Center of Excellence for Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity across Biological Scales (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AI 23 077

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AI 23 077

The NIH funding opportunity RFA-AI-23-077 seeks to create a single Center of Excellence (CoE) focused on systems modeling of infection and immunity across biological scales, using a U54 cooperative agreement mechanism. The core goal is to bring together and coordinate the broader community of computational modelers working on infectious and immune-mediated diseases (IID) and to push the field forward in multi-scale modeling, including work relevant to HIV/AIDS. The award is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," meaning the proposed activities should be modeling, methods development, data integration, and related collaborative infrastructure rather than clinical intervention studies.

A defining feature of this CoE is its required structure: it must include three coordinating cores plus two research projects. The coordinating cores are meant to serve as the backbone of the center by organizing and supporting collaboration, standardizing or enabling interoperability, and generally keeping the community-facing parts of the program running. The two research projects are expected to do more than produce standalone models; they are intended to advance and integrate "bridge models" that connect processes across different biological scales. In practical terms, that implies linking models that may span, for example, molecular and cellular mechanisms, tissue-level processes, within-host dynamics, and potentially population-level transmission or epidemiologic patterns, in ways that allow knowledge and parameters to move between scales rather than staying siloed.

The CoE is positioned as a community resource rather than just a single-lab research effort. Its mission includes accelerating the development of multi-scale models, improving sharing and reuse of models and related resources, and enabling collaboration that benefits IID researchers broadly. The emphasis on coordination and reuse suggests the center is expected to help create common approaches, shared repositories or platforms, and workflows that make it easier for different groups to build on each other's modeling work. Because the award is a cooperative agreement, NIH will have substantial involvement compared to a standard research grant, typically meaning there will be active programmatic coordination, milestone-driven progress expectations, and structured interaction between awardees and NIH staff.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and includes many institution types: state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled and private higher education institutions; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other organizations. The announcement also highlights inclusion of specific institution categories such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, AANAPISISs, tribally controlled colleges and universities, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations, reinforcing that NIH is open to a wide range of applicants who can assemble the required center components and community role. At the same time, non-U.S. (foreign) organizations are not eligible to apply as applicant organizations, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. However, foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed, which typically means international collaborations can be included in certain structured ways even though the lead applicant must be U.S.-based.

Administratively, this is a discretionary health funding opportunity under CFDA 93.855, issued by the National Institutes of Health. The original application closing date listed is July 30, 2024, and the NOFO was created on March 12, 2024. The opportunity anticipates making one award to establish the single coordinating Center of Excellence described in the announcement, and the program is designed to serve as a hub for the IID computational modeling community while producing integrative, cross-scale modeling advances through its two required research projects.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Center of Excellence for Systems Modeling of Infection and Immunity across Biological Scales (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.855.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-03-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

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