Tools and resources to understand the vascular pathophysiology of in vivo neuroimaging findings in TBI-related dementia and/or VCID (U24 - Clinical Trials Not Allowed) | RFA NS 23 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 23 002

This NIH funding opportunity (RFA-NS-23-002) supports a U24 cooperative agreement to build and share practical tools and community-facing resources that help researchers interpret what vascular-related signals seen on in vivo brain imaging actually mean at the underlying tissue and vessel level, especially in traumatic brain injury (TBI)-related dementia and vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID), as well as other Alzheimer’s disease-related dementias (ADRD). The central idea is to close a persistent gap between what clinicians and researchers observe on neuroimaging scans during life (for example, imaging patterns suggestive of small vessel disease or other vascular injury) and what neuropathology can confirm and explain after tissue-based examination. Projects are expected to strengthen combined human neuropathology and neuroimaging research so that imaging findings can be tied more directly to specific vascular pathophysiology, improving the field’s ability to understand mechanisms and, ultimately, to interpret clinically relevant imaging markers with more confidence.

The FOA emphasizes the development and distribution of “enabling” resources rather than running clinical trials. That typically means creating innovative technologies, standardized methods, validated protocols, and biomedical materials that other investigators can adopt broadly. The resources should be designed to expand the research community’s capacity to do neuropathologically informed neuroimaging research focused on VCID and TBI-related dementia. In practice, that could include things like harmonized approaches for collecting, processing, and analyzing imaging and tissue data across sites; methods to align or correlate imaging features with neuropathologic measures; reference datasets or atlases that link imaging signatures to vascular lesions; shared pipelines, quality-control procedures, or analytic frameworks; or physical or digital biomedical materials that make these studies easier to reproduce and scale.

A major requirement is open sharing. The FOA makes clear that resources produced under this initiative must follow open data-sharing practices, with the intent that the outputs do not stay within a single lab or consortium but instead become broadly accessible to the wider community. The emphasis on distribution matters: applicants are expected not only to build tools and protocols, but also to package them in a way that encourages adoption, reuse, and consistent implementation by other groups working on VCID, TBI-related dementia, and related ADRD conditions. The cooperative agreement mechanism also signals substantial NIH involvement, meaning awardees should expect active coordination with NIH program staff and alignment with program goals, milestones, and community needs.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants include a range of government entities (state, county, city/township, special districts), school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, and tribal organizations that are not federally recognized. Nonprofits are eligible whether they have 501(c)(3) status or not, and for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses can also apply. The FOA explicitly notes interest in applications from institutions that serve historically underrepresented communities, including Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), as well as eligible federal agencies and faith-based or community-based organizations. U.S. territories or possessions and regional organizations are also included among “other eligible applicants.”

Foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as primary applicants, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components are allowed as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning a U.S. applicant may be able to include certain international elements in the project when well-justified and compliant with NIH policy, even though the applicant organization itself must be U.S.-based.

Administratively, the opportunity is categorized as a discretionary NIH program, with a cooperative agreement funding instrument and a health-related activity category (CFDA/Assistance Listing numbers 93.853 and 93.866). The original closing date listed is March 17, 2023, and the FOA is explicitly “Clinical Trials Not Allowed,” reinforcing that the expected work product is shared infrastructure, methods, and resources rather than interventional human studies.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Tools and resources to understand the vascular pathophysiology of in vivo neuroimaging findings in TBI-related dementia and/or VCID (U24 - 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): 93.853, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-01-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-17. (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 NS 23 002

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