The NIH has announced grant opportunities that fund the screening of the UF Scripps Drug Discovery Library. This 640,000 compound library is unique to UF Scripps. Please click on the links below to be directed to information related to each grant:
Assay Development and Screening for Discovery of Validated Chemical Hits for Brain Disorders
(R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
PAR-23-168
Posted Date: April 14, 2023
Expiration Date: May 8, 2026
Participating Organizations: NIMH
Funding Opportunity Purpose: The goal of this Notice is to support the development and validation of screening assays for the discovery of validated hits that can be used in future drug discovery/development efforts for identifying potential drug candidates for the treatment of mental illness. For purposes of this initiative, a “hit” is defined as a compound that has the desired activity in a compound screen and whose activity is confirmed upon retesting in orthogonal assays. Stages of discovery research covered by this notice include 1) assay development; 2) primary screen implementation to identify initial screening hits (high throughput target-focused screens, or moderate throughput screens); and 3) hit validation using a series of assays and initial medicinal chemistry inspection to prioritize the hit set.
Academic-Industrial Partnerships for Translation of Technologies for Diagnosis and Treatment
(R01 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
PAR-21-166
Posted Date: March 25, 2021
Expiration Date: January 8, 2024
Participating Organizations: NCI, NIDCR, NIBIB
Funding Opportunity Purpose: The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to stimulate efforts to translate scientific discoveries and engineering developments into methods or tools that address problems in basic research to understand disease, or in applied research to assess risk, detect, prevent, diagnose, treat, and/or manage disease. The rationale is to deliver new capabilities to meet evolving requirements for technologies and methods relevant to the advance of research and delivery of care in pre-clinical, clinical and non-clinical settings, domestic or foreign, for conditions and diseases within the missions of participating institutes.
This FOA specifies a partnership structure that is expected to help bridge gaps in knowledge and experience by engaging the strengths of academic, industrial, and other investigators. The partners on each application should establish an inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional research team to work in strategic alliance to implement a coherent strategy to develop and translate a solution to their chosen problem. They are expected to plan, design, and validate that the solution will be suitable for end users. Each partnership should include at least one academic and one industrial organization. Each partnership should plan to transition a technology, method, assay, device, and/or system from a demonstration of possibility to a status useful in the chosen setting. Funding may be requested to enhance, adapt, optimize, validate, and otherwise translate technologies that address problems in biology, pathology, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and/or monitoring of disease status.
This FOA defines “innovation” as likelihood to deliver a new capability to end users.
Academic-Industrial Partnerships for Translation of Technologies for Diagnosis and Treatment
(R01 – Clinical Trial Optional)
PAR-21-206
Posted Date: March 25, 2021
Expiration Date: January 8, 2024
Participating Organizations: NCI
Funding Opportunity Purpose: The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to stimulate efforts to translate scientific discoveries and engineering developments into methods or tools that address problems in basic research to understand disease, or in applied research to assess risk, detect, prevent, diagnose, treat, and/or manage disease. The rationale is to deliver new capabilities to meet evolving requirements for technologies and methods relevant to the advance of research and delivery of care in pre-clinical, clinical and non-clinical settings, domestic or foreign, for conditions and diseases within the missions of participating institutes.
This FOA specifies a partnership structure that is expected to help bridge gaps in knowledge and experience by engaging the strengths of academic, industrial, and other investigators. The partners on each application should establish an inter-disciplinary, multi-institutional research team to work in strategic alliance to implement a coherent strategy to develop and translate a solution to their chosen problem. They are expected to plan, design, and validate that the solution will be suitable for end users. Each partnership should include at least one academic and one industrial organization. Each partnership should plan to transition a technology, method, assay, device, and/or system from a demonstration of possibility to a status useful in the chosen setting. Funding may be requested to enhance, adapt, optimize, validate, and otherwise translate technologies that address problems in biology, pathology, risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and/or monitoring of disease status.
This FOA defines “innovation” as likelihood to deliver a new capability to end users.
This FOA will support clinical trials that test functionality or validate performance in the chosen setting. This FOA is not intended to support straight clinical trials that lack translation as the primary motivation. Applications that propose phase III clinical trials in any area of cancer research are not sought by and will not be supported through this FOA. This FOA does not propose to support commercial production or basic research projects.
