The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
is to stimulate research focused on the discovery of mechanisms that mediate
the induction and maintenance of effective antigen-specific CD8+ memory T
cells in the female reproductive tract (FRT).  The ultimate goal is to develop
the knowledge base needed to facilitate the development of future vaccines
that generate effective and persistent T lymphocyte responses against
infection by HIV and other mucosal pathogens in the FRT.  This program is not intended
to support evaluation of mucosal vaccines or therapies, or research primarily
focused on pathogens. 

Key Dates

Posted Date

February 14, 2012

Open Date (Earliest Submission Date)

April 7, 2012

Letter of Intent Due Date

Not Applicable. 

Application Due Date(s)

Standard
dates apply , by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. 

(New Date January 8, 2013 per NOT-AI-13-002), Original Date January 8, 2015

Due Dates for E.O. 12372

Not Applicable. 

Required Application Instructions

It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in
the SF
424 (R&R) Application Guide, except where instructed to do otherwise
(in this FOA or in a Notice from the NIH Guide for Grants and
Contracts).  Conformance to all requirements (both in the
Application Guide and the FOA) is required and strictly enforced.  Applicants
must read and follow all application instructions in the Application Guide as
well as any program-specific instructions noted in Section IV.  When the program-specific
instructions deviate from those in the Application Guide, follow the
program-specific instructions.  Applications that do not comply with
these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for review. 

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)
is to stimulate research focused on the discovery of mechanisms that mediate
the induction and maintenance of effective antigen-specific CD8+ memory T cells
in the female reproductive tract (FRT).  The ultimate goal is to develop the
knowledge base needed to facilitate the development of future vaccines that
generate effective and persistent T lymphocyte responses against infection by
HIV and other mucosal pathogens in the FRT.  This program is not intended to
support evaluation of mucosal vaccines or therapies, or research primarily
focused on pathogens.  Investigators new to the field are encouraged to apply. 

Background

Despite recent advances, the development of a protective and
durable vaccine against HIV infection remains elusive.  The extreme viral diversity
of HIV coupled with its ability to infect immune cells and evade immune
responses suggest that a successful vaccine will need to do more than mimic
natural immunity but rather will require a novel approach.  Importantly, the
speed with which HIV disseminates and establishes a latent viral reservoir in
lymphoid tissues throughout the body likely necessitates a vaccine that elicits
potent and rapid immune responses at the portal of viral entry. 

Women account for approximately 50% of HIV infections worldwide
and are predominantly infected through sexual transmission.  The FRT provides a
level of natural defense that may lower the threshold of protection necessary
for a successful HIV vaccine; hence although protective antibodies are ideal, a
vaccine that induces robust T cell immunity in the FRT may be able to prevent
the establishment of HIV infection in the brief window of opportunity before
viral dissemination.  The caveat of such an approach is the potential risk that
increasing the number of activated CD4+ T cells in the FRT could facilitate HIV
acquisition.  While much has been learned about HIV epitopes, viral escape, and
fitness costs of CD8+ T cell responses in HIV infection, there is a significant
gap in our knowledge regarding factors that mediate the induction and
maintenance of effective antigen-specific CD8+ memory T cells in the FRT and
how to successfully manipulate these responses through vaccination. 

This FOA encourages basic research applications that will
contribute to the understanding of how to generate effective and persistent T
lymphocyte responses against infection by HIV or other mucosal pathogens in the
FRT.  This program is not intended to support evaluation of mucosal vaccines or
therapies, or research primarily focused on pathogens. 

Specific
Areas of Scientific Interest

Areas of interest and examples of research studies encouraged for this FOA include, but are not limited to the following:

Applicant organizations must complete the following registrations
as described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide to be eligible to apply
for or receive an award.  Applicants must have a valid Dun and Bradstreet
Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number in order to begin each of the following
registrations. 

All Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s))
must also work with their institutional officials to register with the eRA
Commons or ensure their existing eRA Commons account is affiliated with the eRA
Commons account of the applicant organization. 

