Concepts represent early planning stages for program announcements, requests for applications, notices of special interest, or solicitations for Council’s input. If NIAID publishes an initiative from one of these concepts, we link to it below. To find initiatives, go to Opportunities & Announcements.
Note: Council approval does not guarantee that a concept will become an initiative.
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Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Division of AIDS (DAIDS) Concept
Translational Approaches to Developing New TB Meningitis (TBM) Drug Regimens in People Living With and Without HIV
Request for Applications—proposed FY 2026 initiative
Contact:
Robert N. Mahon
robert.mahon@nih.gov
Objective: This new initiative will advance research to develop novel treatment strategies that address TB meningitis (TBM)-specific needs, as well as to ensure recent successes in pulmonary TB treatment are appropriately adapted to advance TBM treatment in people living with and without HIV. TBM is largely the result of a dysregulated immune response. Thus, the initiative will also support research to elucidate the role of inflammation and the effect of inflammatory damage on drug penetration of the blood-brain barrier and therapeutically target key inflammatory pathways to improve treatment outcomes. This multi-faceted work will be performed by multidisciplinary teams of researchers performing preclinical, clinical, and translational research.
Description: This initiative will support the establishment of a collaborative network of integrated, multidisciplinary research teams that will utilize a combination of laboratory and computational methods with animal and human samples to improve our ability to diagnose and treat TBM. It is expected that the network will include a combination of expertise in clinical research including pediatrics, animal models, computational modeling, diagnostics, pharmacology, and data and statistical management. Proposals are expected to include individual preclinical, clinical (though no clinical trials), and translational projects and will require the inclusion of at least one component involving the study of TBM in the context of HIV.