The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), in partnership with other NIH institutes and centers (ICs), is leading an NIH-wide Climate Change and Health Initiative (CCHI). The initiative’s goals are to reduce the health threats posed by climate change across the lifespan; improve the health of people who are disproportionately affected by climate change impacts; and build health resilience among individuals, communities, and nations around the world.
As a part of CCHI, the Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Innovative Technologies for Research on Climate Change and Human Health encourages grant applications from Small Business Concerns to develop commercializable tools, resources, and approaches to capture the effects of climate change and the associated impacts of extreme weather events on human health, and to support adaptation or mitigation strategies to minimize health hazards and impacts from climate change.
NIAID’s mission is to conduct and support basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Our small business programs help bridge the gap between basic science and commercialization of new therapies, vaccines, diagnostic tests, and other technologies. Additional information can be found at NIAID Small Business Programs.
As a participating IC in the NOSI, NIAID is most interested in the following example research topics:
- Novel tools and technologies to assess and quantitate, especially at the level of individual risk, the presence of aeroallergens likely to be affected by climate change.
- Novel tools and technologies to assess the impact of environmental and ecologic factors affected by climate change on the breeding, size, distribution, range or spread of populations of insect vectors of human disease or intermediate hosts of pathogens responsible for human disease.
- Novel or improved diagnostic tools and technologies suitable for population surveillance and monitoring for allergic and infectious diseases likely to change in incidence or prevalence due to climate change, and capable of yielding timely results for actionable risk mitigation.
- Tools and technologies to assess water safety at sites (environmental, recreational, or drinking waters) to prevent or reduce transmission of water-borne pathogens, such as Campylobacter jejuni, Cryptosporidium, Cyclospora, Entamoeba histolytica, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Giardia, Isospora, microsporidia, Naegleria, diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp., when extreme weather events (floods, heatwaves, and droughts) increase risk of human disease caused by these pathogens.
- Tools and technologies to assess enteric pathogen burden in wastewaters to develop strategies for management of infectious disease outbreaks.
- Diagnostics (simple, rapid, and point-of-care) capable of detecting multiple enteric pathogens (e.g., Campylobacter jejuni, Cryptosporidium, enteropathogenic Escherichia coli, Giardia; diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp.) and associated antimicrobial resistance profiles directly from patient specimens (e.g., stool samples).
- Vaccines for primary prevention of diseases caused by food- and water-borne enteric bacterial and parasitic pathogens (e.g., Campylobacter species, Cryptosporidium, diarrheagenic Escherichia coli, Giardia, diarrhea-associated adenoviruses, rotavirus, caliciviruses, Salmonella, Shigella spp., and Vibrio spp.).
Note that NIAID will not accept clinical trial applications as part of this initiative.
How to Apply
NIAID will accept applications for this NOSI through the following parent small business notices of funding opportunities (NOFOs):
- PHS 2023-2 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC and FDA for Small Business Innovation Research Grant Applications (Parent SBIR [R43/R44], Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- PHS 2023-2: Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH for Small Business Technology Transfer Grant Applications (Parent STTR [R41/R42], Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
To apply for this NOSI, submit through one of those NOFOs or a subsequent version (both are reissued for each new fiscal year). Follow all instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide and the NOFO you use for submission. Constraints for your application’s budget request and project period are determined by the NOFO through which you apply.
When you apply, you must include NOT-ES-24-002 in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form to be considered for this NOSI initiative.
This NOSI opens for due dates on or after April 5, 2024, and subsequent receipt dates through April 5, 2025.
If you have any questions, direct them to NIAID’s scientific/research contact Dr. Adriana Costero-Saint Denis at acostero@niaid.nih.gov or 301-496-2544.