We want the research community to know about two funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) that NIGMS has joined as part of an NHLBI initiative to support the formation of a multisite study, the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), Pneumonia, and Sepsis Phenotyping (APS) Consortium. The study seeks to better define the heterogeneity underlying critical illness syndromes and to identify the mechanisms of illness development and recovery, as well as relationships and overlap between these syndromes. The FOAs are:
- RFA-HL-23-001, ARDS, Pneumonia, and Sepsis Phenotyping Consortium Clinical Centers (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
- RFA-HL-23-002, ARDS, Pneumonia, and Sepsis Phenotyping Consortium Coordinating Center (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
Letters of intent are due May 17, and applications are due June 17.
It’s anticipated that the APS Consortium will enroll 5,000 adults hospitalized with ARDS, pneumonia, or sepsis in a prospective, longitudinal, observational study. The consortium will develop a common protocol to enroll patients at the clinical center sites, and will follow participants at 3, 6, and 12 months to monitor their outcomes. Each clinical center should propose a scientific project with hypothesis-driven questions that can be addressed through data, imaging, and/or biospecimens collected through the longitudinal cohort study protocol. Research questions must focus on ARDS, pneumonia, sepsis, or a combination of these critical illness syndromes. The consortium intends to distribute biospecimens and share clinical and research data with the broader research community as rapidly and simply as possible.
NIGMS has engaged in this activity as part of our continued follow-up to the report of a working group on sepsis [PDF], which recommended strategies to rebalance NIGMS’ investment in sepsis research; a videocast of the presentation to our advisory council is available. We’ll continue to partner with others and to promote best practices to collect, utilize, and share data and human biospecimens in order to optimally study and better understand sepsis and related disorders.
Interested investigators are encouraged to read the FOAs and to contact Xiaoli Zhao (or Lora Reineck, NHLBI) with questions regarding the potential responsiveness of a proposed project.