A pre-application webinar will be held on June 18 from 1:00–2:30 p.m. to introduce the components of SeroNet (listed below) and answer questions about SeroNet's two Requests for Applications (RFAs). To submit questions or for more information about the webinar, contact [email protected].
Congressional legislation enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic includes an emergency appropriation of $306 million to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) “to develop, validate, improve, and implement serological testing and associated technologies.” Serological testing is the process of measuring a person’s immune response to an infection in the form of antibodies in the blood.
The goal of the appropriation to NCI is to address the urgent need to increase our understanding of the immune response to the novel coronavirus. NCI intends to use the emergency appropriation in part to establish a Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet). The network is being developed in close collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and other parts of NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services.
SeroNet is planned to include five components:
* Special projects at the HPV Serology Lab at the NCI-sponsored Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR)
* Serological Capacity Building Centers, which will either acquire or develop serology tests and then validate the tests, while also fostering expanded serology capacity
* Serological Sciences Centers of Excellence
* A Serological Sciences Coordinating Center at FNLCR
* Individual research projects in serological sciences
Additional collaborations may also be considered.
SeroNet Funding Opportunities
1. RFA-CA-20-038 SARS-CoV-2 Serological Sciences Centers of Excellence (U54 Clinical Trial Optional)
Link: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-20-038.html
2. RFA-CA-20-039 Research Projects in SARS-CoV-2 Serological Sciences (U01 Clinical Trial Optional)
Link: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-CA-20-039.html