Chronic Kidney Diseases of UnceRtain Etiology (CKDu) in Agricultural Communities (CURE) Research Consortium - Field Epidemiology Sites (U01 - Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for Field Sites to enroll research participants in the consortium to study Chronic Kidney Disease of UnceRtain Etiology (CKDu) in Agricultural Communities (CURE). The Field Sites will identify, recruit and study participants with evidence of CKDu and appropriate controls, and collect biological and environmental samples. This collaborative research consortium will bring together a broad range of expertise and enable discovery science to understand the cause or causes of CKDu and disease progression. The consortium will also work to identify potential therapeutic targets and public health interventions. The consortium will consist of a Scientific Data Coordinating Center, Field Sites, a Renal Analytic Core and the NIEHS Human Health Exposure Analysis Resource (HHEAR). The consortium will work together to develop common protocols for evaluation of participants who are currently affected with early manifestations of CKDu and control participants, to define common strategies for biological sampling and environmental assessment, and to determine analytic strategies to best use the samples collected by the consortium. This FOA will not support intervention trials to prevent or treat CKDu. This FOA is intended to support only human studies and applications that include animal or model systems are not responsive.