Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 17 025
The Transformative Technology Development for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) funding opportunity, listed as RFA-RM-17-025, is a National Institutes of Health cooperative agreement aimed at pushing forward new, high-impact technologies for mapping human tissues at very high resolution. The central goal is to develop tools that can identify and measure many different kinds of biomolecules in human tissue samples at once, with much higher throughput and better ability to distinguish among closely related molecular signals. In practical terms, the FOA is looking for next-generation methods that make it possible to build comprehensive maps of individual cells and their surrounding tissue context, supporting the broader Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) mission to create a detailed framework for understanding how the human body is organized at the cellular and molecular level.
A key theme of the announcement is “transformative technology,” meaning the NIH is not primarily seeking incremental improvements to standard assays. Instead, it emphasizes emerging tools, techniques, and integrated systems that can substantially expand multiplexing (measuring many targets simultaneously), increase throughput (processing more samples or more tissue area faster), and improve discrimination (more precisely differentiating biomolecules, cell types, or molecular states). The expectation is that these technologies will be robust enough to be integrated into broader pipelines and eventually applied across multiple human tissue types, rather than being narrowly optimized for a single specialized use case.
The award uses a phased, milestone-driven structure over roughly four years, with an initial two-year UG3 phase followed by a two-year UH3 phase. The UG3 phase supports accelerated proof-of-principle development, emphasizing rapid iteration, engineering, and early demonstrations that the approach is feasible and capable of delivering the promised leap in performance. This first phase is essentially meant to de-risk the concept and show that the technology can work in a credible and scalable way. Projects that meet defined milestones can transition to the UH3 phase, which focuses on validation in real human tissues, further optimization, scaling up, and producing early “production-level” datasets that show the technology is ready to contribute meaningful data to atlas-building efforts. The UH3 stage is where performance, reproducibility, and practical usability in diverse tissue contexts become central, moving beyond prototypes into methods that can operate reliably and generate high-quality outputs.
Because the funding instrument is a cooperative agreement, awardees should expect active NIH involvement and programmatic coordination rather than a hands-off grant structure. Projects are expected to work closely with the broader HuBMAP consortium, aligning with shared goals, interoperability needs, and community standards that help the program build a cohesive atlas rather than isolated datasets. This collaborative expectation typically implies attention to issues like integration with other platforms, harmonization of data formats and metadata, and contributions that can be adopted or extended by other groups working on complementary tissue mapping approaches.
In terms of eligibility, the FOA is broadly open. Eligible applicants include a wide range of U.S. entities such as state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) groups); federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities; for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits); and additional applicants as permitted by the opportunity’s eligibility language. The NIH lists the activity category as health and the CFDA number as 93.310. The announcement was created on December 18, 2017, with an original closing date of March 2, 2018. It projected about five awards, with an award ceiling of $250,000, indicating a relatively selective competition intended to seed a handful of particularly promising and disruptive technology efforts.
Finally, the “Clinical Trials Not Allowed” designation means applications should not propose clinical trials as defined by NIH policy. While the work involves human tissues, the focus is on technology development and validation for tissue mapping and molecular profiling rather than testing clinical interventions or prospectively assigning human participants to interventions. The intended outcome is a set of scalable, validated technologies that materially accelerate the ability to map cells and biomolecules in situ across many tissue types, enabling the high-resolution reference maps that HuBMAP is designed to produce.Apply for RFA RM 17 025
- The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Transformative Technology Development for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
- This funding opportunity was created on Dec 18, 2017.
- Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 02, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $250,000.00 in funding.
- The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
- 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 (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).
[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is this funding opportunity?
This opportunity is the NIH Transformative Technology Development for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trials Not Allowed), funding opportunity number RFA-RM-17-025. It uses a cooperative agreement mechanism to support the development of next-generation technologies for high-resolution mapping of human tissues.
What is the main goal of RFA-RM-17-025?
