Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional) | PAR 23 077

Opportunity Information: Apply for PAR 23 077

The Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) intended to back large, tightly coordinated research efforts that would be unrealistic for a single lab or a pair of investigators to execute. The core idea is to fund highly integrated teams made up of three to six Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD/PIs) who can jointly pursue ambitious, high-impact scientific questions aligned with the NIGMS mission. The emphasis is on work that genuinely depends on team science: the project should be structured so that progress comes from strong scientific synergy, deliberate coordination, and active management of interdependent aims rather than from several loosely connected projects running in parallel.

This FOA is specifically oriented toward bold research objectives that could produce major advances in a field, not incremental extensions of existing work. Reviewers and program staff are looking for evidence that the team has designed the science in a way that requires frequent interaction, shared decision-making, and cross-disciplinary integration, with clear plans for how the collaboration will be managed day to day. In other words, the application needs to show that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that the overall goals cannot be achieved simply by funding each investigator independently.

At the same time, the FOA draws a clear boundary around what is not a good fit. Applications that are mainly centered on building or maintaining community resources, expanding shared repositories, developing general-purpose infrastructure, or creating technologies as the primary outcome are considered non-responsive. While a proposed project might reasonably develop tools or resources as part of pursuing a larger biological or biomedical question, the main thrust cannot be technology or infrastructure development for its own sake.

This reissued announcement also clarifies how clinical trials fit. The mechanism is "clinical trial optional," meaning NIH-defined clinical trials may be included when they are scientifically necessary for the research objectives and appropriate to NIGMS interests. However, NIGMS explicitly will not accept applications proposing clinical trials designed to test the safety and efficacy of interventions in the classic clinical development sense (Phase I, Phase II, or Phase III) when the goal is future clinical treatment claims and/or regulatory approval. In practical terms, applicants can propose certain kinds of human studies or trials that meet the NIH definition if they are aimed at mechanistic understanding, foundational knowledge, or other goals consistent with NIGMS, but not late-stage or regulatory-oriented efficacy trials.

Eligibility is broad and spans many U.S.-based organizational types. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and 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; other Native American tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those categories); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and other organizations as allowed under NIH rules. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), 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, and U.S. territories or possessions.

Foreign eligibility is constrained. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. However, foreign components as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, meaning a U.S. applicant can include certain foreign elements when they are well-justified and compliant with NIH policy, but the primary applicant must be domestic.

Administratively, this is a discretionary grant opportunity in the health category (CFDA 93.859). The funding opportunity number is PAR-23-077, it was created on February 3, 2023, and the listed original closing date is January 27, 2026. The posted source data does not specify an award ceiling or the expected number of awards, so applicants typically need to consult the full FOA text and any linked NIGMS guidance for budget expectations, scope norms, and institute-specific considerations.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Collaborative Program Grant for Multidisciplinary Teams (RM1 - Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.859.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2023-02-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2026-01-27. (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 PAR 23 077

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