Genomic Community Resources (U24) | PAR 17 273

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 17 273

The Genomic Community Resources (U24) opportunity (PAR-17-273) is a National Institutes of Health cooperative agreement aimed at strengthening the shared infrastructure that makes modern genomics research possible. Led by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), the program is designed to support resources that the wider scientific community can use and build on, rather than narrowly focused projects that only serve a single lab or a limited consortium. The central idea is to fund the development, improvement, and broad distribution of genomic tools, datasets, and knowledgebases that accelerate basic biology, human disease research, model organism studies, and other areas of biomedical science. A recurring emphasis is cost-effective generation and maintenance of these resources, with the expectation that awardees will maximize usefulness to many users while keeping approaches efficient and scalable.

The types of projects encouraged under this funding announcement cover a wide range of community-facing genomic resources. This includes databases and informatics platforms such as human and model organism databases, curated ontologies that standardize terminology across studies, and analysis toolsets that help researchers interpret genomic data consistently. It also includes systematic identification and collection of genomic features, for example comprehensive catalogs of functional genomic elements that are broadly relevant for interpreting variation and understanding gene regulation. Another major category involves producing standard, high-value data types using centralized sets of samples, similar in spirit to widely used reference efforts such as the 1000 Genomes Project structural variant resources or GTEx-style reference data. In other words, the program supports the kinds of reference datasets and interoperable tools that many separate projects rely on for benchmarking, annotation, and downstream discovery. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) signals a specific interest in any of these resource types when they are oriented toward cancer, meaning applicants can propose community resources that directly advance cancer genomics, cancer data harmonization, or cancer-relevant functional annotation and interpretation.

This opportunity uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24), which typically indicates substantial scientific or programmatic involvement from NIH staff compared with a standard grant. In practice, this often aligns with projects that require coordinated planning, ongoing stewardship, community engagement, and clear deliverables over time, such as maintaining a widely used database, producing periodic data releases, establishing standards, or supporting user services and documentation. The activity category is listed under Education and Health, reflecting the broad public-good nature of shared genomic infrastructure and the expectation that it will enable research and knowledge dissemination across biomedical domains.

Eligibility is broad and spans many sectors. Eligible applicants include various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses as well as small businesses), public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and Native American tribal governments and organizations (including federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations). The announcement also explicitly calls out additional eligible groups such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-U.S. (foreign) entities. This breadth signals that NIH is open to funding whichever organizations are best positioned to create and operate high-impact genomic resources, including international partners when appropriate.

Administratively, the opportunity is cataloged under CFDA numbers 93.172 and 93.399. The posting lists an original closing date of 2020-01-25 and a creation date of 2017-05-08, which places it in a specific historical funding cycle; in real-world use, applicants typically confirm whether a related, reissued, or currently active announcement exists before preparing an application. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided summary, which often means budgets and award counts may vary by project scope, available appropriations, and NIH program priorities. Overall, the program is best understood as NIH support for durable, widely usable genomic community assets: resources that standardize data and methods, lower barriers for researchers, and create common reference points that speed up discovery across many independent studies, including strong opportunities for cancer-focused community resources aligned with NCI interests.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Genomic Community Resources (U24)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.172, 93.399.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-05-08.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-01-25. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for PAR 17 273

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