HEAL Initiative: Team Research for Initial Translational Efforts in Non-addictive Analgesic Therapeutics Development (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
RFA-NS-21-015
Posted Date: March 11, 2021
Expiration Date: October 11, 2023
Participating Organizations: NIH
Funding Opportunity Purpose: This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is part of a suite of FOAs to support the development of safe, effective, and non-addictive therapeutics to treat pain. The goal of this FOA is to support team-based research projects to develop assays, screening and early optimization work to develop a non-addictive therapeutic to treat pain. Discovery and validation of pharmacodynamic markers efficacy and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) studies are also responsive. The result of the project should be to advance a hit or lead to the point where they can meet the entry criteria for RFA-NS-21-010 HEAL Initiative: Non-addictive Analgesic Therapeutics Development [Small Molecules and Biologics] to Treat Pain (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Optional) within the 5 years of the award, there is no opportunity for renewal of this award. Applications should propose a plan that will lead to the development of analgesics with a rigorous biological rationale and scientifically sound assays. If the data does not currently exist, the application must include a strong plan for developing data linking the putative therapeutic target(s) to the proposed pain indication and supporting the hypothesis that altering the target activity will produce desirable outcomes for the disease.
This FOA is not specific for any one or group of pain conditions. Projects to develop therapeutics for acute pain, chronic pain, painful neuropathy, musculoskeletal pain, headache disorders, osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, eye pain, sickle-cell pain, post-surgical pain, cancer pain, visceral pain, post stroke pain, myofascial pain, painful disorders of the orofacial region and other conditions will be considered. Projects to develop analgesics for a combination of chronic overlapping pain conditions or for specific disease or pathological conditions will also be considered. Projects that seek to identify pain treatment targets in specific populations such as women, children, older adults, and other underrepresented groups will also be responsive to this FOA. Input from patients and caregivers on the therapeutic goals of the project is encouraged. The goal of each 5-year U19 application should be to identify candidate therapeutic(s) that will be ready to be submitted to RFA-NS-21-010 for further optimization.
HEAL Initiative: Planning Studies for Initial Analgesic Development Initial Translational Efforts [Small Molecules and Biologics] (R34 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
RFA-NS-21-016
Posted Date: March 11, 2021
Expiration Date: October 11, 2023
Participating Organizations: NIH
Funding Opportunity Purpose: The goal of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to solicit Initial Analgesic Development R34 applications that propose 2-year exploratory/planning awards that are expected to enable a future application for RFA-NS-21-015 HEAL Initiative: Team Research – for Initial Translational Efforts in Non-addictive Analgesic Development [Small Molecules and Biologics] (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed).Thus, the limited scope of aims and approach of these applications are expected to establish a strong research team, feasibility, validity, or other technically qualifying results that support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a subsequent Team Research U19 application. These R34 awards will support the building of a research team to collect initial data and recruit additional collaborators. The application must include a plan for developing a strong research team, as well as a strategy to collect preliminary data linking putative therapeutic targets to the proposed pain indication and supporting the hypothesis that altering target activity will produce desirable outcomes for the disease.
Innovation Grants to Nurture Initial Translational Efforts (IGNITE): Assay Development and Neurotherapeutic Agent Identification (R61/R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
PAR-21-124
Posted Date: March 12, 2021
Expiration Date: February 21, 2024
Participating Organizations: NIH, NINDS, NCCIH
Funding Opportunity Purpose: This FOA is intended to support: 1) development of new in vitro and/or ex vivo assays, and 2) screening efforts to identify and characterize novel therapeutic agents for neurological or neuromuscular disorders. These activities include (but are not limited to) set up and optimization, standardization, and validation of measures of fundamental cellular/molecular events such as binding, bioactivity at the target, and activity downstream of the target relevant to neurological function. The R61 phase will support the initial development, refinement, and validation of in vitro and ex vivo assays (including high throughput formats). The R33 phase will support: 1) iterative screening of potential therapeutic agents, 2) characterization of promising therapeutic agents from the screen, and may also support 3) efforts to design, prepare, and further characterize additional agents related to initial hits using a focused medicinal chemistry approach.
