Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 20 103

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 103

The Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) intended to back large, tightly coordinated research teams tackling big scientific problems that cannot realistically be solved by one or two investigators working in parallel. The core idea is to fund ambitious, high-impact projects that depend on real integration across multiple disciplines and laboratories, with clear evidence that the work requires sustained collaboration, active team management, and scientific synergy. In other words, the application needs to show that the combined effort will produce outcomes that would not emerge from a simple bundle of loosely connected subprojects.

This FOA specifically targets teams made up of three to six Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD/PIs). The expectation is that the team will pursue far-reaching objectives aligned with the NIGMS mission and aimed at major advances in their field, rather than incremental progress. Reviewers will be looking for a well-justified rationale for why the research question is both important and unusually challenging, and why a coordinated, multidisciplinary structure is essential for success. Because the program emphasizes integration, applicants generally need to articulate how the different investigators and disciplines will interact, share approaches and data, make joint decisions, and collectively drive the science forward, instead of dividing the work into independent aims that could be funded separately.

The opportunity is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," which means applications may include NIH-defined clinical trials when they are appropriate to the scientific goals. However, NIGMS draws a clear boundary around what it will not support under this announcement: it will not accept clinical trials designed to test safety and efficacy of interventions in a way that resembles traditional Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III studies intended to support future clinical treatment use and/or regulatory approval. Put plainly, clinical trials that look like product-development pipelines for eventual approval are not a fit here. Applicants considering human studies need to ensure that any proposed trial-like components align with NIGMS priorities and with the FOA's intent, rather than being framed as classical therapeutic efficacy testing.

Just as important are the activities this FOA does not want to fund. Applications that are mainly focused on building, expanding, or maintaining broad community resources are considered nonresponsive. Similarly, projects centered primarily on creating new technologies, standing up major infrastructure, or developing platforms as ends in themselves are not appropriate under this mechanism. Those elements might be allowed as supporting pieces within a larger scientific plan, but the heart of the proposal must be a compelling, hypothesis- or question-driven research program where the central payoff is new biological or biomedical insight that requires a team to achieve.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and includes many institutional types. Eligible applicants include state, county, city or township, and 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; Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (when not an institution of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also highlights additional eligible categories such as 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 faith-based or community-based organizations and eligible federal agencies.

At the same time, there are clear limits around foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities, including foreign institutions, are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. That said, "foreign components" as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, meaning a U.S. applicant can include certain foreign collaborations or activities when they meet NIH policy requirements and are appropriately justified, even though a foreign organization cannot be the primary applicant.

From the provided source details, this is a discretionary grant opportunity in the health category, with CFDA number 93.859, issued by NIH under funding opportunity number PAR 20 103. The FOA was created on 2020-01-29, and the listed original closing date is 2023-01-27. The key takeaway for prospective applicants is that competitiveness will hinge on demonstrating a genuinely integrated, well-managed team of three to six PD/PIs pursuing a bold scientific objective central to NIGMS, where the collaboration is essential to the research strategy and where the project is not primarily a resource-building, technology-development, or infrastructure-focused effort, and where any clinical trial elements fit within NIGMS constraints (not Phase I-III safety/efficacy trials aimed at regulatory approval).

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.859.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-01-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-01-27. (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 20 103

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