Through Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Immune Responses to Arthropod Feeding on Vertebrate Hosts, you can apply for funding to research immunologic events in vertebrate hosts that occur at the bite site (skin) and systemically during and after feeding by hematophagous and ectoparasitic arthropods, as well as how immunologic events and vector salivary factors impact pathogen transmission and pathogenesis, induction or inhibition of protective immune responses, and allergic responses.
To accomplish those research ends, you could carry out projects like:
- Characterizing events in the vertebrate host that occur during and after blood feeding by hematophagous and ectoparasitic arthropods that influence pathogen transmission and pathogenesis, at the bite site and systemically.
- Identifying and analyzing salivary factors (e.g., proteins, RNA, peptides, lipids, nucleosides, small molecules) secreted into vertebrate skin during arthropod feeding and their role in immune modulation.
- Determining immunological mechanisms that lead to galactose-α-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal) allergy in the vertebrate host following a tick bite, and identifying tick salivary factors that contribute to alpha-gal syndrome.
- Examining factors and mechanisms that lead to allergic skin responses and dermatitis in the vertebrate host triggered by ectoparasitic arthropods.
- Determining changes in the immune response and impact on pathogen transmission from targeting specific arthropod salivary factors before, during, and after feeding.
NIAID hopes to foster and strengthen collaborations between immunologists and vector biologists through this NOSI. We will deem nonresponsive any applications that do not include both a vertebrate host immunological component and studies of vector salivary factors. Likewise, project proposals which focus solely on the pathogen are nonresponsive.
How to Apply
Submit your application using a parent notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) and list the NOSI’s notice number, “NOT-AI-24-048,” in the Agency Routing Identifier field box (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R Form. The relevant NOFOs are:
- NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Project Grant (Parent R21, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
The limits for your application’s budget request and project period are determined by the NOFO through which you choose to apply.
So too are the NOSI’s due dates, the earliest of which are October 5, 2024, for R01 applications and October 16, 2024, for R21 applications. The NOSI will remain open until July 16, 2027.
Direct questions about this initiative to Dr. Qian “Joy” Liu at liujoy@niaid.nih.gov or 301-761-6621 and Dr. Adriana Costero Saint-Denis at acostero@niaid.nih.gov or 301-496-2544.