The Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Interdisciplinary Research Units (CARBIRUs) (P01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed) notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) aims to support multidisciplinary, collaborative research programs focused on discovery to early development research to inform new approaches to prevent, diagnose, and treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.
Research Scope and Objectives
This NOFO solicits applications to continue the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Interdisciplinary Research Unit (CARBIRU) program, established in 2021. It is expected that each CARBIRU will conduct highly innovative and synergistic research activities centered on a unifying theme or set of hypotheses to address important gaps in our current knowledge.
Themes could include, but are not limited to:
- Identification of novel strategies to prevent, diagnose, or treat antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.
- Elucidation of mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and strategies to prevent the emergence of resistance.
- Understanding antibiotic treatment failure, including the contribution of non-traditional mechanisms of resistance.
- Understanding the role of the microbiome and antibiotic-mediated dysbiosis in the development of resistant bacterial infections.
CARBIRU projects contributing to a unifying theme could include, but are not limited to:
- Discovery and functional characterization of bacterial and host factors that are important for infection and antibacterial resistance.
- Studies to improve our understanding of genotypic and phenotypic mechanisms of antibiotic resistance and the role they play in resistant infections.
- Discovery and validation of novel drug targets and early drug screening.
- Characterization and validation of novel antibiotics and non-antibiotic products including, but not limited to, bacteriophage and live microbiome-based products.
- Discovery research to enable development of rapid, sensitive, and accurate diagnostics.
- Studies to improve our understanding of the host response to eliminate infection and how organisms evade the immune response.
- Discovery research and identification of correlates of immune protection to inform vaccines or immunotherapeutics.
- Studies on human-associated microbial communities and the role they play in susceptibility or resistance to resistant infections.
- Systems-level approaches to identify host and bacterial molecular interactions important for infection and antibacterial resistance.
Program themes must target one or more of the bacterial pathogens listed below:
- Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales
- Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacterales
- Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii
- Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
- Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)
- Drug-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae
- Clostridioides difficile
Applications that do not propose one or more of those bacterial pathogens, or applications with the following proposed studies, will be considered nonresponsive and will not be reviewed:
- Targeting mycobacteria or drug-resistant tuberculosis since they are supported by other NIAID programs.
- Targeting fungal or viral pathogens.
Overall CARBIRU Structure
Each CARBIRU will consist of the following components organized around a common theme or set of hypotheses: an Administrative Core, responsible for conducting program oversight and coordination, monitoring overall progress, and supervising the entire range of the program’s research and administrative responsibilities; a minimum of two and a maximum of four Research Projects organized around a common theme or set of hypotheses; one or a maximum of three Scientific Core(s), which must support the activities of at least two Research Projects; Annual Programmatic Meetings to facilitate communication and collaboration between funded CARBIRUs.
Application Requirements
NIAID will fund four to five awards in fiscal year 2026. Application budgets are not expected to exceed $1.5 million in direct costs per year. Project periods are capped at 5 years.
Applications are due March 26, 2025, by 5:00 p.m. local time of the applicant organization.
For scientific or research questions, contact Dr. Nancy Lewis Ernst at nancy.ernst@nih.gov or 240-669-5076. Direct questions about peer review to Dr. Marci Scidmore at marci.scidmore@nih.gov, 240-627-3255 or Dr. Mairi Noverr at mairi.noverr@nih.gov, 240-987-1668.