Over the past 3 decades, the prevalence of food allergy has increased substantially. To address the concerns about the increasing incidence of food allergy and paucity of treatment options, NIAID established the Consortium for Food Allergy Research (CoFAR) in 2005.
CoFAR is a clinical network consisting of two distinct entities: the CoFAR Leadership Center (LC) and the CoFAR Clinical Research Centers (CRCs). The CoFAR-LC provides overall strategy, leadership, and support for network-wide clinical research projects. The CoFAR-CRCs execute network-wide and Center-specific projects.
NIAID continues CoFAR with the following two new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs). We encourage you to read the FOAs for complete details.
Consortium for Food Allergy Research: Clinical Research Center (U01, Clinical Trial Required)
Through this FOA, NIAID seeks applications for the Clinical Research Centers (CRC) for CoFAR.
The CoFAR-CRCs will conduct both network-wide observational studies/clinical trials and center-specific projects with the goals to advance prevention and management strategies and to improve knowledge on the origins and the pathophysiology of IgE-mediated food allergy, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome, and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
For network-wide clinical research projects and other network functions, the CoFAR-CRCs will work closely with the CoFAR Leadership Center (CoFAR-LC). The CoFAR-CRCs will also conduct center-specific human research projects.
Note that all site applications will need to propose a single network-wide clinical project and site-specific projects, in addition to participating in network-wide trials and studies.
Award Information
NIAID intends to commit $12.1 million in fiscal year (FY) 2024 to support all CoFAR program activities, including funding for 12 awards for CoFAR-CRCs at an estimated $400,000 per award.
Your costs should be appropriate to the needs of the proposed project(s). This includes funding for: 1) personnel time to partially support CoFAR network-wide clinical projects and 2) personnel time and other costs for the proposed CRC-specific project(s). The proposed project period is 7 years.
The application due date for this FOA is June 9, 2023. All applications are due by 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
Consortium for Food Allergy Research: Leadership Center (UM1, Clinical Trial Required)
This companion FOA invites applications for the Leadership Center of the NIAID Consortium for CoFAR. The CoFAR Leadership Center (LC) defines the overall research strategy of the CoFAR network including design and oversight of cutting-edge clinical trials and clinical studies to advance prevention and management strategies and to improve knowledge on the origins and the pathophysiology of IgE-mediated food allergy, Alpha-Gal Syndrome, Food Protein-Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome, and Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
To achieve its objectives, the CoFAR-LC will work closely and collaborate with the CoFAR-CRCs to select and implement all CoFAR network-wide clinical trials and studies. The CoFAR-CRCs will be responsible for conducting the CoFAR network-wide clinical trials and studies.
Note that all applications will need to propose two network-wide projects and plans to ensure completion of two currently ongoing clinical projects (CoFAR-11 and CoFAR-12).
Award Information
NIAID intends to commit $12.1 million in FY 2024 to support all CoFAR program activities, including support for one award for the CoFAR-LC at an estimated $7.3 million.
Application budgets should reflect the actual needs of the project. These include funding for 1) the CoFAR-LC functions, 2) The CoFAR network-wide clinical projects including protocol-specific funds for CoFAR-CRCs and for the mechanistic studies incorporated in these projects, and 3) 2 years of support to complete the CoFAR-11 trial. The proposed project period must be 7 years.
The application due date is June 9, 2023. All applications are due by 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
Questions?
We may have already posted the answer you need at Questions and Answers for RFA-AI-22-076 and RFA-AI-22-077.
Otherwise, reach out to Dr. Gang Dong, NIAID’s scientific/research contact, at gdong@niaid.nih.gov or 240-627-3508. Direct questions about peer review of CoFAR-CRC applications to Dr. Poonam Tewary at poonam.tewary@nih.gov or 301-761-7219. Send questions about peer review of CoFAR-LC applications to Dr. Lindsey Pujanandez at lindsey.pujanandez@mail.nih.gov or 240-627-3206.