Genomic Community Resources (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 23 085

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 23 085

The Genomic Community Resources (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) opportunity (PAR-23-085) is a National Institutes of Health funding announcement from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) designed to strengthen the shared infrastructure that underpins modern genomics. The core idea is to fund community-facing resources that make genomic research easier, cheaper, more standardized, and more broadly usable by many investigators rather than serving only a single lab or narrow project. The mechanism is a U24 cooperative agreement, which typically means NIH staff will have substantial involvement in shaping priorities, milestones, and coordination, reflecting the expectation that these resources operate as national or international community assets rather than as purely investigator-directed research projects.

The resources targeted by this program are practical, reusable products that accelerate discovery across basic biology, human disease research, model organism work, and other biomedical applications. NHGRI is explicitly interested in development and distribution of genomic resources that rely on cost-effective approaches and that deliver high value to a broad research community. Examples called out include databases and informatics resources such as human and model organism databases, ontologies that standardize how genomic concepts are defined and linked, and analysis toolsets that help researchers interpret or integrate genomic data. The program also supports comprehensive identification and curated collections of genomic features, such as functional genomic elements, as well as standardized data types generated from central, well-characterized sample sets. Illustrative examples of the latter include community reference resources similar in spirit to structural variant catalogs built from 1000 Genomes samples or tissue-based reference data comparable to GTEx, where standardized sampling and processing enable wide downstream reuse and benchmarking.

Because this is labeled “Clinical Trial Not Allowed,” it is meant for resource development rather than interventional clinical studies. In practice, applicants should be oriented toward building, scaling, maintaining, and distributing tools, datasets, standards, and platforms that other researchers will rely on, with an emphasis on accessibility, usability, and broad impact. Successful projects in this space typically include clear plans for data dissemination, user support and documentation, interoperability with existing community standards, and ongoing updates or maintenance so the resource remains current and trustworthy. The cooperative agreement structure also implies an expectation of coordination with NHGRI and, often, with other related efforts in the field to reduce duplication and improve harmonization.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations. Eligible applicants listed include state, county, city/township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American 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. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, Indian/Native American tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). This wide eligibility reflects NHGRI’s focus on community benefit and the reality that high-impact genomic resources can be built and hosted by many kinds of institutions.

From the provided source data, the opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and falls under education, environment, and health activity categories, with CFDA numbers 93.113, 93.172, and 93.399. The original closing date listed is January 25, 2023, and the posting creation date is December 22, 2022. Award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided excerpt, which is common for resource-focused FOAs where budgets can vary widely depending on scope, scale, and deliverables.

Overall, this FOA is aimed at building the shared genomic “public goods” that many researchers depend on: curated databases, standards and ontologies, analysis and integration tools, reference-quality catalogs of genomic features, and widely reusable datasets generated in a consistent way. The emphasis is on cost-effective production, broad distribution, and sustained value to the larger genomics community, with NIH involvement typical of cooperative agreements to help ensure the resulting resources align with community needs and remain widely usable.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, environment, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Genomic Community Resources (U24 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): 93.113, 93.172, 93.399.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-12-22.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-25. (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.

Apply for PAR 23 085

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