Tissue Mapping Centers for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 21 026

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 026

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity RFA-RM-21-026, titled "Tissue Mapping Centers for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)," supports the creation of Tissue Mapping Centers (TMCs) that act as primary data-generation hubs for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP) Consortium. The central goal is to produce a high-resolution, multi-parameter, three-dimensional atlas of a non-diseased human organ. These centers are expected to push the technical state of the art by combining multiplexed, high-throughput imaging with omics approaches and then turning those raw measurements into integrated maps that reveal molecular, cellular, and structural organization within intact human tissues.

A key focus of the award is not just generating data, but building complete, reliable, and standardized pipelines that others in the consortium can trust and reuse. Applicants are expected to develop, benchmark, and standardize end-to-end workflows spanning tissue collection and handling, preservation methods, assay execution, quality control, validation, and computational processing. The emphasis on benchmarking and standardization signals that the program wants comparable, reproducible outputs rather than one-off datasets. Centers must also integrate and optimize every part of the pipeline, including downstream steps like data integration, analysis, and biological interpretation, with the explicit aim of creating high-resolution maps that are consistent across donors and useful to the broader research community.

The resulting atlases are intended to provide new biological insight into how human tissues are organized across multiple spatial scales, including features inside cells, between cells, and in the surrounding extracellular environment. The FOA highlights several kinds of variation the maps should help illuminate: differences within a tissue region, differences among individuals, and changes that occur across the lifespan. In other words, the program is looking for reference-quality, spatially resolved molecular and morphological maps that can serve as a baseline for understanding normal human biology and for enabling future comparisons to disease states, even though this particular FOA is not designed to run clinical trials.

By the end of a four-year project period, a successful Tissue Mapping Center is expected to have produced a substantial collection of high-resolution, multi-scale, multi-dimensional maps derived from multiple donors. Those outputs are not meant to remain internal; they are expected to be integrated into a published reference atlas for the selected organ, aligning with HuBMAP consortium-wide goals for public, standardized resources. Because the award is a U54 cooperative agreement, NIH involvement is typically more hands-on than with standard grants, reflecting the consortium nature of HuBMAP and the need for coordination across groups contributing data, methods, and shared standards.

The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary, health-related cooperative agreement (CFDA 93.310). Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based entities such as state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (other than higher education institutions); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other eligible applicants. The FOA explicitly calls out additional eligible applicant categories, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign participation is limited in a specific way. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, but foreign components are allowed as defined under the NIH Grants Policy Statement. This structure typically means the prime awardee must be a domestic eligible organization, while certain defined collaborations or components abroad may be permissible if properly justified and compliant with NIH policy.

Key administrative details from the source listing include the agency (NIH), the original closing date (2021-11-19), and the creation date (2021-09-14). The FOA title and description emphasize that clinical trials are not allowed under this mechanism and that the main deliverable is a high-quality reference atlas for a healthy human organ built through rigorous, standardized, and integrated experimental and computational pipelines within the HuBMAP Consortium framework.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Tissue Mapping Centers for the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (U54 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): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-09-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-11-19. (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 RM 21 026

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