U.S. NIH – PCHRD Collaborative Research Call for Tuberculosis (CoRe TB)

RePORT Philippines is a multi-organizational, collaborative effort, initiated by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in August 2017, through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). The establishment of the consortium serves as a foundation for national and international collaborations to facilitate communication in the collection, dissemination, and sharing of information and knowledge on TB. This ties in with the role of DOST PCHRD to promote discovery, development and marketing of novel drugs, diagnostic tests, vaccines, and other health technologies to foster a healthier and more productive nation.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Filipino Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Philippine Council for Health and Research Development (PCHRD), invite researchers to submit concept proposals for the RePORT Philippines Phase II: U.S. NIH – PCHRD Collaborative Research Call for Tuberculosis (CoRe TB). This initiative will provide a maximum of three (3) years of funding to support six (6) high quality collaborative research projects focused on research in tuberculosis (TB) and related coinfections and comorbidities, such as HIV infection, Diabetes and COVID-19, to address TB research needs.

The purpose of the PCHRD-NIH collaborative awards is to foster new or expanded infectious disease and immunology focused biomedical research collaborations between researchers in the United States and the Philippines. It is expected that proposals will focus on questions of direct relevance to TB that will add to global knowledge about TB and related coinfections and comorbidities, such as HIV, Diabetes, and COVID-19. Investigators from the Philippines and United States are invited to jointly apply for funding for collaborative research projects. The primary goals and objectives of this initiative are to promote and advance TB related research focused on the following priority areas:

• Genomic and Molecular Technologies: Novel biomarker identification, with focus on pathogenomics and host-pathogen interactions.
• Diagnostics: Development of cost-effective diagnostic tools (e.g., point of care, differential/ discriminatory, confirmatory, and early detection) for TB, and utilizing or repurposing off-patent or lapsed and/ or novel technologies.
• Vaccines and Therapeutics: Exploratory/ applied research which might lead to the development of new and more effective prevention or therapeutic strategies.
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT)/ e-health: Development of user-friendly ICT solutions to accelerate the gathering and processing of health and related information for policy making, and delivery of quality healthcare services.

The Research Team must be composed of scientists employed at Philippine and U.S. institutions hereafter referred to as the Primary Institutions. All proposals must identify at least one (1) Principal Investigator (PI) from the Philippines and one (1) collaborating PI (Co-PI) from the U.S. who will serve as the Project Leaders for their respective countries and the primary point-of-contact to DOST PCHRD and NIAID/CRDF Global, respectively.

Eligibility Requirements for the Primary Institution and Principal Investigator from the Philippines

The Primary Institution that will be involved in the project:

• Must be a Filipino entity duly-registered with the appropriate government agencies
• Must be either a government agency or its instrumentalities, educational institution, non-government organization, non-profit institution, private company, startups, or a DOST-certified Science Foundation
• In the case of startups, it must be in operation for a minimum of one (1) year to a maximum of three (3) years provided the business model has not been established.

The following are the criteria for the Filipino Principal Investigator (PI):

• Must be a Filipino citizen, subject to applicable laws
• Must hold a permanent position or a regular position for private entity and eligible to work for the entire project Period of Performance
• Must not have any existing technical and financial accountabilities with DOST and its agencies
• Must not have been found guilty of administrative or criminal cases, including those under appeal

Eligibility Requirements for the Primary Institution and Principal Investigator from the United States

Institutions from the U.S. must:

• Be a legally incorporated institute within the United States
• Not be a Federal Government agency
• Agree to comply with applicable U.S. regulations on funding received from USG agencies

The following are the criteria for the U.S. Collaborating PI:

• Be legally employed at an eligible institution
• Must not be a Graduate or PhD student
• Researchers employed by the U.S. federal government are not eligible under this opportunity

This research call is a two-stage process wherein applicants are expected to submit an initial concept proposal and a full proposal.

Concept proposals will undergo eligibility checks and will be reviewed by the U.S. NIAID and PCHRD. Ten (10) concept proposals will be selected and invited to submit a full proposal. Travel awards will be provided to each project team who wish to travel and develop their full proposal with their collaborators.

Concept proposals must be submitted by the Contact Principal Investigator (PI) via email to CRDF Global POC: Ms. Anna Emery, aemery@crdfglobal.org no later than:

• Wednesday December 7, 2022 (10:59 AM) U.S. Eastern Standard Time (EST) or
• Wednesday, December 7, 2022 (11:59 PM) Philippine Standard Time (PST)

Full proposals will undergo another round of joint peer evaluation by the U.S. and Filipino technical reviewers. Only six (6) proposals will be selected for funding under this call. Full proposals must be submitted through CRDF Global’s Grant Management System, Fluxx. E-mail attachments and hard copies will NOT be accepted.

• Friday, April 7, 2023 (11:59 AM) U.S. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) or
• Friday, April 7, 2023 (11:59 PM) Philippine Standard Time (PST)

For any questions, please reach out to CRDF Global program staff: Anna Emery, aemery@crdfglobal.org and Mason Szlapak, mszlapak@crdfglobal.org.