Multidisciplinary Studies to Improve Understanding of Influenza Transmission (U19 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA AI 20 008

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AI 20 008

This grant opportunity, titled "Multidisciplinary Studies to Improve Understanding of Influenza Transmission (U19 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA AI 20 008), is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding announcement aimed at supporting large, collaborative research programs that can take a comprehensive, team-science approach to understanding how influenza spreads from one person to another. It is offered as a cooperative agreement (U19), which typically means NIH expects to have substantial scientific involvement during the project period, such as coordinating efforts, helping align milestones, and facilitating collaboration across funded components. The research focus is squarely on human-to-human transmission, with an emphasis on generating practical, high-quality evidence about the real-world drivers of spread.

The scientific goals of the program are organized around three major needs in the influenza transmission field. First, the FOA seeks projects that improve how influenza viral particles are detected and sampled from the air. This reflects the challenge that airborne sampling can be technically difficult: concentrations may be low, particles may be fragile, and collection methods can bias what is recovered. Applicants are expected to develop or refine approaches that can reliably capture influenza virus from air in ways that preserve meaningful information about what is present in the environment and potentially transmissible.

Second, the opportunity calls for development of novel assays that can determine whether influenza viral particles collected from air samples are viable and infectious, not just detectable by genetic methods. In many respiratory virus studies, detection is dominated by PCR or similar molecular techniques that identify viral RNA, but those methods do not necessarily indicate whether the virus can still infect a host. By prioritizing viability and infectivity assays, the FOA pushes applicants to close a key evidence gap: distinguishing between fragments of virus that are no longer capable of infection and intact, infectious particles that can plausibly drive transmission.

Third, the FOA supports multidisciplinary studies that evaluate how multiple categories of factors interact to influence transmission between humans. The announcement specifically highlights viral factors (such as strain characteristics or shedding dynamics), host factors (such as immune status, symptoms, behavior, and physiology), physical factors (such as airflow patterns, particle size distributions, or proximity), and environmental factors (such as humidity, temperature, ventilation, and built-environment conditions). The intent is not to study these drivers in isolation, but to create integrated investigations that can explain transmission dynamics more completely and help clarify when, where, and why influenza spreads efficiently.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity is categorized under discretionary funding and the health funding activity category, with CFDA number 93.855. The original application due date listed for this FOA was September 10, 2020, and the posting was created on February 25, 2020. The award ceiling is listed as $6,000,000, signaling that NIH anticipated relatively large, multi-component projects consistent with a U19 structure. The FOA is labeled "Clinical Trial Optional," which generally indicates applicants may include a clinical trial component if it is scientifically justified, but a clinical trial is not required for all applications.

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of domestic institutions and organizations. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly encourages or allows participation from a diverse set of institution types and communities, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs). In addition, it includes eligibility for federally recognized Native American tribal governments and tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments), U.S. territories or possessions, eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, and non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations) and regional organizations. This wide eligibility aligns with the multidisciplinary and collaborative nature of the program and reflects NIH interest in incorporating varied settings, populations, and expertise to address transmission questions that may differ across environments and communities.

Overall, the FOA is designed to move influenza transmission research beyond basic detection and toward a more actionable understanding of airborne presence, infectious potential, and the combined biological and environmental conditions that make person-to-person spread more or less likely. The program is structured to support coordinated teams that can develop improved tools, validate them with rigorous assays, and apply them within comprehensive studies that connect viral measurements in the air to real transmission-relevant determinants in human settings.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Multidisciplinary Studies to Improve Understanding of Influenza Transmission (U19 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.855.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-02-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-09-10. (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 $6,000,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

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