NEI Center Core Grant for Vision Research (P30 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 20 051

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 20 051

The NEI Center Core Grant for Vision Research (P30, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) is a National Institutes of Health funding opportunity from the National Eye Institute designed to strengthen and streamline vision research at an institution by supporting shared research infrastructure rather than individual standalone projects. The basic idea is to bring together a group of NIH-funded investigators, typically those supported by R01 awards, and give them access to centralized resources and specialized services that would be inefficient, duplicative, or too expensive for each lab to build and maintain on its own. By funding common cores that multiple investigators rely on, the program aims to improve research quality, increase efficiency, and reduce overall costs through shared equipment, technical staff expertise, standardized methods, and coordinated operations.

A key structural requirement of this opportunity is that the proposed center must include at least three Resource and/or Service Cores. These cores are meant to function as shared platforms that directly support the work of an established group of vision researchers. In practice, a core could be something like advanced imaging, animal models support, genomics or proteomics services, biostatistics or data management support, vision-specific phenotyping, or other centralized technical capabilities that raise the level of rigor and productivity for multiple participating projects. The grant is specifically focused on enhancing ongoing research efforts, consolidating institutional capabilities, avoiding unnecessary duplication across laboratories, and providing services at a lower cost or higher quality than individual investigators could reasonably achieve independently.

The opportunity is categorized as a discretionary grant in the health funding area under CFDA number 93.867 and is identified as PAR-20-051. It is not a clinical trial mechanism, meaning applications cannot propose clinical trials as part of the supported activities. The emphasis is on shared research cores and services that enable and accelerate basic, translational, or other non-clinical-trial vision research conducted by the participating investigators.

Eligibility is broad and includes many common U.S.-based applicant types such as state, county, city, township, and special district governments; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments); public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible applicant categories that include Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), faith-based or community-based organizations, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), eligible federal government agencies, regional organizations, tribal governments other than federally recognized entities, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the opportunity places clear restrictions on foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. In addition, foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are not allowed under this funding opportunity. In other words, the program is intended to support domestic U.S. institutional research infrastructure without foreign components embedded in the proposed center structure.

The source information provided lists an original closing date of 2022-09-30 and a creation date of 2019-11-12. No award ceiling or expected number of awards is specified in the included data. Overall, the grant is best understood as institutional support for shared core facilities and services that multiply the impact of multiple NEI-relevant, NIH-funded vision research projects by centralizing expertise, equipment, and standardized support under one coordinated center framework.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NEI Center Core Grant for Vision Research (P30 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 2019-11-12.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-09-30. (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 PAR 20 051

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