-wide collection of mouse knockouts
• Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) (http://lincsproject.org/): Molecular signatures that describe how different types of cells respond to a variety of agents that disrupt normal cellular function
• Metabolomics Workbench (https://www.metabolomicsworkbench.org/): Metabolomics data and metadata from studies on cells, tissues, and organisms
• Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity in Humans (MoTrPAC) (https://motrpac-data.org/data-access): Data contain assay-specific results, associated metadata, quality control reports, and animal phenotype data related to molecular transducers that underlie the effects of physical activity
• Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions (SPARC) (https://sparc.science/): Maps and tools to identify and influence therapeutic targets that exist within the neural circuitry of a wide range of organs and tissues

Additional information on some of these datasets can be found via the Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Portal.

To maximize the impact of these data and to engage a broader community of end-users beyond the relevant consortium teams, the Common Fund plans to support administrative supplements encouraging the use of the above Common Fund datasets. Supplements are intended to enable novel and compelling biological and clinical questions to be formulated and addressed, and/or to generate cross-cutting hypotheses for future research.

Objectives and Scope

Administrative supplements must support work within the scope of the parent project. To be eligible for consideration through this NOSI, the proposed research plan must substantially leverage data from at least one Common Fund program listed in the Background section above. “Substantial leverage” is defined as the use and citation of the relevant dataset(s) in the envisioned research products of the proposed work (e.g., manuscripts, presentations, book chapters, portals, etc.) While incorporating data from a single CF program is required, the use of data from two or more multiple Common Fund programs is highly encouraged to build on the goals of the Common Fund Data Ecosystem, which promotes novel discovery through the use of cross-CF study data. Likewise, the utility of the data is enhanced when existing Common Fund data is integrated with other non-CF and CF data sets. Thus, data from other publicly available datasets, including Common Fund programs not listed above, can also be included as needed. Because information regarding the user experience could help NIH improve its data resources, successful applicants will be asked to provide feedback on the findability, usability, and utility of the relevant datasets and public data portals. They may also be afforded an opportunity to present their work at an NIH-sponsored meeting (either virtually or in-person). Beyond that, there are no explicit requirements for how the data are to be used – investigators are encouraged to employ approaches best suited to achieving their parent award’s research aims.

No aim removed in response to the initial peer review from the parent grant may be proposed as the basis for a supplement. The supplemental aims must be in scope and synergistic with the approved, ongoing research of the parent grant. Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposed supplement project with the ICO Program Officer of the funded parent award prior to submission of a supplement application, to ensure that the proposed activity aligns with the scientific priorities of the ICO and is within the scope of the parent award. Scientific inquiries may also be addressed to the contacts listed in the Inquiries section below.

Reporting Requirements

Recipients of administrative supplements are required to report progress associated with the supplement activities in the annual RPPR and/or the FRPPR, as applicable. For these supplements, the reporting expectation is that major accomplishments during the relevant budget period are listed explicitly and with enough detail to allow evaluation of progress. Additionally, if funding will continue into the next budget period, planned activities should be discussed at the same level of granularity. Failure to comply with these reporting requirements may result in delayed processing of the non-competing continuation and/or delays of the award closeout.

Budget

To be eligible, the parent award must be able to receive funds in FY23 (Oct. 1, 2022-Sept. 30, 2023) and must not be in the final year or a terminal no-cost extension period as of September 1, 2023.

Supplement budget requests cannot exceed $150,000/year direct costs exclusive of Facilities and Administrative costs on sub-awards. Requests may be for one year of support only. Budgets may not exceed the total direct costs of the current parent award and must be commensurate with the actual needs of the proposed project.

Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards

The number of awards is contingent upon NIH appropriations and receipt of responsive, rigorous applications. 

Application and Submission Instructions

Recently issued NIH policy notices may affect your application submission. The NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts provides a complete list of policy notices published by the NIH. All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.

Applications for this initiative must be submitted using the following opportunity:

• PA-20-272 – Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and PA-20-272 must be followed, with the following additions:

• Application Due Date(s) – applications must be submitted on or before June 30, 2023, by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. Late applications to this NOSI will not be accepted.  Applicants are reminded to familiarize themselves with and adhere to the submission dates and special instructions provided by the IC administering the parent award.
• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-RM-23-006” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4B may not be considered for this initiative.
• The Research Strategy section is limited to 6 pages.
• For all other sections, please follow the instructions provided in PA-20-272.
• Only existing awardees are eligible to apply.
• The project and budget periods must be within the currently approved project period for the existing parent award. The parent award must have at least 12 months remaining in its approved project period as of September 1, 2023; and may not be in a terminal no-cost extension.
• Requests may be for one year of support only.
• Each eligible parent award is limited to no more than one supplement request through this NOSI.
• Applicants are strongly encouraged to notify the Program Officer at the IC supporting the parent award that a request has been submitted in response to this NOSI to facilitate efficient processing of the application.

Supplement requests that do not comply with these instructions or are deemed otherwise non-responsive to the terms of this NOSI will not be accepted for review.

Scientific Review Process

The NIH program staff will conduct administrative reviews of submitted applications. All criteria outlined in Section V – Application Review Criteria of PA-20-272 will be followed. Additionally, Common Fund staff will evaluate the potential of the proposed work to meaningfully leverage data from at least one of the programs listed in the Background section, and the added value this leverage will provide in the context of the parent project. The most responsive and rigorous applications will be recommended for support, pending the availability of funds. 
 

Inquiries

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss their proposed supplement project with the ICO Program Officer of the funded parent award prior to submission of a supplement application, to ensure that the proposed activity aligns with the scientific priorities of the ICO and is within the scope of the parent award. Scientific inquiries may also be addressed to the following Common Fund staff listed below:

George J. Papanicolaou, Ph.D.
Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC)
Office of the Director (OD)
Telephone: 301-480-6722
Email: george.papanicolaou@nih.gov

Anthony Kirilusha, Ph.D.
Office of Strategic Coordination (OSC)
Office of the Director (OD)
Telephone: 301-402-7617
Email: anthony.kirilusha@nih.gov

Financial/Grants Management Contact(s)
Please contact the GM specialist listed on the most recent NoA for the parent award.