Slots: 1
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: August 19, 2022
LOI: November 1, 2022
External Deadline: December 1, 2022
Award Information
Award Type: Cooperative Agreement
Estimated Number of Awards: 1
Anticipated Award Amount: $8,347,500 in FY 2023
Who May Serve as PI: Standard NIH requirements.
Link to Award: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DK-22-008.html
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Office of Research Application Portal: https://orif.usc.edu/oor-portal/.
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Single Page Proposal Summary (0.5” margins; single-spaced; font type: Arial, Helvetica, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 1-page limit will be excluded from review.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs and Co-PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The NCC will lead, coordinate, manage, and harmonize all aspects of the work conducted by the Consortium to advance kidney research. The NCC will support the NRCs in their efforts to nationally share specialized resources including tools, technologies, services, and expertise beyond those typically available in an individual lab or institutional core. Specifically, the NCC will:
- Provide administrative support and coordination for the entire Consortium by planning, organizing, and supporting meetings, education, and outreach activities to meet Consortium objectives. .
- Ensure that the Consortium activities are inclusive of investigators from a broad range of scientific disciplines and expertise.
- Promotethe inclusion of investigators and fellows from diverse backgrounds. See the Notice of NIH’s Interest in Diversity (NOT-OD-20-031).
- Establish and curate a central portal to ensure that all NRC resources are shared broadly with the national kidney research community and are readily accessible to anyone pursuing kidney research.
- Develop a multifaceted communication and education plan designed to maximize national outreach and impact, including information about all available resources and efforts to expand the pool of investigators pursuing kidney research.
- Give voice to people with kidney diseases by identifying and recruiting patient representatives and ensuring that their viewpoints, priorities, and preferences are incorporated in all aspects of the Consortium.
- Develop and administer a national Opportunity Pool program that addresses scientific and technological gaps and promotes new collaborations, with an emphasis on early-stage investigators and people new to kidney research.
Expected outcomes from the project period will be:
- Provide valuable administrative support, coordination, and project management to the entire Consortium, thus contributing to a nation-wide effort to advance kidney research.
- Development of a central portal that successfully shares unique resources, tools, technologies, services, and expertise that address fundamental challenges in kidney research.
- Sharing of resources that effectively lower the barrier to entry for investigators that are new or from fields not traditionally involved in kidney research.
- Attract and retain early-stage investigators and people new to kidney research.
- Promotion of a scientifically diverse kidney workforce that includes investigators from a broad range of scientific disciplines and expertise.
- Inclusion of investigators and fellows from diverse backgrounds (NOT-OD-20-031).
- Implementation of a rigorous Consortium-wide quality management plan.
- Active monitoring and reporting of QA/QC (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) for all NRC resources.
- Informed patient perspectives in every aspect of the Consortium.
- Active participation of NCC members in all Consortium-wide working groups and committees.
- Lead highly collaborative Consortium-wide discussions that successfully identify emerging areas of science and anticipate the needs of the national kidney research community.
- Implementation of a national Opportunity Pool program, supported by appropriate oversight and rigorous external peer review, that addresses scientific gaps and promotes collaboration.
Project Organization
The George O’Brien Kidney Consortium will consist of ~8 NRCs and one NCC. Whereas the NRCs will establish highly synergistic theme-based cores focused on generating shared resources, the NCC will facilitate the sharing of these resources with the wider kidney research community. The coordinated efforts of the NRCs and the NCC will be governed by a Steering Committee (SC) composed of contact Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) from each of the NRCs, the PD(s)/PI(s) of the NCC, and the NIDDK Project Scientist(s) (see under Section VI, Cooperative Terms and Conditions). Oversight will be provided by the NIDDK advisory council, which will act as an advisory to the NIDDK. Additional oversight will be provided by an external Consortium Management Board (CMB) that will be advisory to the NDDK Advisory Council and provide input into the overall progress of the Consortium. The CMB members will be appointed by the NIDDK and not by the grantees. Applicants should not propose CMB members. Consortium leadership and relevant investigators are expected to actively participate in all Consortium meetings, which will be arranged and coordinated by the NCC. Consortium members are expected to meet at least once a year for a face-to-face SC meeting in the Bethesda, MD area. All PDs/PIs are required to attend the first meeting of the Consortium, which is expected to take place in October 2023.
The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) will host a pre-application webinar for those interested in learning more about Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) RFA-DK-22-007, “George M. O’Brien Kidney National Resource Centers (U54 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed)” and RFA-DK-22-008, “George M. O’Brien Kidney National Coordination Center (U24 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed)” (details are forthcoming).
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.