Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Advance Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy Development for Alzheimers Disease (R01) | PAR 17 032

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 17 032

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant opportunity titled "Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Advance Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy Development for Alzheimers Disease (R01)" (Funding Opportunity Number: PAR-17-032) supports research projects that aim to speed up Alzheimers disease (AD) and AD-related dementias therapy development by repurposing existing drugs and by identifying promising drug combinations. The central idea is to use translational bioinformatics and other computational strategies to find medications already approved or used for other conditions that might also work for AD, then back those predictions with proof-of-concept testing in biological systems. This opportunity is structured as an R01 research grant, which typically funds substantial, multi-year research programs with clear aims, strong preliminary rationale, and rigorous validation plans.

A key feature of this program is the required integration of computational discovery with experimental or clinical follow-through. Applicants are expected to combine data-driven methods (for example, computational analyses that connect drugs to disease-relevant molecular pathways, gene expression signatures, protein interaction networks, real-world clinical data patterns, or other high-dimensional biomedical data) with practical evidence that the drug or drug combination has potential benefit in AD. The validation component can be carried out in cell-based systems, animal models, and/or human studies, with the emphasis on generating proof-of-concept efficacy evidence rather than stopping at in silico predictions. In other words, the program is designed to encourage end-to-end projects that begin with computational identification of candidates and then demonstrate biological plausibility and early efficacy signals in relevant experimental settings.

The scope includes both single-drug repositioning and combination therapy development. That means investigators can propose work to evaluate one repurposed agent as a potential AD therapy, or they can focus on pairing drugs into combinations that may act on multiple targets or disease mechanisms at once. This combination angle is particularly relevant to AD because the disease involves many interacting processes, and computational approaches can help prioritize combinations that are mechanistically complementary, potentially synergistic, or more likely to succeed than monotherapies. The emphasis on drugs already used for other conditions also reflects an effort to reduce development time and risk, since such compounds often have existing safety data, dosing information, and manufacturing pathways.

The opportunity falls under the Health funding activity category and is associated with CFDA number 93.866. The listed award ceiling is $500,000, indicating the maximum budget level anticipated (as provided in the source summary). The sponsoring agency is the NIH, and the original closing date shown in the source data is 2020-03-31, with a creation date of 2016-10-25. While the summary does not specify the number of expected awards, it signals that the program was intended to support multiple projects that meet the computational-plus-validation standard and that directly advance therapeutic leads for AD and related dementias.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. and non-U.S. organizations. Eligible applicants listed 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, and Native American tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments). It also includes public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education), for-profit organizations other than small businesses, small businesses, and other entities. In addition, the opportunity explicitly calls out other eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). This broad eligibility suggests NIH interest in drawing on a wide range of expertise and data resources, including international computational and translational research capabilities.

Overall, the grant is geared toward teams that can connect modern computational biology and biomedical data science with translational testing pipelines to produce actionable therapeutic hypotheses for AD. Competitive projects under this announcement would typically be expected to (1) justify the computational strategy and data sources used to prioritize repurposing candidates or combinations, (2) explain why the selected candidates are relevant to AD biology or patient outcomes, and (3) present a rigorous plan for proof-of-concept efficacy evaluation in appropriate cell, animal, and/or human contexts. The intended outcome is not just a list of computational hits, but a set of well-supported therapeutic candidates with early evidence that they warrant further development for Alzheimers disease and related dementias.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Advance Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy Development for Alzheimers Disease (R01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-10-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-03-31. (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 $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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