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This notice announces the availability of funds from the Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) to NIH-managed or NIH-majority-funded projects that may benefit from using the cloud. The purpose of this announcement is to explore and test potential opportunities for leveraging cloud solutions to enhance existing NIH activities. Projects already using cloud may apply to explore and test cloud capabilities not yet leveraged. This initiative is aligned with the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science, which describes actions aimed at building a better data infrastructure and a modernized data ecosystem.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) solicits applications to develop web-accessible data archives to capture, store, and curate data related to BRAIN Initiative activities. The data archives will work with the research community to incorporate tools that allow users to analyze and visualize the data, but the creation of such tools is not part of this NOFO. The data archives will use appropriate standards to describe the data, but the creation of such standards is not part of this NOFO. A goal of this program is to advance research by creating a community resource data archive with appropriate standards and summary information that is broadly available and accessible to the research community for furthering research.

"Fluctuating cognition can occur in many types of dementia and is a core clinical feature of Dementia with Lewy Bodies. Cognitive fluctuations can last from seconds to days, are unpredictable (e.g., do not just occur in the evenings, as with sun-downing), and are associated with poor daily functioning for the patient. A number of small studies have suggested that cognitive fluctuations in subjects with dementia may be related to epileptiform discharges and impaired oscillatory activity on EEG, but it is not clear that these are the only factors involved in patient populations that often experience dysautonomia, orthostasis, and sleep disturbances. The etiology of cognitive fluctuations may be multi-factorial and may vary in different dementia populations. Understanding the physiology related to cognitive fluctuations is a critical next step to the development of treatment approaches and improving quality of life for these patients. This initiate would encourage research that will better characterize the physiology responsible for cognitive fluctuations in ADRD populations. Given their variable appearance and time course, it is anticipated that wearable digital devices will be important for capturing fluctuations in a timely fashion, and applicants should consider incorporating those device(s) capable of acquiring the relevant data to support the hypothesized mechanism(s). Applicants may focus on assessing multiple mechanisms in a specific ADRD population, or may chose to compare mechanisms across multiple types of ADRDs. "

The purpose of this FOA is to provide support for institutional research training programs in areas relevant to the NINDS mission. These institutional research training programs should produce well-trained neuroscientists who leave the program with the research skills and scientific knowledge to make a significant contribution to neuroscience research. Programs should be designed to enhance the breadth and depth of training in NINDS mission areas by incorporating didactic, research and career development components in the context of a defined scientific theme. Programs may support basic, clinical and/or translational research. Critical components of programs supported by this FOA include mechanisms to ensure a thorough understanding of experimental design, strong statistics and analytical skills, and skills for communicating science, both orally and in writing, to a wide variety of audiences. Regardless of theme, programs should provide opportunities and activities that will foster the development of quantitative literacy and the application of quantitative approaches to the trainees' research. NINDS institutional training programs are intended to be 1-2 years in duration and support training of one or more of the following groups: dissertation stage predoctoral students in their 3rd and/or 4th year of graduate school, postdoctoral fellows and fellowship-stage clinicians. (NINDS does not support first or second year graduate students under this PAR).

NIAID announces the availability of funds for administrative supplement awards to promote the development of pediatric chemical research models and medical countermeasures (MCM) discovery under the Chemical Countermeasures Research Program (CCRP). There is currently an unmet need in understanding the natural history, pathophysiology, and treatment of critical illness in infants, children, adolescents, and young adults after exposure to highly toxic DHS-designated Chemicals of Concern (CoCs). The administrative supplement funds are intended to support pilot preclinical projects by CCRP-supported researchers that focus on 1) Basic research to elucidate mechanistic differences in susceptibility to CoCs between pediatric and adult populations and/or 2) Applied research towards the discovery and early development of pediatric-safe MCMs.

