Human Liver Tissue and Hepatocytes Resource-Related Research Project (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA DK 23 012

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 23 012

The Human Liver Tissue and Hepatocytes Resource-Related Research Project (R24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed), Funding Opportunity Number RFA-DK-23-012, is a discretionary NIH grant aimed at maintaining and strengthening a national research resource that supplies human liver tissue and primary human hepatocytes to the broader biomedical research community. The core idea is not to fund individual hypothesis-driven lab studies, but to fund the infrastructure and coordinated activities needed to keep high-quality, well-characterized human liver materials consistently available to qualified researchers. In practice, the program supported under this NOFO is expected to operate as a centralized or coordinated resource that can reliably obtain, process, preserve, and distribute these human biospecimens so that investigators can use them for downstream studies in areas such as liver biology, metabolism, toxicology, drug metabolism, and liver disease research.

A central requirement is that the resource focus on human-derived liver tissue and hepatocytes. The NOFO explicitly states that applications centered on animal liver tissue and/or animal hepatocyte studies will be considered non-responsive, meaning they would not fit the scope and would not be competitive for funding under this announcement. Just as importantly, this is an R24 mechanism and is labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," so the work proposed should be resource-development and resource-operations oriented rather than involving clinical trial activities. The expected deliverables revolve around the full lifecycle of biospecimen management: facilitating procurement (for example, establishing and managing sourcing relationships and acquisition pipelines), ensuring appropriate preservation and storage (such as validated processing methods, cryopreservation, and quality controls), and enabling distribution to qualified biomedical researchers in a way that supports broad access and scientific utility.

The opportunity is administered by the National Institutes of Health and falls under the activity category of Food and Nutrition, Health, with CFDA number 93.847. The funding instrument is a grant, with an award ceiling listed at $2,500,000. The original closing date provided in the source data is 2023-08-30, and the opportunity record creation date is 2023-05-03. While the excerpt does not specify the anticipated number of awards, the ceiling indicates that NIH expects applicants to propose a substantial, operationally mature resource effort that can support a national user base and maintain high standards for specimen integrity and distribution logistics.

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

At the same time, the NOFO draws a firm line on foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) are not eligible to apply, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply, and foreign components (as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are not allowed. In other words, the applicant organization and the work proposed must be structured so that the project is fully domestic in organizational footprint and execution, consistent with NIH policy constraints spelled out in the announcement.

Overall, this NOFO is best understood as NIH investing in shared scientific infrastructure: a dependable, standardized, and widely accessible pipeline for human liver tissue and hepatocytes. The emphasis is on the operational capabilities that make these materials usable and trustworthy for many different downstream projects, including consistent procurement channels, rigorous processing and preservation practices, documentation and quality assurance, and fair, controlled distribution to qualified investigators. Applicants would be expected to show they can run this kind of resource at scale, serve a broad research community, and keep the program focused on human liver materials rather than animal-model specimen work.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Human Liver Tissue and Hepatocytes Resource-Related Research Project (R24 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): 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-05-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-08-30. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $2,500,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

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