Drug Discovery for Nervous System Disorders (R21)
PAR-22-032
Posted Date: November 29, 2021
Expiration Date: Jan 8, 2025
Participating Organizations: NIMH, NIA, NIAAA, NIDA
Funding Opportunity Purpose: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) intends to support investigators who have interest and capability in the discovery of novel compounds for the prevention and treatment of nervous system disorders.
This FOA is designed to stimulate research in 1) Identification, design, synthesis, and preclinical testing of compounds of candidate therapeutics, 2) Initial hit-to-lead chemistry to improve activity of compounds against the target of interest, 3) Later stage lead optimization to improve efficacy and pharmacokinetics ,and 4) Initial drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK). Emphasis will be placed on projects that provide novel approaches to identify potential therapeutic agents.
The R21 grant mechanism is intended to encourage exploratory/developmental research by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of project development. High risk/high payoff projects that lack preliminary data may be most appropriate for this FOA.
Drug Discovery for Nervous System Disorders (R01)
PAR-22-031
Posted Date: November 29, 2021
Expiration Date: Jan 8, 2025
Participating Organizations: NIMH, NIA, NIAAA, NIDA
Funding Opportunity Purpose: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) supports the discovery of novel compounds for the prevention and treatment of nervous system disorders. Through this FOA NIMH and NIA wish to stimulate research in: 1) Identification, design, synthesis, and preclinical testing of compounds of candidate therapeutics; 2) Initial hit-to-lead chemistry to improve activity of compounds against the target of interest; 3) Later stage lead optimization to improve efficacy and pharmacokinetics; and 4) Initial drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic properties (DMPK). Emphasis will be placed on projects that provide novel approaches for identifying potential therapeutic agents.
Discovery of Cell-based Chemical Probes for Novel Brain Targets (R21)
PAR-21-028
Posted Date: October 14, 2020
Expiration Date: January 8, 2024
Participating Organizations: NIMH, NEI, NIA, NIDA
R21 Research Project: The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support investigators who have interest and capability to join efforts for the discovery of cell-based chemical probes for novel brain targets. It is expected that applicants will have, in hand, the starting compounds (“validated hits”) for chemical optimization and bioassays for testing new analog compounds.
Through this FOA, NIH wishes to stimulate research in: 1) discovery and development of novel, small molecules for their potential use in understanding biological processes relevant to the missions of NIMH, NIDA, NEI and/or NIA; and 2) discovery and/or validation of novel, biological targets that will inform studies of brain disease mechanisms. Emphasis will be placed on projects that provide new insight into important disease-related biological targets and biological processes.
The main emphasis of projects submitted under this FOA should be the discovery of cell-based chemical probes. Applicants interested in developing in vivo chemical probes may wish to apply using the companion R01 mechanism, (PAR-21-029).
Discovery of in vivo Chemical Probes for the Nervous System (R01)
PAR-21-029
Posted Date: October 14, 2020
Expiration Date: January 8, 2024
Participating Organizations: NIMH, NEI, NIA, NIDA
Funding Opportunity Purpose: The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support investigators who have interest and capability to join efforts for the discovery of in vivo chemical probes for novel brain targets. It is expected that applicants will have, in hand, the starting compounds (“validated hits”) for chemical optimization and bioassays for testing new analog compounds.
Through this FOA, NIH wishes to stimulate research in 1) discovery and development of novel, small molecules for their potential use in understanding biological processes relevant to the missions of NIMH, NIDA, NEI, and/or NIA and 2) discovery and/or validation of novel, biological targets that will inform studies of brain disease mechanisms. Emphasis will be placed on projects that provide new insight into important disease-related biological targets and biological processes.
The main emphasis of projects submitted under this FOA should be the discovery of in vivo chemical probes. Applicants interested in developing cell-based chemical probes may wish to apply using the companion R21 mechanism, (PAR-21-028).
If you have an assay you would like to screen that cannot be funded by one of the above opportunities, please e-mail us at Scripps-UFL-HTS@mail.ufl.edu or call us at either (561) 228-2150 or (561) 228-2101 to discuss other options available to you.