The central goal is to create high-impact tools that can identify and measure many different kinds of biomolecules in human tissue samples at the same time, with much higher throughput and improved ability to distinguish between closely related molecular signals. These advances are meant to enable comprehensive maps of individual cells and their surrounding tissue context, supporting the broader HuBMAP mission.
What does HuBMAP aim to produce, and how does this FOA support that mission?
HuBMAP aims to create a detailed framework for understanding how the human body is organized at the cellular and molecular level. This FOA supports that mission by funding technologies that can generate the kinds of multiplexed, high-resolution, and scalable tissue maps needed to build atlas-quality reference datasets across multiple tissue types.
What kinds of technologies is NIH looking for under this FOA?
NIH is looking for transformative, emerging tools, techniques, and integrated systems that substantially expand multiplexing (measuring many targets simultaneously), increase throughput (processing more samples or tissue area faster), and improve discrimination (more precisely differentiating biomolecules, cell types, or molecular states). The emphasis is on technologies that represent a leap forward rather than modest refinements to existing assays.
What does "transformative technology" mean in this announcement?
In this FOA, "transformative" means the technology should go beyond incremental improvements to standard methods. The intent is to support disruptive or step-change capabilities, such as dramatically higher multiplexing, meaningfully faster processing, or significantly better differentiation of closely related molecular signals, in ways that can change what is feasible for tissue mapping at scale.
What does "multiplexing" mean in the context of this opportunity?
Multiplexing refers to the ability to measure many biomolecular targets at once within the same tissue sample. The FOA is specifically interested in next-generation methods that increase the number and variety of biomolecules that can be simultaneously identified and measured in situ.
What does "throughput" mean in the context of this opportunity?
Throughput refers to how quickly and efficiently a technology can process samples or cover tissue area. The FOA encourages approaches that can generate more data faster, helping scale tissue mapping efforts to support atlas-building work.
What does "improved discrimination" mean here?
Improved discrimination means a stronger ability to differentiate among closely related molecular signals, biomolecules, cell types, or molecular states. The FOA highlights this as a key performance area because tissue mapping often requires distinguishing subtle biological differences within complex tissue environments.
Does the FOA prefer technologies that work across multiple tissue types?
Yes. The expectation is that supported technologies will be robust enough to integrate into broader pipelines and eventually be applicable across multiple human tissue types. NIH is not primarily seeking approaches that are narrowly optimized for a single specialized use case.
What is the award structure (UG3/UH3) and how long does it last?
The award is structured as a phased, milestone-driven program over roughly four years: an initial two-year UG3 phase followed by a two-year UH3 phase. Progression from UG3 to UH3 is based on meeting defined milestones.
What is the purpose of the UG3 phase?
The UG3 phase supports accelerated proof-of-principle development. It emphasizes rapid iteration, engineering, and early demonstrations that the approach is feasible and can credibly deliver the promised leap in performance. This phase is intended to de-risk the concept and show it can work in a scalable way.
What is the purpose of the UH3 phase?
The UH3 phase focuses on validation in real human tissues, further optimization, scaling up, and producing early "production-level" datasets. This stage emphasizes performance, reproducibility, and practical usability across diverse tissue contexts, moving beyond prototypes into reliable methods that generate high-quality outputs.
Is the transition from UG3 to UH3 automatic?
No. The mechanism is milestone-driven. Projects that meet the defined milestones during UG3 can transition to the UH3 phase. The FOA describes UG3 as a de-risking period, with UH3 reserved for approaches that have demonstrated feasibility and readiness for validation and scaling.
What does it mean that this is a cooperative agreement?
A cooperative agreement means NIH will have active involvement and programmatic coordination rather than operating as a hands-off funder. Awardees should expect to work closely with NIH and align with program priorities and coordination needs.
How does the cooperative agreement relate to working with the HuBMAP consortium?
Projects are expected to coordinate with the broader HuBMAP consortium. This includes aligning with shared goals and interoperability needs, and supporting community standards that help HuBMAP build a cohesive atlas rather than isolated datasets.
