Centers for HIV Structural Biology (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA AI 21 030

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AI 21 030

The Centers for HIV Structural Biology (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) funding opportunity (RFA AI 21 030) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement designed to build and support large, coordinated research centers focused on solving difficult, high-impact structural biology problems in HIV. The core idea is to fund dynamic, multidisciplinary consortia that bring together structural biologists, virologists, and computational scientists to determine and interpret complex biological structures that matter for HIV prevention, treatment, and ultimately cure strategies. In practice, this means teams are expected to tackle challenging targets (for example, viral proteins, host factors, immune complexes, or multi-component assemblies) where high-resolution structural insight can directly inform vaccine design, therapeutic development, antibody engineering, or the understanding of viral replication and persistence.

Because this is a U54 center-style award, the emphasis is not just on individual projects, but on building an integrated program that operates like a hub. The FOA signals that applicants should leverage shared resources and infrastructure, coordinate research across multiple investigators, and create a setting where new collaborations form naturally. A key expectation is that the consortium functions as more than the sum of its parts: shared cores, common technologies, data integration, standardization of approaches, and cross-project teamwork should enable faster progress on structural questions that are hard to solve in smaller, isolated labs. The cooperative agreement mechanism also implies substantial NIH program involvement compared with a typical grant, with the funder playing a more active role in oversight, coordination, and ensuring that the center meets its broader goals.

The announcement also highlights workforce development and community building within the HIV structural biology space. Beyond generating structures and analyses, the centers are expected to engage and train the next generation of researchers, meaning meaningful plans for mentoring, skills development, and providing junior scientists opportunities to participate in high-level collaborative science. This often includes training at the interface of wet-lab virology, advanced structure determination methods, and computational modeling, reflecting how modern structural biology increasingly depends on hybrid approaches and multi-disciplinary fluency.

Administratively, this opportunity is in the health funding activity category under CFDA 93.855 and uses the cooperative agreement funding instrument. The listed award ceiling is $3,500,000, indicating that NIH anticipated relatively large budgets consistent with center-scale operations, shared cores, and multiple interlocking projects. The original closing date in the source data is October 13, 2021, and the FOA creation date is April 20, 2021, which helps place it in time for anyone looking at it historically or tracking similar future re-issues.

Eligibility is broad across many U.S. organization types. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, and 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; certain non-federally recognized tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA explicitly notes additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), 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, Indian/Native American tribal governments other than federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. Taken together, NIH is signaling an interest in inclusive participation and a wide pool of potential institutional homes for these centers.

At the same time, the FOA draws clear lines around foreign eligibility. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as the primary applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed. In practical terms, that means a U.S.-based applicant can include certain international collaborators or activities as a foreign component when justified, even though a foreign institution cannot serve as the applicant/lead organization. This structure supports global scientific collaboration while keeping the award anchored at an eligible U.S. institution.

Finally, the title includes "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," which means applications should not propose clinical trials under this program. The focus is on foundational and translational structural biology research rather than testing interventions in human participants. The intended output is the kind of detailed structural and computational understanding that enables downstream clinical advances, rather than clinical evaluation itself.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Centers for HIV Structural Biology (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.855.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-04-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-10-13. (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 $3,500,000.00 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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