Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

Deadline

Nov 10, 2026 (16 days left)

Who can apply

Others

Award range

$50,000 to $100,000

Expected awards

13

Total program funding

$2.0 million

Your own money required

No cost sharing or matching required

Opportunity number

RFA-RM-27-024

Posted

Oct 8, 2026

Assistance listing

93.310

More on who can apply

Refer to Section III. Eligibility Information in the NOFO for additional information on eligibility.Foreign Organizations/International CollaborationsNon-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.NIH will no longer issue awards (i.e., new, renewal, or non-competing continuation) to domestic or foreign entities that involve foreign subawards/subcontracts. All NIH-funded research involving foreign su

What it funds

The Common Fund Human Virome Program (HVP) aims to extensively and comprehensively characterize the "healthy" human virome (the collection of viruses that normally reside inside the human body without evidence of disease) and create tools, models, and methods that will enable an in-depth study of its variation and composition in relation to host factors and its influence on health and disease.The purpose of this NOFO is to support small pilot projects that extend the goals of the HVP, including further validating, improving, and complementing existing and newly developed tools from the HVP program by leveraging human specimens collected from the cohorts under the program; samples from animals to promote the refinement, utilization, and translation of these tools to better serve the goals of the HVP program; expanding existing cohorts and/or biospecimen sampling sites for virome characterization; developing tools, assays, and methods to study the human virome; and defining functional interactions between the human virome and host. These pilot projects will expand the HVP consortium, and collaboration across the HVP is expected. Applicants outside the current HVP are encouraged to apply and pilot projects should not overlap with existing HVP efforts (visit the Common Fund website for a list of funded research).

What to do next

1. Open the official notice on Grants.gov and download the full announcement (the NOFO) and any attachments.
2. Check you can apply: the eligible applicants above, and any detail in the notice's eligibility section.
3. Register your organization in SAM.gov (choose "all awards") and create a Grants.gov account; allow several weeks the first time.
4. Apply through Grants.gov exactly as the notice says, before Nov 10, 2026. Late applications are usually not accepted.

New to this? Applying for a federal grant, step by step · Register to apply · How to read the notice · Write the narrative · Build the budget · Agency contact: HumanVirome@od.nih.gov

From Grants.gov's official daily extract of Oct 25, 2026. The notice on Grants.gov and its attachments are what count. UX Contract is independent and not a government website.