Announcing the NIH Autism Data Science Initiative Research Opportunity

Today, NIH released a Research Opportunity Announcement for the Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI). We are spotlighting this other transaction here as it is a high priority for leadership within NIH and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It also encompasses several efforts of general interest for NIH supported research including supporting data resources, participant privacy, and research replicability/validation.   

Background

ADSI seeks to bring together diverse data resources to explore possible contributors to the causes of autism. ADSI will also work to identify how existing treatments/interventions are used and better understand their outcomes to inform the design of future clinical studies. All use of data in in the initiative will be compliant with privacy and confidentiality requirements and applicable federal and state laws and regulations.

Strategic aims:

• Support the integration of existing data resources with rigorous privacy protections for analysis by autism researchers.
• Identify gaps in available data and conduct specific data generation activities to fill those gaps.
• Support analysis of the new data resources to explore the contribution of a variety of health and other factors to the causes of autism.
• Support independent replication and validation of the initiative’s findings.

This year the initiative expects to issue up to $50 million in awards in September, pending receipt of scientifically meritorious ideas from the research community. Applications are due June 27, 2025.