Through the notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) Center of Excellence for Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity Across Biological Scales (U54, Clinical Trial Not Allowed), NIAID will establish a Center of Excellence (CoE) to coordinate the research community of infectious and immune-mediated disease (IID) computational modelers and advance IID modeling research across biological scales.
The Center must include three required coordinating cores and lead two required research projects to develop and advance bridge models across scales in the context of IID.
Cooperative Agreement
This NOFO uses the Specialized Center–Cooperative Agreement (U54) activity code and will include programmatic involvement from NIAID program or scientific staff. The Center will provide strategic direction to the modeling research community, advance technologies for multi-scale model development, and synergize with other NIAID efforts, including the NIAID Data Ecosystem Discovery Portal.
The Center will organize an annual meeting for the IID modeling community to share experiences, technologies, approaches, and methods. This annual meeting will foster multidisciplinary collaborations and provide opportunities to engage with NIAID program and staff.
Overarching Priorities
The Center will perform activities to coordinate the modeling community through coordinating cores and conduct research projects to advance modeling across and between scales of IID. The Center will also be prepared to rapidly pivot research and coordinate activities in response to community needs during infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, or pandemics.
More specifically, we expect the Center to:
- Develop and conduct innovative computational multi-scale modeling research for NIAID priority IID biomedical questions, incorporating HIV/AIDS.
- Connect the experimental and computational modeling communities to accelerate/advance multi-scale model development by leveraging complementary and cross-disciplinary expertise.
- Coordinate and disseminate CoE research project outcomes leveraging the coordinating cores.
- Foster a diverse community of new and existing investigators dedicated to IID multi-scale modeling.
- Establish educational opportunities in IID multi-scale modeling for students, post-doctoral fellows, and new and early-stage investigators.
- Enable new approaches for multi-scale model sharing and reproducibility aligned with FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles and the NIAID Data Ecosystem Discovery Portal.
- Improve approaches and technologies for multi-scale model sharing and reuse across pathogens.
Coordinating Cores
Applicants must propose the following cores:
Administrative Core—responsible for managing, coordinating, and overseeing the entire range of Center activities, monitoring progress, and ensuring that project milestones are being met and implemented effectively within the proposed timelines.
Model and Data Sharing Core—develop novel technologies and informatic approaches to improve computational model and research software reproducibility and sharing; facilitate and ensure access to models, software, and data for the community; and advance and improve FAIR data principles.
Community Development and Education Core—provide and develop innovative approaches, such as online virtual platforms, for educational and mentoring activities, and communication with the community. These activities should emphasize opportunities for students, postdoctoral fellows, and early-stage investigators and provide opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration and development.
Optional Core—coordinate shared technologies such as high-performance computing or cloud compute services, software development services, interaction with public health resources, or model development. If an optional core is included in your application, you must justify its need and relevance to the overall objectives and activities of the Center.
The NOFO itself provides longer descriptions of the specific activities each core could conduct under the scope of this initiative.
Research Projects
Each application must include two research projects that will develop “bridge models” for infectious diseases, immunity, and/or immune-mediated diseases. At least one of the projects must incorporate HIV/AIDS. In this context, a bridge model is a model that connects across biological scales, such as molecular to organism-scale processes and organism to population-level processes.
Examples include:
- Multi-scale modeling of disease induction, progression, or remission of infectious and immune-mediated diseases within NIAID’s mission.
- Multi-scale models to inform outcomes of local, systemic, and drug-resistant bacterial infections.
- Multi-scale models that define and predict response to vaccines, therapeutics, or immunomodulatory therapies for immune-mediated diseases.
- Multi-scale models of viral rebound in persons living with HIV with cessation of conventional antiretroviral therapy.
You may optionally propose a third research project within your application.
Again, refer to the NOFO linked above for a longer list of example research areas.
Other Components
NIAID will deem your application nonresponsive and not review it if your application:
- Does not address at least one pathogen in addition to HIV/AIDS.
- Does not address allergic and immune-mediated diseases.
- Does not include a plan to pivot during infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, or pandemics.
- Proposes a dedicated data generation core as an optional core.
This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP). In your PEDP, show how enhancing diverse perspectives is supported throughout the application and how this strengthens the scientific and technical merit of the project. The PEDP will vary depending on the scientific aims, expertise required, the environment and performance sites, as well as how the project aims are structured.
Once awarded, the Center will work with NIAID to form an External Advisory Committee, which will review progress of the overall program and share recommendations for maximizing productivity and collaboration.
Administrative Details
Your application budget should not exceed $3.125 million in annual direct costs, to include $0.3 million in annual direct costs budgeted for an Opportunity Fund. Moreover, the budget request should match the actual needs of your proposed project.
The maximum project period is 5 years.
This NOFO has a single application due date, on July 30, 2024, at 5 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
Find additional guidance in our Questions and Answers for Center of Excellence for Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity Across Biological Scales.
Direct inquiries about this opportunity to NIAID’s Office of Data Science and Emerging Technologies at datascience-foa@niaid.nih.gov or 301-761-6549. For matters specific to peer review, instead reach out to Dr. Vanitha Raman at vanitha.raman@nih.gov or 240-457-2783.