The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases today issued a Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) to highlight the need for research on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
NIAID is particularly interested in projects focusing on viral natural history, pathogenicity, transmission, as well as projects developing medical countermeasures and suitable animal models for pre-clinical testing of vaccines and therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19.
In order to rapidly improve understanding and available control measures for SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, NIAID is encouraging the submission of applications to address the following research areas of interest:
- Studies to identify optimal in vitro culture requirements and conditions
- Development of reagents and assays for virus characterization
- Studies to understand critical aspects of viral infection, replication, pathogenesis, and transmission
- Studies to identify viral epitopes critical for binding neutralization
- Studies to examine virus stability and persistence
- Production of molecular clones of SARS-CoV-2, reporter viruses and recombinant viral proteins
- Development of animal models of SARS-CoV-2 infection suitable for screening vaccine and therapeutic candidates and/or pathogenesis studies
- Studies on the evolution and emergence of SARS-CoV-2 viruses including the identification of factors that affect viral host-range and virulence
- Virologic and serologic surveillance studies of the distribution and natural history of SARS-CoV-2 viruses in animal populations and in humans at the human/animal interface with particular emphasis on host reservoirs and understanding cross-species transmission events
- Development of sensitive, specific, and rapid clinical diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2
- Development of SARS-COV-2 therapeutic candidates; broad-spectrum therapeutics against multiple coronavirus strains; examination of SARS-CoV-2 antiviral activity of existing or candidate therapeutics initially developed for other indications
- Identification and evaluation of the innate, cellular and humoral immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or candidate vaccines, including, but not limited to: cross-reactive antibodies from individuals exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and other coronaviruses; viral epitopes critical for antibody binding and neutralization; immune-mediated pathology or host factors that might predispose to severe infection; and
- Development of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates that include emerging antigen design strategies, novel platforms or delivery approaches, adjuvants, or assessing cross-neutralization potential of SARS-CoV vaccine candidates.
This notice applies to due dates on or after April 5, 2020 and subsequent receipt dates through April 5, 2021.
Please review Notice Number NOT-AI-20-021 for additional information.
