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).
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