Planning Grants for Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (P-Rce)

The summary for the Planning Grants for Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (P-Rce) grant is detailed below. This summary states who is eligible for the grant, how much grant money will be awarded, current and past deadlines, Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) numbers, and a sampling of similar government grants. Verify the accuracy of the data FederalGrants.com provides by visiting the webpage noted in the Link to Full Announcement section or by contacting the appropriate person listed as the Grant Announcement Contact. If any section is incomplete, please visit the website for the National Institutes of Health, which is the U.S. government agency offering this grant.

Planning Grants for Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (P-Rce): The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) invites planning grant applications (U56) to support planning for and development of applications (U54) to the Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research (RCE) Program. The overall goal of this RFA is to support planning, research program initiation, and resource acquisition that could lead to the establishment of a regional center, whose purpose is to develop and maintain the research and development response capacity to rapidly evaluate and counter new bioterrorism or emerging infectious disease events. It is expected that at the end of this planning grant, the principal investigator and the team of researchers that has been assembled will submit an application for a RCE award. The RCE Program is detailed in RFA AI-02-031. Briefly, the RCE program's goal is to develop and maintain strong infrastructure and multifaceted research and development activities that will provide the scientific information and translational research capacity to make the next generation of therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics against the NIAID Category A-C Agents http://www.niaid.nih.gov/dmid/biodefense/bandc_priority.htm with particular emphasis on Category A. To accomplish this, the Centers will be provided with support 1) to develop and conduct programs of investigator- directed research; 2) to train researchers and other personnel for biodefense activities; 3) to develop and maintain comprehensive core facilities to support the research and training activities of the RCE; 4) to develop translational research capacity for testing and validating vaccine, therapeutic and diagnostic concepts for biodefense and emerging infectious diseases; 5) to maintain and make available core facilities and other support to approved investigators from academia, biotech companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and other appropriate entities in the region for the purpose of performing basic research and for testing and evaluating vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for NIAID Category A-C Agents; 6) to be ready and available to provide facilities and scientific support to first-line responders in the event of a national biodefense emergency. The RCE RFA invites research institutions and groups of investigators to form consortia or collaborations and develop applications for programs that will address the fundamental research and development questions that will provide the information needed to counter the threat of bioterrorism. Diverse research and development approaches are encouraged, as long as they include the following essential features: a biodefense research focus on NIAID Category A-C Agents, particularly Category A, which incorporates a translational component with the long term goal of developing testable products. Additionally, the consortium must document: institutional commitment, organizational capabilities, ability to develop and expand facilities, plans for training of new investigators and other participants in the national biodefense effort, and interdisciplinary coordination and collaboration, particularly linkages to federal, state, and local agencies. The consortium must have a lead team of individuals responsible for the overall management and direction of the RCE. A group of Center member researchers, with expertise in biodefense and emerging infectious diseases research, is essential to lead the research thrust, which underlies all the other activities of the RCE. Successful applicants for Planning Grants for Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases (P-RCE) will become part of a national, NIAID-managed Biodefense/emerging infectious diseases network that will be coordinated by the NIAID RCE Management and Oversight Committee.