Concepts represent early planning stages for program announcements, requests for applications, or solicitations for Council’s input. If NIAID publishes an initiative from one of these concepts, we link to it below. To find NIAID initiatives, go to Explore NIH Grant Opportunities.
Note: Council approval does not guarantee that a concept will become an initiative.
Table of Contents
Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 Division of Allergy, Immunology, and Transplantation (DAIT) Concepts
- NIH Tetramer Core Facility
- Immune Mechanisms of Protection Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Centers (IMPAc-TB)
- Radiological or Nuclear Medical Countermeasures Product Development Support (PDS)
- Development of Candidate Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) and Technologies Against Radiological/Nuclear or Chemical Threats
- Cooperative Program for Modeling Clinical Transplantation (CPMCT)
NIH Tetramer Core Facility
For the published request for proposals, check the April 22, 2026 solicitation, NIH Tetramer Core Facility.
Immune Mechanisms of Protection Against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Centers (IMPAc-TB)
Broad Agency Announcement—proposed FY 2027 initiative
Contact:
Callie Prassinos
Objective: To accelerate 1) tuberculosis (TB) vaccine development through characterization of protective tissue-specific and systemic immune responses that prevent or contain Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection and 2) the advancement of tools and resources to support TB vaccine development.
Description: The IMPAc-TB program is focused on understanding protective immunity against Mtb, where significant knowledge gaps remain. This initiative will continue to support the comprehensive understanding of protective immunity in people with and without HIV, including identification of immune signatures associated with risk or protection from disease/infection and identification and preclinical testing of protective antigens/immune epitopes. In addition to these aspects, the renewal of this program will include several new research goals, including:
- Apply knowledge gained about tissue-specific immune responses to advance vaccine approaches, including mucosal vaccines.
- Identify and test protective antigens/immune epitopes.
- Continue refinement of fit-for-purpose animal models for testing vaccine candidates targeting different stages of TB disease.
- Support New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and emerging technologies that include organoids, tissue-based models, and computational modeling.
- Support Discovery Medicine clinical trials (optional) using novel vaccine candidates with backtranslation to animal models to accelerate identification of correlates of protection in humans.
Radiological or Nuclear Medical Countermeasures Product Development Support (PDS)
Request for Proposals—proposed FY 2027 initiative
Contact:
Callie Prassinos
Objective: To continue and expand nonclinical and clinical efforts for product development of radiation/nuclear medical countermeasure candidate drugs and biodosimetry devices for possible inclusion in the Strategic National Stockpile for use during a radiation emergency.
Description: The contract will provide a comprehensive and broad range of nonclinical and clinical drug development and biomarker exploration, including 1) continued animal model and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) product development efforts for licensure of both candidate drugs and biodosimetry devices; 2) screening and efficacy evaluation of candidate drugs; 3) Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and non-GLP toxicology and safety pharmacology in animal models; 4) cGMP manufacturing support; 5) GLP pivotal animal efficacy studies; 6) Phase I clinical safety and pharmacokinetic studies; and 7) regulatory submission support for candidate drugs and biodosimetry devices. Infrastructure advances will also be included (e.g., external beam and internal contaminations facilities, GLP capabilities). This renewal will continue and build upon the previously awarded product support contracts.
Development of Candidate Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) and Technologies Against Radiological/Nuclear or Chemical Threats
For more information, go to View Grant Opportunity for Development of Candidate Medical Countermeasures (MCMs) and Technologies Against Chemical or Radiation/Nuclear Threats. Note: Information is tentative and subject to change.
Request for Applications—proposed FY 2027 initiative
Contact:
Thomas Winters
Objective: To address the unmet needs of diagnosing and treating acute and delayed radiation injuries or those resulting from exposure to Chemicals of Concern (CoC), this request for applications will support the Radiation and Nuclear Countermeasures Program (RNCP) and Chemical Countermeasures Research Program (CCRP) efforts to 1) understand mechanisms of injury, 2) identify actionable targets for interventions, 3) establish and refine models, 4) identify biomarkers, and 5) develop MCMs and diagnostic tests.
Description: This initiative will support research to investigate mechanisms of injury and interventions to diagnose, mitigate, and/or treat injuries in victims of exposure during a mass casualty, public health radiation or chemical emergency.
Cooperative Program for Modeling Clinical Transplantation (CPMCT)
For more information, go to View Grant Opportunity for Cooperative Program for Modeling Clinical Transplantation. Note: Information is tentative and subject to change.
Request for Applications—proposed FY 2027 initiative
Contact:
Patricia Kehn
Objective: NIAID’s objective, through this initiative, is to promote the development or refinement of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) and mouse models of allogenic organ or pancreatic islet transplantation that demonstrate improved potential for clinical translation and reduce the need for preclinical testing in nonhuman primate models.
Description: This initiative will support new applications that seek to improve the clinical translatability of NAMs and mouse models of transplantation through addressing a known or projected obstacle to clinical translation posed by existing models. Successful projects 1) will validate clinically relevant transplantation outcomes in newly developed or refined models and 2) use the models to test approaches to improve transplant outcomes and evaluate immunologic mechanisms influencing transplant outcomes (e.g., rejection and/or tolerance). To facilitate data reproducibility, investigators will be expected to publish technical reports documenting model development and validation, and work as a consortium to establish standards and best practices that will be shared with the research community.