Using Archived Data and Specimen Collections to Advance Maternal and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Research (R21 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA HD 19 018

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA HD 19 018

Using Archived Data and Specimen Collections to Advance Maternal and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Research is a National Institutes of Health grant opportunity (RFA HD 19 018) from the Department of Health and Human Services that uses the R21 mechanism and does not allow clinical trials. The central idea is to help the maternal and pediatric HIV research community make better use of information and materials that already exist by funding secondary analyses of archived HIV/AIDS datasets and previously collected specimen collections. Rather than paying to recruit new participants or generate new prospective data, the program is designed to speed up discovery by encouraging researchers to translate, reanalyze, and share existing data resources in ways that produce new insights, new hypotheses, and publishable findings that align with the scientific priorities of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), specifically its Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Disease Branch (MPIDB), in coordination with the NIH Office of AIDS Research (OAR).

The research focus is squarely on HIV/AIDS as it affects maternal, pediatric, and adolescent populations, including questions that matter for both clinical and public health impact. Projects are expected to use archived data and/or stored specimens to answer scientific questions about HIV epidemiology (for example, patterns of infection, transmission risks, or outcomes across populations), pathogenesis (how the disease develops and affects the body, including immune responses and viral dynamics), treatment (such as factors associated with antiretroviral response, adherence patterns, resistance, or regimen outcomes), and the clinical manifestations and complications of HIV/AIDS (including comorbidities, developmental impacts, pregnancy-related outcomes, and longer-term health consequences in children and adolescents). A key emphasis is on leveraging newer and more advanced analytic approaches, which could include modern statistical methods, improved causal inference techniques, predictive modeling, integrative analyses across datasets, or novel ways of linking clinical, laboratory, and specimen-derived measures to generate fresh conclusions from legacy resources.

This FOA is structured as a discretionary grant in the health and social services funding activity category and is associated with CFDA number 93.865. It anticipates making around five awards, with an award ceiling of $200,000. The applicant pool is broad and includes many organization types that commonly participate in NIH funding, such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and various government entities (state, county, city/township, special districts), as well as eligible tribal governments and tribal organizations and certain housing authorities. In practical terms, this breadth signals that NIH is primarily interested in the quality, rigor, and feasibility of the proposed secondary analyses and the value of the archived resources being used, rather than limiting the opportunity to a narrow set of institution types.

Timing-wise, the opportunity was posted in mid-May 2018, with an original application closing date in early August 2018. Even though those dates indicate the specific announcement window for that cycle, the content reflects a broader NIH priority: maximizing the scientific return on investment from existing maternal and pediatric HIV cohorts, clinical studies, surveillance systems, and biorepositories by enabling investigators to revisit those resources with updated questions and modern analytic tools. The underlying intent is to accelerate knowledge generation, improve data translation and sharing across the field, and ultimately strengthen the evidence base that informs prevention, care, and treatment strategies for pregnant people, infants, children, and adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Using Archived Data and Specimen Collections to Advance Maternal and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Research (R21 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on May 14, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 09, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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