What kinds of coordination or alignment does the FOA suggest for consortium work?
The FOA highlights interoperability and harmonization needs, which typically imply attention to integration with other platforms, harmonized data formats and metadata, and contributions that can be adopted or extended by other groups working on complementary tissue mapping approaches.
Are clinical trials allowed under this funding opportunity?
No. The FOA is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trials Not Allowed." Applications should not propose clinical trials as defined by NIH policy.
If clinical trials are not allowed, can the work still involve human tissues?
Yes. The FOA anticipates work involving human tissues, but the focus is on technology development and validation for tissue mapping and molecular profiling, not on testing clinical interventions or prospectively assigning human participants to interventions.
Who is eligible to apply?
Eligibility is broad and includes U.S. entities such as state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations (including 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)); federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities; for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits); and other applicants as permitted by the opportunity's eligibility language.
Is this opportunity limited to academic institutions?
No. In addition to higher education institutions, the FOA includes eligibility for nonprofits, government entities, tribal entities, public housing authorities, and for-profit organizations, including small businesses.
What agency is offering the funding?
The funding opportunity is offered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
What is the activity category and CFDA number listed?
The activity category is listed as health, and the CFDA number is 93.310.
When was the announcement created, and what was the original closing date?
The announcement was created on December 18, 2017, and the original closing date was March 2, 2018.
How many awards were expected, and what does that imply?
The FOA projected about five awards, suggesting a selective competition designed to support a small number of particularly promising, disruptive technology efforts.
What is the award ceiling mentioned in the opportunity summary?
The summary notes an award ceiling of $250,000.
What kinds of outputs are expected by the end of the project?
The intended outcome is a set of scalable, validated technologies that materially accelerate the ability to map cells and biomolecules in situ across many tissue types. The UH3 phase also emphasizes producing early production-level datasets that demonstrate readiness to contribute meaningful data to atlas-building efforts.
Is the FOA focused more on prototypes or on production-ready methods?
Both, but at different phases. UG3 is oriented toward proof-of-principle and de-risking through rapid iteration and early feasibility demonstrations. UH3 is oriented toward validation in real human tissues, scaling, reproducibility, and generating production-level datasets that show practical usability.
Browse more opportunities from the same category: Health
Next opportunity: 2018 DRC, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
Previous opportunity: Field Initiated Projects Program: Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) - Development
Applicant Portal:
Are you interested in learning about about how to apply for this government funding opportunity? You can create a free applicant account and receive instant access to our applicant portal that many business owners like you have benefited from.
Apply for RFA RM 17 025
Applicants also applied for:
Applicants who have applied for this opportunity (RFA RM 17 025) also looked into and applied for these:
| Funding Opportunity |
|---|
| Tissue Mapping Centers for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (U54 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) Apply for RFA RM 17 027 Funding Number: RFA RM 17 027 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health Category: Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Microphysiological Systems Data Center U24 (Clinical Trial Not Allowed) Apply for RFA TR 18 005 Funding Number: RFA TR 18 005 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health Category: Health Funding Amount: $700,000 |
| Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and Sudden Death in the Young (SDY) Case Registry Apply for CDC RFA DP18 1806 Funding Number: CDC RFA DP18 1806 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - NCCDPHP Category: Health Funding Amount: $475,000 |
| Evaluation of Policies for the Primary Prevention of Multiple Forms of Violence Apply for RFA CE 18 002 Funding Number: RFA CE 18 002 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA Category: Health Funding Amount: $350,000 |
| Research Grants for Preventing Violence and Violence Related Injury (R01) Apply for RFA CE 18 001 Funding Number: RFA CE 18 001 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA Category: Health Funding Amount: $350,000 |