All registrations must be completed by the application due date.  Applicant
organizations are strongly encouraged to start the registration process at
least 4-6 weeks prior to the application due date. 

Eligible Individuals (Program Director(s)/Principal Investigator(s))

Any individual(s) with the skills, knowledge, and resources
necessary to carry out the proposed research as the Program Director(s)/Principal
Investigator(s) (PD(s)/PI(s)) is invited to work with his/her organization to
develop an application for support.  Individuals from underrepresented racial
and ethnic groups as well as individuals with disabilities are always
encouraged to apply for NIH support. 

Applicant organizations may submit more than one application,
provided that each application is scientifically distinct. 

NIH will not accept any application in response to this FOA
that is essentially the same as one currently pending initial peer review
unless the applicant withdraws the pending application.  NIH will not accept any
application that is essentially the same as one already reviewed.  Resubmission applications may be submitted, according to the NIH Policy on Resubmission
Applications from the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide. 

Section
IV.  Application and Submission Information

1.  Requesting an Application Package

Applicants must download the SF424 (R&R) application
package associated with this funding opportunity using the “Apply for Grant
Electronically” button in this FOA or following the directions provided at Grants.gov. 

2.  Content and
Form of Application Submission

It is critical that applicants follow the instructions in
the SF424
(R&R) Application Guide, except where instructed in this funding
opportunity announcement to do otherwise.  Conformance to the requirements in
the Application Guide is required and strictly enforced.  Applications that are
out of compliance with these instructions may be delayed or not accepted for
review. 

The forms package associated with this FOA includes all applicable
components, mandatory and optional.  Please note that some components
marked optional in the application package are required for submission of
applications for this FOA.  Follow all instructions in the SF424 (R&R)
Application Guide to ensure you complete all appropriate “optional” components. 

Page Limitations

All page limitations described in the SF424 Application
Guide and the Table of
Page Limits must be followed. 

PHS 398 Research Plan Component

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide
must be followed, with the following additional instructions:

Resource Sharing Plan

Individuals are required to comply with the
instructions for the Resource Sharing Plans (Data Sharing Plan, Sharing Model
Organisms, and Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) as provided in the SF424
(R&R) Application Guide. 

Appendix

Do not use the Appendix to circumvent page limits.  Follow
all instructions for the Appendix as described in the SF424 (R&R)
Application Guide. 

Foreign Institutions

Foreign (non-US) institutions must follow policies described
in the NIH
Grants Policy Statement, and procedures for foreign institutions described
throughout the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. 

3.  Submission Dates and Times

Part I. Overview Information
contains information about Key Dates.  Applicants are encouraged to submit in
advance of the deadline to ensure they have time to make any application
corrections that might be necessary for successful submission. 

Organizations must submit applications via Grants.gov, the online portal to find and apply for grants
across all Federal agencies.  Applicants must then complete the submission
process by tracking the status of the application in the eRA Commons, NIH’s electronic system for grants
administration. 

Applicants
are responsible for viewing their application in the eRA Commons to ensure accurate
and successful submission. 

Information on the submission process and a definition of
on-time submission are provided in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. 

For assistance with your electronic application or for more information on the electronic submission
process, visit Applying
Electronically. 

Important
reminders:All PD(s)/PI(s) must include their eRA Commons ID in the
Credential fieldof the Senior/Key Person Profile Component of the SF
424(R&R) Application Package.  Failure to register in the Commons and
to include a valid PD(s)/PI(s) Commons ID in the credential field will prevent
the successful submission of an electronic application to NIH. 

The applicant organization must ensure that the DUNS number it provides on the
application is the same number used in the organization’s profile in the eRA
Commons and for the Central Contractor Registration (CCR).  Additional
information may be found in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide. 

Upon receipt, applications will be evaluated for
completeness by the Center for Scientific Review, NIH.  Applications that are
incomplete will not be reviewed. 

