Multisite Clinical Center Common Fund Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures Program: Acute Peri-operative Pain (UM1 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA RM 18 034

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 18 034

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity titled "Multisite Clinical Center Common Fund Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures Program: Acute Peri-operative Pain (UM1 Clinical Trial Optional)" (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-RM-18-034) is a discretionary health research program funded under CFDA 93.310. It uses a cooperative agreement mechanism (UM1), meaning NIH staff are expected to have substantial involvement in the project beyond standard grant oversight. The core aim is to support a single Multisite Clinical Center that can run a coordinated, multi-location effort to enroll and follow a large group of patients experiencing acute pain around the time of surgery, and to conduct multimodal, longitudinal assessments to discover a biosignature linked to resilience and to the transition from acute peri-operative pain into chronic pain.

Scientifically, the opportunity is centered on the peri-operative window as a well-defined, clinically common setting where acute pain begins at a relatively identifiable time and can be tracked forward. The funded center is expected to implement the practical and scientific infrastructure to recruit participants, standardize data and specimen collection across sites, and repeatedly assess participants over time. The phrase "multimodal longitudinal assessment" signals that the study is intended to look beyond simple pain scores, combining multiple types of measures collected at several time points. In this context, a "biosignature" generally refers to a measurable pattern across biological and/or physiological domains that can help distinguish people who recover normally from those who develop persistent pain, and possibly identify protective factors that indicate resilience.

From an operational standpoint, the Multisite Clinical Center role is to coordinate enrollment and follow-up at scale, maintain consistent protocols across participating sites, and ensure high-quality, harmonized data collection over the full observation period. Because this is a cooperative agreement, applicants should expect close coordination with NIH program leadership and potentially other program components supported under the broader Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures (A2CPS) initiative. The "Clinical Trial Optional" designation indicates that the application can include a clinical trial component if appropriate, but it is not strictly required; the focus is on cohort enrollment and longitudinal characterization to identify signatures associated with outcomes.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities. 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; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized governments. The opportunity is also open to nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3), excluding higher education institutions under those categories), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses. NIH also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant types such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), 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 but allows certain international involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic (non-U.S.) institutions are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization. However, non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are eligible to apply, and foreign components (as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are allowed. In practical terms, that typically means a U.S. applicant can include specific, justified work conducted outside the U.S. as part of the overall project, but a foreign organization cannot be the primary applicant.

Key administrative details included in the source information are that the opportunity was created on 2018-08-24 and had an original closing date of 2018-10-24. The listing does not provide an award ceiling or an expected number of awards in the provided fields, but the structure and language suggest support for a major, centrally coordinated clinical research effort intended to generate robust, comparable datasets across multiple sites and time points, with the explicit goal of identifying biological signatures that help explain why some patients develop chronic pain after surgery while others recover.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Multisite Clinical Center Common Fund Acute to Chronic Pain Signatures Program: Acute Peri-operative Pain (UM1 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-08-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-10-24. (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 RM 18 034

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