Genomic Variant Interactions With Other Variants Or The Environment (UM1 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

Solicitation RFA-HG-27-009 is a Notice of Funding Opportunity from the National Institutes of Health, under the Department of Health and Human Services, for a UM1 Research Project with Complex Structure Cooperative Agreement. The program seeks to establish interaction centers to study how genetic or environmental interactions modify genomic variant impact as part of the second phase of the Impact of Genomic Variation on Function (IGVF) Consortium. Awardees must develop a quantitative research framework to detect joint effects beyond additive modifiers, apply genomic perturbation methods to collect phenotypic data, and share all resulting data, analyses, and predictive methods through the IGVF portal and catalog. The initiative is designed as discovery science to improve the understanding of genome-wide association studies and polygenic scores. Eligible applicants include small businesses and other for-profit organizations, with a maximum project period of five years and a budget limit of 1.5 million dollars in direct costs per year. Applications are due by December 14, 2026, and are evaluated via the NIH peer review system based on significance, contribution to consortium goals, and the rigor of the proposed research. Key requirements include a dedicated Project Manager devoting at least four person months and a PD/PI effort of at least three person months. Additionally, awardees must comply with strict cybersecurity incident reporting guidelines, maintain active SAM and eRA Commons registrations, and adhere to federal regulations regarding human subjects and vertebrate animal research.