Genomic Community Resources (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 20 100

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 100

The Genomic Community Resources (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity (PAR-20-100) is a National Institutes of Health program from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) that aims to strengthen the shared infrastructure the genomics field depends on. The core idea is to fund resources that make genomic research easier to do, easier to reproduce, and easier to build on by ensuring that widely useful data, tools, and reference resources are created (or expanded) and then reliably distributed to the broader scientific community. Rather than supporting hypothesis-driven projects focused on a single lab or a narrow question, this program is designed around community value: resources should be broadly enabling for basic genomics, human disease research, model organism work, and other areas of biomedical research where genomics is central.

Awards are made as U24 cooperative agreements, which generally means the NIH expects an active partnership with the awardee during development and operation of the resource. The funded work should emphasize cost-effective approaches and practical, scalable operations. In plain terms, applicants need to show they can build and maintain something that the community will actually use, and that it can be produced and shared efficiently. The opportunity specifically highlights several example categories of resources. One major category is databases and informatics infrastructure, including human and model organism databases, ontologies that standardize how genomic concepts are described, and analysis toolsets that help researchers interpret genomic information. Another category is comprehensive identification and curated collections of genomic features, such as functional genomic elements, where the goal is to create systematic, high-quality catalogs that other scientists can rely on. A third category is generation and distribution of standard data types from central, shared sample sets, similar to widely used reference efforts like the 1000 Genomes Project structural variant resources or GTEx-based data products. Across these examples, the unifying expectation is that the output should be a durable community asset with clear plans for dissemination, usability, and ongoing access.

This FOA falls under the NIH health funding activity area (CFDA 93.172) and is listed as a discretionary grant opportunity using the cooperative agreement mechanism. Clinical trials are not allowed under this announcement, so projects proposing prospective assignment of human participants to interventions to evaluate health-related outcomes would be out of scope. The focus is instead on resource development, data generation or aggregation, tool building, standardization, and distribution activities that support research broadly without being structured as a clinical trial.

Eligibility is intentionally broad and includes many types of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; 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 tribal organizations; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant types such as 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 and community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, tribal governments that are not federally recognized, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations), and U.S. territories or possessions. This wide eligibility reflects the program’s emphasis on building infrastructure that serves the entire genomics ecosystem, regardless of where the strongest technical capacity or the most relevant user communities are located.

The opportunity was created on January 23, 2020, and the listed original closing date is May 25, 2023. The source information does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, so applicants typically need to consult the full FOA text and NIH guidance for budget expectations, project period norms, and review considerations. Overall, the program is best understood as NHGRI support for high-impact, widely shared genomic resources where success is measured by community uptake, data and tool quality, standardization and interoperability, and sustained, cost-conscious distribution.

• The National Institutes of Health in the 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): 93.172.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-01-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-05-25. (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 20 100

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