The purpose of the NINDS Institutional Translational Research Training Program is to equip trainees with the knowledge and skills needed to advance basic research toward clinical application. These programs will support, students and/or postdocs conducting basic, disease-relevant research in an environment that includes 1) basic neuroscientists and clinicians who are actively engaged in collaborative research projects, 2) neuroscience researchers with expertise in translational processes who are conducting research designed to move basic discoveries toward clinical application and 3) relationships with industry and government regulatory agencies. Programs will have a cohesive educational approach to translational training in areas relevant to the NINDS mission, and in which students and postdocs learn the processes involved in translational research in the context of their individual projects. Programs supported by this FOA must include activities that ensure a thorough understanding of experimental design, strong statistical and analytical skills, and skills for communicating science with a wide variety of audiences. These programs are intended to be 2 years in duration and support training of one or more of the following groups: advanced predoctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and fellowship-stage clinicians. Upon completion of the program, trainees will be prepared to address basic research problems with an understanding of the requirements for translating discoveries into viable therapies.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications for a U54 Specialized Center (henceforth: Consortium) to provide resources, expertise, and coordination to advance innovative, high-quality research on palliative care for those with serious illness across the lifespan. This research infrastructure will encompass Alzheimers disease and Alzheimers disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD), cancer, and other serious illnesses and populations relevant to the partnering Institutes, Centers, and Offices (ICOs). NIH currently funds many palliative care research projects across the ICOs, and there is a need for a structure to leverage synergies, coordinate efforts, develop the scientific workforce, and address remaining gaps in the field. The goals of this initiative include generating new scientific knowledge, in part through supporting pilot and exploratory studies; fostering development of early- and mid-career palliative care investigators; serving as a national platform to provide research resources and facilitate high-quality palliative care research; engaging healthcare systems and community-based organizations as research partners and settings for palliative care research; and disseminating research findings, best practices, data, and other impactful resources to the palliative care research and clinical communities. An important focus of the Consortiums work will be on facilitating research to understand and address disparities in access, quality, and use of palliative care services for health disparities populations or in underserved areas.

This BRAIN Initiative Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to scale up efforts for viral, non-viral, transgenic, and gene regulatory element screening technologies and create reagent resources to access brain cell types. This NOFO is part of the BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium for Brain Cell Access transformative project. Reagent development efforts will apply gene transfer, gene regulation, genome engineering, activity sensor/effector, and atlasing technologies for use in both genetically tractable and less tractable systems, including primates and human tissue, which are relevant for future translational efforts. Reagent validation studies will provide feedback to improve scaled resources, informed by deeper understanding of neural gene transfer and regulation mechanisms. Precise targeting could ultimately aid in human disorders, for example, by providing access for gene editors to specific cell types to repair mutations.

This BRAIN Initiative Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support scaled reagent production and distribution facilities involving technologies to access brain cell types. Facilities for production and distribution of these reagents by a broad and diverse set of neuroscientists will be encouraged. This NOFO is part of the BRAIN Initiative Armamentarium for Brain Cell Access transformative project. Efforts will be supported to produce and distribute gene transfer, gene regulation, and genome engineering reagents for use in both genetically tractable and less tractable systems, including primates and human tissue, which are relevant for future translational efforts. Reagents to be produced and distributed are those designed and validated under other NOFOs from the Armamentarium transformative project.

This NOFO would support development and validation of novel clinically- and/or pathophysiologically-relevant human cellular models of ADRD. The cellular model systems would be expected to capture the multi-faceted pathologies and multiple cell types observed in ADRDs. Validation includes internal, face, construct, and predictive (to the extent possible) validation. These models can be developed/validated with the goal of supporting therapy development or better understanding of human disease mechanisms and mechanisms that uncover predisposition to developing neurodegenerative dementias. Human cellular models need to be novel, complex, and address a gap in the currently available models. Multidisciplinary teams will be highly encouraged. Leveraging the use of and depositing new cells into existing NIH cell repository resources will also be encouraged.