NIAID Seeks HIV Cure-Related Research in Diverse Cohorts

NIAID is among several institutes and centers (ICs) issuing a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): HIV Cure-Related Research in Diverse Populations, which highlights our interest in HIV cure-related research in diverse cohorts of people living with HIV to determine similarities and differences in the establishment and dynamics of persistent non-subtype B HIV reservoirs.

We encourage applications for basic, preclinical, or clinical research studies using existing human samples to analyze and compare HIV reservoir establishment, dynamics, persistence, and post-treatment control among different HIV subtypes and in diverse cohorts of people living with HIV. The proposed studies should place particular emphasis on the impact of viral subtype, sex, age, co-infections and comorbidities, and geography. We will prioritize studies that include samples from people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries.

NIAID-Specific Research Objectives

Under this NOSI, we do not allow clinical trials but do encourage use of existing samples from clinical trials, particularly longitudinal samples from participants on antiretroviral therapy (ART) who underwent a treatment interruption.

Below are some examples of research activities that interest NIAID:

• Comparative studies to detect, quantify, and define HIV reservoirs in different cell types and tissues in diverse cohorts of people living with HIV on ART.
• Comparative analysis of longitudinal HIV reservoir dynamics, including decay rates; distributions of persistent, actively expressing and latent reservoirs; viral integration sites within the genome; and mechanisms of clonal expansion in diverse cohorts of people living with HIV on ART.
• Studies that characterize post-treatment control in diverse cohorts of people living with non-subtype B HIV.
• Studies that analyze the effects of common comorbidities and co-infections in diverse populations of people living with HIV on reservoir establishment, dynamics, and persistence or on post-treatment control of viral rebound.
• Studies that determine the reactivation potential of latent, non-subtype B HIV in different cell types utilizing existing or novel latency reversing agents.
• Research that can define viral determinants affecting immune-mediated clearance of non-subtype B viral reservoirs.

Note that NIAID will consider applications that propose the following research areas to be nonresponsive and will not review them:

• Research that focuses solely on subtype B HIV without comparing diverse cohorts of individuals living with non-subtype B HIV.
• Studies that investigate HIV pathogenesis alone without a persistent reservoir or post-treatment control component.
• Studies involving animal models without a comparison to samples derived from humans.
• Studies that do not include analyses to distinguish replication-competent HIV from defective proviruses in reservoir studies.
• Studies that do not include analyses of human-derived samples.

Application and Submission Information

This notice applies to due dates on or after September 7, 2023, and subsequent Standard Due Dates through May 7, 2026. You must select an appropriate IC and notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) to apply to this NOSI.

Use one of the following NOFOs or their reissued equivalents for this initiative.

Additionally, you must follow all instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide and the NOFO that you use for submission, along with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include “NOT-AI-23-046” in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form.

NIAID will not consider applications that do not include this information in box 4B and withdraw them from the initiative.

Questions?

Direct any inquiries about this NOSI to NIAID’s scientific/research contact, Dr. Leia Novak, at Leia.Novak@nih.gov or 301-761-7825.