Limited Competition for Continuation of the Prospective Study of Chronic Kidney Disease in Children Clinical Coordinating Centers (U01) | RFA DK 17 502

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 17 502

This funding opportunity, RFA DK 17 502, is a limited-competition cooperative agreement (U01) from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), working in collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Its purpose is to continue the long-running Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) prospective study by supporting the two existing Clinical Coordinating Centers (CCCs) that are already part of the CKiD consortium. Because it is a limited competition, only those two established CCCs are being invited to apply, rather than opening the competition to new sites.

The core goal of the award is continuity and expansion of the consortiums clinical research operations. The funded CCCs are expected to keep following children and adolescents with chronic kidney disease who are already enrolled in CKiD, while also recruiting additional participants to strengthen the cohort over time. The opportunity emphasizes that the CCCs will not operate in isolation; instead, they will continue functioning as part of a coordinated consortium alongside the already-established Data Coordinating Center (DCC) and the Central Biochemistry Laboratory (CBL). In practical terms, this means the CCCs will be responsible for the clinical-facing work (participant contact, visits, assessments, and local study execution) while collaborating closely with the DCC and CBL on standardized data collection, specimen handling, laboratory measurements, quality control, and overall study governance.

A notable feature of this continuation is the intent to broaden what is measured and how long participants are observed. The announcement indicates that participant evaluations will be expanded in certain domains, suggesting that the study will add or deepen specific types of assessments beyond what was done previously (for example, more detailed evaluations in targeted clinical or developmental areas, depending on protocol updates). Just as important, the study follow-up is planned to extend beyond the onset of end stage renal disease (ESRD). This is a significant shift because many kidney disease cohorts historically focus most intensively on the pre-ESRD period. Extending follow-up after ESRD allows researchers to better understand outcomes related to dialysis or transplantation, longer-term cardiovascular and growth consequences, health service use, and other post-ESRD trajectories that are especially relevant in pediatric populations transitioning into adolescence and adulthood.

The mechanism is a cooperative agreement (U01), which typically reflects an active partnership between NIH and the awardees rather than a hands-off grant. In this kind of structure, NIH program staff generally have substantial involvement in coordinating scientific direction, aligning protocols across sites, monitoring performance, and supporting consortium-level decision-making. For an ongoing multicenter cohort like CKiD, that cooperative model is used to maintain consistent procedures across centers, ensure shared adherence to study milestones, and preserve the integrity of long-term longitudinal data.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is listed under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is categorized as discretionary funding. The eligible applicant type specified is public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, which aligns with the academic medical center infrastructure typically needed to run pediatric longitudinal studies with complex clinical evaluations and research governance. The CFDA numbers associated with this announcement are 93.837, 93.847, and 93.865, reflecting the involvement of multiple NIH institutes and related program authorities.

In terms of funding scale, the award ceiling is listed as $750,000, with an expected number of awards of 2, matching the two CCCs in the existing CKiD consortium. The opportunity was created on August 17, 2017, with an original closing date of November 3, 2017. Overall, the announcement is best understood as a continuation and enhancement effort: it is designed to sustain the established CKiD multicenter clinical infrastructure, continue and broaden participant assessments, add new recruitment, and generate longer-term evidence by following children with CKD through and beyond progression to ESRD, all while operating in a tightly coordinated consortium with centralized data and laboratory cores.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition for Continuation of the Prospective Study of Chronic Kidney Disease in Children Clinical Coordinating Centers (U01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.837, 93.847, 93.865.
• This funding opportunity was created on Aug 17, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Nov 03, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $750,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.

Apply for RFA DK 17 502

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: