The Engineering Improved Stem Cell-Derived Islet Cells for Replacement Therapies Program is designed to support research in understanding how to engineer intrinsic characteristics of stem cell-derived islet cell products that can result in improved cell replacement therapy outcomes.
Donor Name: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Territory: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 02/26/2026
Size of the Grant: $100,000 to $500,000
Grant Duration: 5 Years
Details:
Unlike cadaveric human islets, stem cell-derived islet cell products are generated from well-defined and highly controlled cell bank sources. Their banking, manufacturing, and quality control processes can be used to instill optimized cell characteristics resulting in more resilient and durable graft viability and function. This funding opportunity aims to stimulate studies on targets and pathways amenable to such engineering approaches and to encourage preclinical testing and validation of such strategies.
The goal is to promote extramural basic and clinical biomedical research that improves the understanding of the mechanisms underlying disease and leads to improved preventions, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes, digestive, and kidney diseases. Programmatic areas within the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases include diabetes, digestive, endocrine, hematologic, liver, metabolic, nephrologic, nutrition, obesity, and urologic diseases.
The goal of this funding opportunity is to engineer the autonomous cell characteristics and behaviors of SC-islets. Examples of areas that need further emphasis/development include but are not limited to:
- Engineering of SC-islets to evade or withstand immune destruction in the context of transplantation of autologous or allogeneic cells into a host with pre-existing T1D autoimmunity.
- Engineering safety switches within the manufactured cells so that they can be safely removed in the event of adverse events, such as teratoma formation or failure of viral infection clearance.
- Improving the composition and spatial arrangement of cells to yield more durable SC-islet function and mass.
- Engineering of the SC-islet cells to positively influence the engraftment process that will lead to improved donor-host tissue integration and functional response.
- Engineering of SC-islets to become more resilient by preventing or overcoming negative consequences in the face of environmental insult. For example, engineering approaches may try to mitigate or pre-empt cell stress, loss of identity, senescence, and immunogenicity, etc.
- Engineering of SC-islets with clinically applicable reporting modalities to allow real-time assessment of graft viability, ongoing immune rejection, and/or functional mass.
This proposed funding opportunity will welcome research grant applications from teams of stem cell and islet biologists, immunologists, and T1D preclinical model researchers to develop innovative approaches to engineer improved SC-islets.
The following topics will be considered out of the scope of this NOFO, and applications containing these topics will be administratively withdrawn:
- Engineering of the transplant site, co-transplantation scaffolds/matrices, and encapsulation
- Implant-associated smart biomaterials able to deliver local immunomodulation/vasculogenic agents to enhance engraftment viability/longevity
- Engineering of accessory cells for co-transplantation with SC-islets, such as endothelial cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and regulatory T cells, etc.
- Engineering of insulin-producing cells made from xenogeneic sources
Funding Information
Application budgets are limited to $500,000 direct costs per year.
Project Period
The maximum project period is 5 years.
Eligibility Criteria
Higher Education Institutions – Includes all types
- Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
- 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)
For-Profit Organizations
- Small Businesses
- For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)
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
- Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government
- U.S. Territory or Possession
Other
- Independent School Districts
- Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
- Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
- Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
- Regional Organizations
Foreign Organizations/International Collaborations
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.
- Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.
- Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