Requests of $500,000 or more for direct costs in any year

Applicants requesting $500,000 or more in direct costs in
any year (excluding consortium F&A) must contact NIH program staff at least 6 weeks before
submitting the application and follow the Policy on the Acceptance for Review
of Unsolicited Applications that Request $500,000 or More in Direct Costs as
described in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide. 

Post Submission Materials

Applicants are required to follow the instructions for
post-submission materials, as described in NOT-OD-10-115. 

Section
V. Application Review Information

1.  Criteria

Only the review criteria described below will be considered
in the review process.  As part of the NIH mission,
all applications submitted to the NIH in support of biomedical and behavioral
research are evaluated for scientific and technical merit through the NIH peer
review system. 

Overall Impact

Reviewers will provide an overall impact/priority score to
reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to exert a
sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, in
consideration of the following review criteria and additional review criteria
(as applicable for the project proposed). 

Scored Review Criteria

Reviewers will consider each of the review criteria below in
the determination of scientific merit, and give a separate score for each.  An
application does not need to be strong in all categories to be judged likely to
have major scientific impact.  For example, a project that by its nature is not
innovative may be essential to advance a field. 

Significance

Does the project address an important problem or a
critical barrier to progress in the field?  If the aims of the project are
achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical
practice be improved?  How will successful completion of the aims change the
concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative
interventions that drive this field? 

Investigator(s)

Are the PD(s)/PI(s), collaborators, and other
researchers well suited to the project?  If Early Stage Investigators or New
Investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have
appropriate experience and training?  If established, have they demonstrated an
ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)?  If the
project is collaborative or multi-PD(s)/PI(s), do the investigators have
complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach,
governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project? 

Innovation

Does the application challenge and seek to shift
current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical
concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions?  Are
the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions
novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense?  Is a refinement,
improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or
methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed? 

Approach

Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses
well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? 
Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success
presented?  If the project is in the early stages of development, will the
strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be
managed? 

If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for 1) protection of
human subjects from research risks, and 2) inclusion of minorities and members
of both sexes/genders, as well as the inclusion of children, justified in terms
of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed? 

Environment

Will the scientific environment in which the work
will be done contribute to the probability of success?  Are the institutional
support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators
adequate for the project proposed?  Will the project benefit from unique
features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative
arrangements? 

Additional Review Criteria

As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will
evaluate the following additional items while determining scientific and
technical merit, and in providing an overall impact/priority score, but will
not give separate scores for these items. 

Protections for Human Subjects

For research that involves human subjects but does
not involve one of the six categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR
Part 46, the committee will evaluate the justification for involvement of human
subjects and the proposed protections from research risk relating to their
participation according to the following five review criteria: 1) risk to
subjects, 2) adequacy of protection against risks, 3) potential benefits to the
subjects and others, 4) importance of the knowledge to be gained, and 5) data
and safety monitoring for clinical trials. 

For research that involves human subjects and meets the criteria for one or
more of the six categories of research that are exempt under 45 CFR Part 46,
the committee will evaluate: 1) the justification for the exemption, 2) human
subjects involvement and characteristics, and 3) sources of materials.  For
additional information on review of the Human Subjects section, please refer to
the Human
Subjects Protection and Inclusion Guidelines. 

Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Children

When the proposed project involves clinical research,
the committee will evaluate the proposed plans for inclusion of minorities and
members of both genders, as well as the inclusion of children.  For additional
information on review of the Inclusion section, please refer to the Human
Subjects Protection and Inclusion Guidelines. 

Vertebrate Animals

The committee will evaluate the involvement of live
vertebrate animals as part of the scientific assessment according to the
following five points: 1) proposed use of the animals, and species, strains,
ages, sex, and numbers to be used; 2) justifications for the use of animals and
for the appropriateness of the species and numbers proposed; 3) adequacy of
veterinary care; 4) procedures for limiting discomfort, distress, pain and
injury to that which is unavoidable in the conduct of scientifically sound
research including the use of analgesic, anesthetic, and tranquilizing drugs
and/or comfortable restraining devices; and 5) methods of euthanasia and reason
for selection if not consistent with the AVMA Guidelines on Euthanasia.  For
additional information on review of the Vertebrate Animals section, please
refer to the Worksheet
for Review of the Vertebrate Animal Section. 

