Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Program: Tissue Procurement Center (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 22 012

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 22 012

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released this funding opportunity to stand up a Tissue Procurement Center that will serve as a core, network-wide resource for the Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Program. SMaHT is focused on understanding how somatic genomic variation, meaning DNA changes that arise after conception and are present in only some cells, contributes to basic human biology and to disease mechanisms. The Tissue Procurement Center is meant to be the practical engine that makes this research possible at scale by reliably sourcing and delivering high-quality human tissue specimens that can be used across the SMaHT Network for consistent, comparable analyses.

This opportunity uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24), which typically means the awardee will not just receive funds and operate independently, but will work closely with NIH program staff and other SMaHT Network components to meet shared milestones, standards, and timelines. The FOA is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," signaling that the funded work should not be structured as a clinical trial and should instead focus on procurement, processing, storage, characterization, and distribution activities that enable research rather than testing clinical interventions.

The core deliverable is ambitious and specific: the Tissue Procurement Center is expected to collect, process, store, and rapidly distribute at least 15 distinct types of high-quality, well-characterized human tissues. These tissues must be recovered from a minimum of 150 individual donors, and the recruitment should draw from a diverse pool of donors. In practice, this implies the Center will need strong operational capacity in donor recruitment and consent (as applicable), coordination with clinical or recovery partners, standardized tissue handling and preservation workflows, robust quality systems, and a logistics pipeline that supports timely shipment and tracking. "Well-characterized" also implies accompanying documentation and metadata that make specimens maximally useful to downstream researchers, such as provenance, handling conditions, and other relevant specimen annotations, all managed under appropriate ethical and regulatory safeguards.

From an eligibility standpoint, the FOA is broad and is not limited to universities. Eligible applicants include many types of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities: state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other organizations that meet NIH requirements. The announcement also calls out additional eligible groups, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), 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, Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it clearly restricts foreign participation: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible, and foreign components (as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as discretionary funding and uses the cooperative agreement funding instrument type. The activity category is health, and it is associated with CFDA number 93.310. The opportunity number is RFA-RM-22-012, and NIH is the sponsoring agency. The source information provided indicates an original application closing date of July 8, 2022, and a creation date of February 23, 2022. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided excerpt, which usually means applicants would need to consult the full FOA text or NIH notices for budget expectations, project period, and the anticipated number of funded centers.

Overall, this grant is best understood as infrastructure funding for a centralized, high-throughput tissue procurement and distribution operation that enables the SMaHT research ecosystem. The scientific payoff NIH is aiming for is a large, diverse, rigorously handled tissue resource that allows the network to detect and interpret somatic mosaicism across multiple tissues and many individuals, which in turn can reveal new disease pathways and biological principles that are difficult to observe with smaller, less standardized collections.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Program: Tissue Procurement Center (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): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-02-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-07-08. (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 RFA RM 22 012

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