LARGE-SCALE T CELL IMMUNE EPITOPE DISCOVERY

Introduction The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) supports research related to the basic understanding of microbiology and immunology leading to the development of vaccines, therapeutics, and medical diagnostics for the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of infectious and immune-mediated diseases. The NIAID, Division of Allergy, Immunology and Transplantation has a requirement for the discovery of T cell immune epitopes that are important in 1) protection of humans from infectious diseases 2) pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases and 3) and rejection of, or tolerance to, transplanted cells/organs/tissues. Description The primary purpose of this solicitation is to support highly interactive, multi-disciplinary teams whose research efforts are focused on large-scale discovery of T cell immune epitopes associated with infectious or autoimmune diseases, commensal organisms, or alloantigen, and validation of these epitopes regarding their role in immune protection or immune-mediated pathogenesis in humans. Investigators may also include development/refinement of T cell epitope prediction tools as part of their research plan. It is anticipated that the multi-disciplinary teams will minimally include immunologists with the appropriate expertise in epitope identification and validation, and either microbiologists and/or virologists with expertise in the target pathogen(s), or clinicians with expertise in the target autoimmune disease(s) or transplantation, as appropriate. This program will not support studies related to HIV/AIDS or allergen epitopes (including infection-related allergen epitopes). Investigators may utilize established technological advances for immune epitope discovery or develop new or improved technologies for the large-scale identification of novel T cell epitopes. For the purpose of this solicitation, large-scale immune epitope discovery is defined as methods that will allow for extensive identification and validation of a broad range of novel T cell epitopes. Immune epitope discovery methods must be accompanied by basic studies in human samples to validate identified epitopes as targets of T cell recognition. Investigators may, but are not required to, include studies in appropriate animal models. Supported investigators will be required to attend an annual program progress meeting at NIH and submit their epitope information, and novel epitope prediction algorithms if applicable, to the Immune Epitope Database and Analysis Resource (www.iedb.org). Solicitations will be evaluated for their scientific and technical merit, scientific and technical personnel, project management plan, and facilities and other resources available to accomplish the proposed studies. It is anticipated that multiple cost reimbursement, completion type contracts will be awarded for a five-year period of performance beginning on or about August 30, 2019. NIAID estimates that the average annual total cost (direct and indirect costs combined) is $1M per contract award. However, it is anticipated that the total cost for the award(s) may vary depending upon the scope of the project and the technical objectives of the award(s). The length of time for which funding is requested should be consistent with the nature and complexity of the proposed research. In no event shall the period of performance proposed by an offeror exceed five years. Any responsible offeror may submit a proposal which shall be considered by the Agency. This BAA will be available electronically on/about May 8th, 2018, and may be accessed through FedBizOpps (http://www.fedbizopps.gov/). This notice does not commit the Government to award a contract. No collect calls will be accepted. No facsimile transmissions will be accepted. For this solicitation, the NIAID requires proposals to be submitted via the NIAID electronic Contract Proposal Submission (eCPS) website. For directions on using eCPS, go to the website https://ecps.niaid.nih.gov and then click on "How to Submit."