Funding Opportunities for Test Method Developers
NICEATM and ICCVAM seek to facilitate development of test methods that replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in testing. In addition, both organizations are committed to the protection of human health, animal health, and the environment. This page lists announcements of funding opportunities intended to support the development of alternative test methods. If you are aware of a funding opportunity that could be included on this page, please contact NICEATM.
SBIR and STTR Omnibus Grant Solicitations of the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Food and Drug Administration
NIEHS is offering funding for small businesses developing technologies of interest to the Tox21 program. These technologies include:
- Informatics tools and platforms to organize, store, retrieve, extract, and integrate information on exposures and health effects data.
- Application of machine learning methods and natural language processing for extracting and integrating diverse data types and for generating causal networks from experimental data and public knowledgebases.
- Adapting or developing new methods and tools for automating environmental health-related literature and systematic reviews, including article selection and prioritization, data extraction, study quality evaluation, and summarization of for environmental health impacts.
- Mid- to high-throughput and high-content assays using in vitro or tissue chip technologies to screen and rank toxicity of emerging engineered nanomaterials for cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and metabolic toxicity.
- Human and rodent organotypic culture models and microphysiological systems.
- Approaches to characterize and integrate key molecular and cellular changes related to effects of toxicant exposures in carcinogenicity, developmental neurotoxicity, or cardiotoxicity.
- Screening systems that incorporate genetic diversity into toxicology testing.
- Short-term tests, assays, or systems designed specifically to reduce or replace existing regulatory animal studies for acute toxicity (oral or inhalation), reproductive or developmental toxicity, carcinogenicity, or ocular toxicity
The funding is being offered as part of the 2023 Omnibus Solicitation of the NIH, CDC, and Food and Drug Administration. This funding is available for small business grant applications to support development and commercialization of innovative technologies. View more information on the NIEHS website.
SBIR/STTR Omnibus Solicitations and Accompanying Resources
- Solicitation notices on NIH website (posted July 12, 2023)
- Program Descriptions and Research Topics
- Application Guide for SBIR/STTR Grant Applications
Next due date: January 5, 2024
For more information about this opportunity, contact:
NIH Funding Resources
The NIEHS SBIR/STTR Program Staff encourages applicants to submit grants at least one week before the deadline and to take advantage of the following resources:
- NIH "All About Grants" Podcast on the Office of Extramural Research website.
- NIH RePORTER Matchmaker – useful for an initial screen for matching your technology to an institute and a relevant study section for review. It is also a great place to better understand what types of technologies NIH institutes fund.
- NIH Grants Policy Statement – rules for applying for and accepting a grant.
- Frequently Asked Questions about SBIR and STTR grants on the NIH website.
- Frequently asked questions about SBIR/STTR grants in general.
- Annotated SBIR/STTR SF424 application forms.
- Webinar series for funding opportunities for environmental technologies.
- NIH study section identifier – allows you to search your topic of interest.
- Application cover letters are optional but provide you an opportunity to designate an institute or study section.
- Rules for calculating number of employees.
- Registration and application instructions (this process can take six to eight weeks and should be initiated well before the deadline).
Complement-ARIE Challenge to Promote Development of NAMs; Submit Proposals by January 11
The NIH Common Fund is accepting proposals for projects to catalyze the development, standardization, validation, and use of new approach methodologies (NAMs) that will more accurately model human outcomes. The Complement-Animal Research In Experimentation (Complement-ARIE) challenge is soliciting entries for new methods and approaches that will complement, make more efficient, or in some cases replace traditional animal models, transforming the way biomedical researchers conduct basic, translational, and clinical sciences.
The NIH Common Fund has committed $1,000,000 to this challenge, which will be divided among up to 20 winners. To be eligible to win prizes, participants must be led by a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or be an entity incorporated in and maintaining a primary place of business in the United States. Applicants should submit a 15-page white paper demonstrating how their project will:
- Innovate in vitro modeling.
- Power in silico models and simulations.
- Explore in chemico systems.
- Integrate NAMs.
Applications are due January 11, 2024.
NIAID to Fund Bioinformatics Resource Centers
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) will provide up to $9 million in FY 2024 to establish Bioinformatics Resource Centers for Infectious Diseases. Components of the envisioned centers will include:
- Interactive knowledgebase(s) for relevant omics-based data and analysis.
- Research and development of innovative bioinformatics tools, software, and algorithms.
- Access to leading-edge expertise in bioinformatics services for the infectious diseases community for complex or unique situations.
- Cutting-edge informatics support during a public health emergency, outbreak, or pandemic.
NIAID anticipates making one or two awards, with awardees being funded for up to five years. For-profit and nonprofit organizations and government entities both within and outside the U.S. are anticipated to be eligible for this funding. Availability of this funding is being announced in advance to allow potential applicants time to develop meaningful collaborations, interdisciplinary teams, and responsive applications. More information about the funding opportunity, including anticipated opening and due dates, is available on the NIH Grants website.
Grants Offered to Support Development of Animal-free Antibody Applications
PETA Science Consortium International e.V., the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation are offering grants for free recombinant antibodies for use in research and testing. Awardees will receive commercially available recombinant antibodies to test in applications that currently use animal-derived antibodies. Applicants should submit a curriculum vitae and a proposal describing in detail the how the antibody will be used. Awardees will be expected to provide updates to grant sponsors on the progress of their work and publish their results. The offering has a rolling deadline, and grant amounts will vary based on details of the projects.
Grants Will Support Development of Tissue Models for Cancer Research
The National Cancer Institute is offering grants to support the development and characterization of state-of-the-art biomimetic tissue-engineered technologies for cancer research. Projects supported by this funding will become part of the Cancer Tissue Engineering Collaborative (TEC) Research Program. The goals of the Cancer TEC Program are to (1) catalyze the advancement of innovative, well-characterized in vitro and ex vivo systems available for cancer research, (2) expand the breadth of these systems to several cancer types, and (3) promote the exploration of cancer phenomena with biomimetic tissue-engineered systems.
Applications for funding were accepted beginning in May 2022, with applications due quarterly through February 2025. Grants of up to $400,000 will be awarded to fund projects that can continue up to five years. Eligibility for these grants is open to for-profit and nonprofit institutions within and outside the United States.