| Research to Evaluate Medication Management of Opioids and Benzodiazepines to Reduce Older Adult Falls Apply for RFA CE 18 004 Funding Number: RFA CE 18 004 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA Category: Health Funding Amount: $750,000 |
| Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research Centers: Special Interest Project Competitive Supplements (SIPS) Apply for RFA DP 18 002 Funding Number: RFA DP 18 002 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA Category: Health Funding Amount: $450,000 |
| Nurse Anesthetist Traineeship (NAT) Program Apply for HRSA 18 006 Funding Number: HRSA 18 006 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration Category: Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Birth Defects Study To Evaluate Pregnancy exposureS (BD-STEPS) II Apply for RFA DD 18 001 Funding Number: RFA DD 18 001 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - ERA Category: Health Funding Amount: $1,100,000 |
| Rural Health Network Development Planning Program Apply for HRSA 18 034 Funding Number: HRSA 18 034 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration Category: Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Training Program Apply for HRSA 18 075 Funding Number: HRSA 18 075 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration Category: Health Funding Amount: $187,115 |
| Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program Evaluation Cooperative Agreement Apply for HRSA 18 037 Funding Number: HRSA 18 037 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration Category: Health Funding Amount: $1,500,000 |
| Announcement of the Anticipated Availability of Funds for Research on Research Integrity Apply for IR ORI 18 001 Funding Number: IR ORI 18 001 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Category: Health Funding Amount: $150,000 |
| Collegiate Behavioral Health Prevention, Identification, and Intervention Grant Program Apply for SM 18 003 Funding Number: SM 18 003 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis Category: Health Funding Amount: $102,000 |
| Limited Competition: Revision Applications for International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research (U19 Clinical Trial Optional) Apply for RFA AI 17 044 Funding Number: RFA AI 17 044 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health Category: Health Funding Amount: $200,000 |
| Reinforcing Africa's Public Health System to prevent, detect and respond to public health threats. Apply for CDC RFA GH18 1849 Funding Number: CDC RFA GH18 1849 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - CGH Category: Health Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| SBIRT-State Apply for TI 18 007 Funding Number: TI 18 007 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis Category: Health Funding Amount: $995,000 |
| SAMHSA Treatment Drug Courts Apply for TI 18 008 Funding Number: TI 18 008 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis Category: Health Funding Amount: $400,000 |
| FY18 The National Lupus Training, Outreach, and Clinical Trial Education Program (Lupus Program) Apply for MP CPI 18 001 Funding Number: MP CPI 18 001 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health Category: Health Funding Amount: $375,000 |
| Minority AIDS: Integration of HIV-related Mental Health and Primary Care Apply for SM 18 004 Funding Number: SM 18 004 Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis Category: Health Funding Amount: $485,000 |
Grant application guides and resources
It is always free to apply for government grants. However the process may be very complex depending on the funding opportunity you are applying for. Let us help you!
Apply for Grants
Inside Our Applicants Portal
Access Applicants Portal
- Grants Repository - Access current and historic funding opportunities with ease. Thousands of funding opportunities are published every week. We can help you sort through the database and find the eligible ones to apply for.
- Applicant Video Guides - The grant application process can be challenging to follow. We can help you with intuitive video guides to speed up the process and eliminate errors in submissions.
- Grant Proposal Wizard - We have developed a network of private funding organizations and investors across the United States. We can reach out and submit your proposal to these contacts to maximize your chances of getting the funding you need.
Premium leads for funding administrators, grant writers, and loan issuers
Thousands of people visit our website for their funding needs every day. When a user creates a grant proposal and files for submission, we pass the information on to funding administrators, grant writers, and government loan issuers.
If you manage government grant programs, provide grant writing services, or issue personal or government loans, we can help you reach your audience.
Learn More
Request more information:
Would you like to learn more about this funding opportunity, similar opportunities to "RFA RM 17 025", eligibility, application service, and/or application tips? Submit an inquiry below:
Don't forget to subscribe to our grant alerts mailing list to receive weekly alerts on new and updated grant funding opportunities like this one in your email.