Biohazards

Reviewers will assess whether materials or procedures
proposed are potentially hazardous to research personnel and/or the
environment, and if needed, determine whether adequate protection is proposed. 

Resubmissions

For Resubmissions, the committee will evaluate the
application as now presented, taking into consideration the responses to
comments from the previous scientific review group and changes made to the
project. 

Renewals

For Renewals, the committee will consider the
progress made in the last funding period. 

Revisions

For Revisions, the committee will consider the
appropriateness of the proposed expansion of the scope of the project.  If the
Revision application relates to a specific line of investigation presented in
the original application that was not recommended for approval by the committee,
then the committee will consider whether the responses to comments from the
previous scientific review group are adequate and whether substantial changes
are clearly evident. 

Additional Review Considerations

As applicable for the project proposed, reviewers will
consider each of the following items, but will not give scores for these items,
and should not consider them in providing an overall impact/priority score. 

Applications from Foreign Organizations

Reviewers will assess whether the project presents
special opportunities for furthering research programs through the use of
unusual talent, resources, populations, or environmental conditions that exist
in other countries and either are not readily available in the United States or
augment existing U.S. resources. 

Select Agent Research

Reviewers will assess the information provided in
this section of the application, including 1) the Select Agent(s) to be used in
the proposed research, 2) the registration status of all entities where Select
Agent(s) will be used, 3) the procedures that will be used to monitor
possession use and transfer of Select Agent(s), and 4) plans for appropriate
biosafety, biocontainment, and security of the Select Agent(s). 

May undergo a selection process in which only those applications
deemed to have the highest scientific and technical merit (generally the top
half of applications under review) will be discussed and assigned an overall impact/priority
score. 

Will receive a written critique. 

Applications will be assigned to the appropriate NIH Institute or Center.  Applications will compete for available funds
with all other recommended applications .  Following initial peer review, recommended
applications will receive a second level of review by the appropriate advisory council or board.  The following will be considered in making funding decisions:

Scientific and technical merit of the proposed project as
determined by scientific peer review. 

Availability of funds. 

Relevance of the proposed project to program priorities. 

3.  Anticipated Announcement and Award Dates

After the peer review of the application is completed, the
PD(s)/PI(s) will be able to access his or her Summary Statement (written
critique) via the eRA Commons. 

If the application is under consideration for funding, NIH
will request "just-in-time" information from the applicant as
described in the NIH
Grants Policy Statement. 

A formal notification in the form of a Notice of Award (NoA) will be provided
to the applicant organization for successful applications.  The NoA signed by
the grants management officer is the authorizing document and will be sent via
email to the grantee’s business official. 

Awardees must comply with any funding restrictions described in Section IV.5.  Funding Restrictions.  Selection
of an application for award is not an authorization to begin performance.  Any
costs incurred before receipt of the NoA are at the recipient's risk.  These
costs may be reimbursed only to the extent considered allowable pre-award costs. 

A final progress report, invention
statement, and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report are
required for closeout of an award, as described in the NIH
Grants Policy Statement. 

The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of
2006 (Transparency Act), includes a requirement for awardees of Federal grants
to report information about first-tier subawards and executive compensation
under Federal assistance awards issued in FY2011 or later.  All awardees of
applicable NIH grants and cooperative agreements are required to report to
the Federal Subaward Reporting System (FSRS) available at www.fsrs.gov
on all subawards over $25,000.  See the NIH
Grants Policy Statement for additional information on this reporting
requirement. 

Section VII.  Agency Contacts

We encourage inquiries concerning this funding opportunity
and welcome the opportunity to answer questions from potential applicants. 

Awards are made under the authorization of Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and
under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 45 CFR Parts 74 and 92.