Funding Opportunities of the Month spotlights a short, curated list of active grants and RFAs that align with the current Cornerstone theme. We’re dedicating November’s Cornerstone gathering to respiratory infectious diseases to match current funding momentum and CURE’s strengths across clinical, basic, data/AI, engineering, and population health. This session is meant to surface projects, datasets, and collaboration needs so we can assemble responsive teams.
One-Slide Call: Share one slide from your lab (project, resource/dataset to offer, or specific collaboration need—Respiratory Health focused) to curekyidc@uky.edu by Mon, Nov. 3 at 10 a.m. so we can compile the deck.
See opportunities related to this month's theme below!
Submission deadline: November 7, 2025
Award amount: NIAID intends to commit $10 million in FY 2026 to fund 4-5 awards.
Audience: Multidisciplinary centers forming TBRU networks (basic → clinical)
Summary: Establishes collaborative units to dissect Mycobacterium tuberculosis–host interactions with attention to bacterial and host heterogeneity. Seeks integrated projects defining determinants of Mtb establishment, dissemination, disease stage, and clinical outcomes. Encourages linked cores (e.g., clinical, data, biospecimen, immunology) and network collaboration for standardization and scalability. Designed to produce mechanistic insights that inform prevention, diagnostics, and therapeutics.
Submission deadline: November 10, 2025
FON: RFA-HL-26-008
Audience: Data coordination, biostatistics, informatics, and multi-site operations groups
Summary: Serves as the national Data & Analytics Coordinating Center for VINYL, providing data model/CDE governance, harmonization of clinical, imaging, and biospecimen metadata, and quality control. Stands up secure pipelines for multi-site enrollment, data integration, and privacy-preserving access. Delivers analytic support, common tools, dashboards, and documentation to accelerate discovery and reproducibility. Charged with enabling broad, timely data access to external investigators.
Submission deadline: November 11, 2025
FON: RFA-HL-26-006
Audience: Multi-PI clinical/basic/translational/data teams; pediatric/critical care sites
Summary: Builds a multi-site cohort of children 0–2 years hospitalized with viral LRTIs (bronchiolitis, pneumonia, PARDS), plus matched controls. Requires common data elements and shared biospecimens across sites with longitudinal follow-up to capture recovery and long-term lung outcomes. Encourages mechanistic studies (e.g., host response, virology, microbiome, imaging) integrated with clinical phenotyping. Strong emphasis on team science, standardization, and scalability toward future interventional studies.
Submission deadline: December 1, 2025
Award amount: $100,000/year for 2 years
Audience: Investigators across basic, clinical, translational, and population health
Summary: Targets pathobiology and near-/long-term impacts of respiratory infections caused by known and emerging pathogens. Welcomes projects on host determinants of susceptibility and recovery, social/regional drivers of spread, case tracking/epidemiology, and bioinformatics. Supports studies of post-viral sequelae (including COVID-19) and lessons learned from the pandemic. A strong fit for labs linking mechanistic insights to prevention, diagnostics, or policy-relevant outcomes.
Submission deadline: December 1, 2025
Award amount: Up to $75,000/year for 2 years (max $150,000)
Audience: Faculty with primary appointments in Clinical Allergy & Immunology
Summary: Joint program to advance the mechanisms, phenotyping, and management of allergic respiratory disease. Ideal for investigators at career transition points who need focused support to generate pivotal data. Encourages projects spanning biomarkers, endotypes, immunomodulatory strategies, and implementation in real-world settings. Favors proposals with a clear plan for follow-on funding and clinical impact.
Submission deadline: LOI - 3/3/26, Full Proposal - 6/2/26 (Invite Only)
Award amount: Up to $2,500,000 total over 4 years
Audience: Team-science programs (2–3 tightly integrated projects) with clinical links
Summary: Requires studies in patients and/or patient samples and strong alignment with a clinical trial (active or planned). Supports next-generation therapies—i²Ô³¦±ô³Ü»å¾±²Ô²µ immunotherapy, vaccines, cell therapy, antibody-drug conjugates, and rational combinations—w¾±³Ù³ó correlative/translational endpoints. Seeks integrated programs (2–3 projects + shared theme/cores) that can rapidly inform precision treatment and biomarker-guided care. A fit for ID-adjacent platforms (e.g., immune monitoring, viral vectors) when tightly linked to lung oncology trials.
Submission deadline: September 15, 2026
Award amount: $500,000 available for this rolling RFP
Audience: Veterinary/animal health, diagnostics, biosecurity, One Health researchers
Summary: Funds projects addressing knowledge gaps in PRRSv immunology and virus characteristics, diagnostics, prevention/response, and biosecurity/biocontainment. Priorities are set by producers, veterinarians, and expert panels; proposals may tackle one or multiple priority areas. Strong potential for translational impact on herd health, surveillance, and respiratory disease control at the animal–human–environment interface.