The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support preclinical HIV/AIDS research using NHP models performed by Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) who are within 10 years of their terminal degree or completion of their residency training but who have at least two years of postdoctoral experience.
Donor Name: National Institutes of Health
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: American Samoa, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 09/08/2025
Size of the Grant: $200,000
Grant Duration: 2 years
Details:
Due to their anatomical and genetic similarities to humans, NHPs provide the best representation of natural routes of infection, prevention, and disease for HIV/AIDS among animal models. As a result, NHPs remain the premier preclinical model for HIV/AIDS and are used as the penultimate step before translation of the majority of therapies and interventions in humans. However, research with NHPs presents challenges that do not exist with most other animal models. For example, due to their larger size, longer life span, and enhanced requirements for maintenance and care, work with NHPs incurs much higher expenses than for most other animal models. Additionally, NHPs have specialized care and handling requirements during research that do not exist for most other biomedical models. The high expense and specialized expertise required for NHP research can create a prohibitive barrier for ESIs to explore promising preclinical research directions in the HIV/AIDS field. The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to provide ESIs with adequate funds and independence to initiate preclinical and translational HIV/AIDS research with NHPs. As a consequence of this early support, these ESIs should become competitive for major research awards (e.g., R01) and for transition to independent positions, which will help advance HIV/AIDS researchers trained to use NHPs to fill this national need.
The topics of interest to this FOA include, but are not limited to:
- Vaccines, vaccine adjuvants and other novel antiretroviral therapy-free approaches to viral remission or eradication directed towards Simian Immunodeficiency Virus/Simian-Human Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV/SHIV) at various stages of the lifespan, including neonates and infants;
- Non-vaccine prevention, such as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis neutralizing monoclonal antibodies, or mucosal microbicides;
- Antiretrovirals, safe and effective combination antiretroviral treatment (cART), or combined drug/immunotherapeutic approaches;
- Identification, characterization, and therapeutic targeting of anatomic sanctuary sites that serve as latent reservoirs of the virus during antiretroviral treatment (ART);
- Identification of biomarkers for predicting viral remission or reactivation/rebound of latent virus;
- Impact of co-morbidities and co-infections on SIV/SHIV acquisition/transmission, progression to AIDS, and/or interactions with treatment modality; and
- Imaging and monitoring/tracking SIV/SHIV, immune cells, and anti-SIV/SHIV antibodies.
Funding Information
No more than $200,000 in direct costs may be requested in any single year. The combined budget may not exceed $400,000 direct costs for the two-year period.
Eligibility Criteria
- Higher Education Institutions
- Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
- Private Institutions of Higher Education
- The following types of Higher Education Institutions are always encouraged to apply for NIH support as Public or Private Institutions of Higher Education:
- Nonprofits Other Than Institutions of Higher Education
- Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
- Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
- Local Governments
- State Governments
- County Governments
- City or Township Governments
- Special District Governments
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
- Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
- Federal Governments
- U.S. Territory or Possession.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
