Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Laboratory Core (U24) Clinical Trial Not Allowed | RFA OD 22 016

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA OD 22 016

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) released this funding opportunity, RFA-OD-22-016, to support a dedicated Laboratory Core for the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. The award mechanism is a U24 cooperative agreement, meaning the funded group would not just receive funds and work independently, but would operate in close coordination with NIH and the broader ECHO program structure. The notice is explicitly labeled "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," signaling that the supported activities are intended to be infrastructure, laboratory operations, and cohort-support functions rather than interventional clinical trials.

At its core, the opportunity is about building and running the lab backbone for ECHO Cohort biospecimens and the data produced from testing those specimens. The Laboratory Core is expected to provide leadership, project management, and the practical infrastructure that makes biospecimen-based research possible at ECHO scale. That includes creating consistent, usable systems across many study sites so that samples collected in different places and times can be handled in a standardized way, tracked reliably, and analyzed with quality and comparability in mind. The intent is to strengthen the program's ability to generate high-quality biomarker, exposure, and other assay data that can be linked back to participant information for large, harmonized analyses.

The FOA lays out four main responsibilities for the Laboratory Core. First, it must facilitate biospecimen collection and processing across the ECHO Cohort, which generally involves guidance and coordination around collection protocols, processing steps, shipping logistics, and quality control so that specimens meet assay requirements. Second, it must manage the ECHO Cohort Biorepository, implying responsibility for long-term storage, inventory systems, chain-of-custody documentation, sample accessioning, and controlled distribution of specimens for approved uses. Third, it must perform or facilitate a wide range of biospecimen assays to support ECHO analyses. In practice, this could involve running assays in-house, coordinating with external laboratories, establishing assay validation and performance monitoring, and ensuring consistent methods across platforms and time. Fourth, it must coordinate biospecimen information and assay results, which is essentially the data side of laboratory operations: linking samples to participants and timepoints, maintaining metadata, ensuring results are returned in standardized formats, and supporting downstream integration with ECHO data systems.

This FOA is designed to operate alongside several companion funding announcements that collectively make up the ECHO program infrastructure. Those parallel competitions include awards for ECHO Cohort Study Sites (with variations for following existing participants and/or recruiting new pregnant participants), as well as separate awards for an ECHO Coordinating Center, a Data Analysis Center, and a Measurement Core. The Laboratory Core is therefore positioned as one component in a multi-center ecosystem, where study sites collect participant data and specimens, cores provide specialized services and standardization, and coordinating and analysis centers align operations and enable program-wide science.

Eligibility is broad and includes many common U.S. applicant categories: state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The announcement also highlights additional eligible groups such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, it draws clear lines around foreign participation: non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations and foreign institutions) cannot apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply. However, foreign components are allowed as defined by NIH policy, meaning a U.S.-based applicant may be able to include certain international elements in the project if they meet NIH's definition and requirements for foreign components.

Administratively, the opportunity is listed as discretionary and spans multiple public health-related assistance listing numbers (CFDA/assistance listings), reflecting NIH's multi-institute participation in ECHO. The original closing date shown is November 21, 2022, and the agency name is the National Institutes of Health. The source text does not provide an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, indicating those details were either unspecified in the excerpt or set elsewhere in the full announcement.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, environment, food and nutrition, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Laboratory Core (U24) 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): 93.113, 93.121, 93.213, 93.233, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.307, 93.310, 93.350, 93.361, 93.837, 93.838, 93.839, 93.840, 93.847, 93.853, 93.855, 93.865, 93.866, 93.879.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-08-30.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-11-21. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for RFA OD 22 016

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