A Community Research Resource: Characterization of the Resident Ocular Microbiome. (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA EY 22 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA EY 22 001

The NIH funding opportunity titled "A Community Research Resource: Characterization of the Resident Ocular Microbiome (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (RFA-EY-22-001) supports the creation of a shared, community-focused research resource that maps and explains the microbial communities that normally live on the front of the eye in healthy people. The central goal is not to run a clinical trial, but to build a foundational dataset and related tools that other researchers can use to better understand what a "healthy" ocular microbiome looks like, how stable or variable it is across individuals, and what biological signals it produces that might influence human physiology. Because it is structured as a U24 cooperative agreement, the project is expected to operate as a coordinated, collaborative resource effort with substantial involvement from the funding institute, rather than as an isolated investigator-driven study.

Scientifically, the FOA is aimed at defining the core microbial constituents of the anterior segment and clarifying their functional relationships with the host. The anterior segment is described broadly to include the ocular surface and nearby structures such as the cornea, conjunctiva, eyelids, periocular skin, iris, ciliary body, and lens. A major emphasis is on characterizing the microbiome of the ocular surface and related front-of-eye niches in healthy individuals, then linking those microbial profiles to immune and neural interactions that help maintain homeostasis. In other words, the opportunity is pushing beyond a simple list of organisms and toward understanding how these microbial communities interact with local immune defenses, sensory and autonomic pathways, and other host processes that keep the ocular surface stable and resilient.

A key deliverable envisioned by the announcement is an integrated resource that combines microbiome measurements with broader "omics" and clinical information to identify patterns associated with ocular surface health. This integration implies that funded teams should be able to connect microbial community composition and potential function to host-relevant data streams, with the end goal of determining profiles that promote or reflect healthy ocular surface conditions. The FOA also signals interest in identifying factors produced or "elaborated" by microbial communities that can affect human physiology, which points toward functional readouts such as microbial metabolites, proteins, or other molecular products, and how these might shape local biology at the eye.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity from the National Institutes of Health, categorized under health research and funded through a cooperative agreement mechanism. The CFDA number listed is 93.867. The original closing date provided in the source material was 2022-07-06, and the opportunity was created on 2022-04-06. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided listing, so applicants would normally need to consult the full FOA text for budget expectations, project period, and any caps or cost-sharing details.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations that could contribute to a multidisciplinary, community resource effort. 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; federally recognized tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISISs, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations), and U.S. territories or possessions. This breadth is consistent with the stated goal of creating a community-facing resource where different kinds of institutions can contribute expertise in microbiology, immunology, neuroscience, ophthalmology, bioinformatics, and data integration.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as infrastructure-building for the eye research community: it funds teams to generate and organize high-quality, standardized microbial and related molecular/clinical data from healthy anterior segment sites, interpret how these microbes may interact with immune and neural systems to support normal ocular surface function, and deliver an integrated resource that helps establish what "healthy" looks like at the microbial level. The long-term value is that a well-characterized baseline resource can make it easier for future studies to recognize meaningful deviations linked to disease, treatment effects, environmental influences, or risk factors, even though this specific FOA is focused on healthy individuals and explicitly does not allow clinical trials.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "A Community Research Resource: Characterization of the Resident Ocular Microbiome. (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.867.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-04-06.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-07-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for RFA EY 22 001

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