Understand the Role of DEAD/H-box Helicases in Immune Homeostasis and Activation

NIAID aims to fund grant awards through the recently issued Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Understanding the Immune Functions of DEAD/H-box Helicases to promote research examining the role that DEAD/H-box helicases have in immune homeostasis, activation, or function.

Scientific Focus

Although DEAD/H-box helicases have a broad range of functions from immune cell production to cell cycle progression, researchers’ understanding of their expression, function, and regulation remains poor. NIAID encourages innovative research to provide foundational knowledge for understanding the role of DEAD/H-box helicases in innate immune sensing, antimicrobial immunity, inflammation, and immune cell homeostasis to develop novel biomarkers and therapeutics for infectious and immune-mediated diseases.

The objectives of this NOSI include:

• Investigating the role of DEAD/H-box helicases in innate immune sensing and in modulating innate and adaptive immune signaling pathways and gene expression
• Improving our understanding of the mechanisms by which DEAD/H-box helicases control immune cell development, proliferation, migration, composition, and function

The NOSI encourages applicants to collaborate with immunologists, systems biologists, microbiologists, and infectious disease experts to expand knowledge of DEAD/H-box helicases in the immune system.

Research Areas of Interest

Within this NOSI’s scientific focus, projects of interest to NIAID include:

• Studying the role of DEAD/H-box helicases in immune system development, regulation, and function during homeostasis and in response to antigenic challenge (e.g., pathogens, vaccines, allergens, or autoantigens)
• Examining small molecule probes or agents targeting DEAD/H-box helicases to further define how these helicases modulate antimicrobial immunity, vaccine responsiveness, immune-mediated diseases, inflammation, immune system development, and tolerance
• Examining the role and underlying mechanism of DEAD/H-box helicases in hematopoietic stem cells’ self-renewal and differentiation, immune cell production, proliferation, composition, migration, and activation and function

Submission Information

This notice applies to standard due dates on or after October 5, 2021, and subsequent receipt dates through September 7, 2024.

You can submit applications for this initiative using either of the following funding opportunity announcements (FOAs):

• PA-20-185 – NIH Research Project Grant (Parent R01, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• PA-20-195 – NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Project Grant (Parent R21, Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Applicants must include “NOT-AI-21-066” (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4B) of the SF 424 R&R form. NIAID will consider applications without this information nonresponsive to this NOSI. Follow all instructions in the SF 424 (R&R) Application Guide and in the FOA you used, unless specifically directed otherwise by the NOSI. 

Contact Information

Direct all inquiries to Dr. Joy Liu, NIAID’s scientific/research contact for the initiative.