Centers for Precision Disease Modeling (U54) (Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites U54 cooperative agreement applications for the support and advancement of the Centers for Precision Disease Modeling. The goal of the Centers is to support collaborative research projects that bridge current personalized medicine efforts in human subjects with advances in animal genomics and genetic manipulation technologies, including the creation of interspecies somatic hybrids. By functionally linking these areas of research, the Centers aim to enhance the predictive value of preclinical studies through the use of precision animal models. Each Center will develop a process by which the research community can nominate unique human genomic variants for cost effective high-throughput testing in an animal model pipeline. After validation of the expected gene editing, the Centers will support assays to conduct comprehensive functional and phenotyping analyses to evaluate disease-causing variants. A key mission of the Centers is the creation and distribution of precision animal model resources and related services to the biomedical community. Therefore, Centers will establish pipelines for preclinical scientific discovery, disease modeling, and development of interventions based on innovative animal models. While the Centers will focus on a limited number of targeted projects, they are expected to develop and maintain multifaceted research activities that can be adjusted to accommodate a wide range of diseases.