HEAL Initiative: Discovery and Functional Evaluation of Human Pain-associated Genes and Cells (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA NS 22 018

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 22 018

The NIH funding opportunity "HEAL Initiative: Discovery and Functional Evaluation of Human Pain-associated Genes and Cells (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" (RFA-NS-22-018) supports large, team-based research centers focused on understanding the biology of human pain using human tissues and cells. The central goal is to generate rich, high-quality datasets that help identify and characterize functional genetic elements, epigenetic patterns, and molecular and cellular pathways involved in how pain is detected, transmitted, and processed in humans. In practice, the work is meant to go beyond small-scale studies and instead produce comprehensive resources that can clarify which genes, regulatory elements, and cell types are truly relevant to human pain, rather than relying only on animal models or limited datasets.

This program sits under the NIH HEAL (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Initiative, specifically within the PRECISION Human Pain effort ("to Reveal and Evaluate Cells-to-gene Information that Specify Intricacies, Origins, and the Nature of Human Pain"). The emphasis is on applying large-scale, high-throughput approaches to tissues involved in pain processing. While the announcement text does not list specific experimental platforms, the wording is aligned with approaches such as multi-omic profiling and other systematic discovery strategies that can map gene regulation, cell states, and signaling pathways across relevant human tissues and cell populations. The expectation is that these projects will enable discovery (what genes/cells/pathways matter) and functional evaluation (how those elements influence pain biology), producing datasets that can serve as a foundation for future mechanistic studies and therapeutic development.

Awards are made as U19 cooperative agreements, which signals a structured partnership between NIH and awardees rather than a hands-off research grant. Under the U19 model, funded centers are expected to work as a coordinated network, actively collaborating and aligning methods, data standards, and research priorities across sites. A major component of this opportunity is the requirement that U19 Centers coordinate with a companion U24 effort, the HEAL Initiative Human Pain-associated Genes and Cells Data Coordination and Integration Center. That U24 center is intended to help curate, harmonize, and integrate the datasets produced by the U19 network so that the outputs are comparable across projects and more broadly usable by the research community. In other words, the FOA is not only paying for discovery science, but also for building coherent, integrated data resources rather than isolated datasets.

The FOA explicitly indicates "Clinical Trial Not Allowed," meaning the funded activities should not be designed as clinical trials. The work can still involve human-derived materials (tissues or cells) and generate human-focused datasets, but it is not meant to test clinical interventions in human participants under a clinical trial framework. The program is therefore geared toward foundational and translational biology, building detailed maps of human pain-relevant genes and cells and clarifying functional mechanisms in ways that can inform later-stage development.

Eligibility is broad and includes many institution types. In addition to typical applicants such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses, the announcement highlights participation from diverse and underserved institution categories. These include 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), tribal governments and tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and non-U.S. (foreign) organizations. Government entities at multiple levels (state, county, city/township, special districts) are also listed as eligible.

Administratively, the sponsoring agency is the National Institutes of Health. The opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding and uses the cooperative agreement mechanism. The original closing date listed is March 9, 2023, and the award ceiling shown is $1,500,000. Multiple CFDA program numbers are associated with the FOA (93.121, 93.213, 93.273, 93.393, 93.846, 93.847, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866), reflecting NIH programmatic involvement across relevant institutes and authorities that support this kind of research.

Overall, the opportunity is aimed at building a coordinated, multidisciplinary network of U19 research centers that can systematically profile and functionally interpret human pain biology at scale, while ensuring that the resulting datasets are curated and integrated through a centralized data coordination effort so they become durable community resources for understanding and ultimately treating pain.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, food and nutrition, health, income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "HEAL Initiative: Discovery and Functional Evaluation of Human Pain-associated Genes and Cells (U19 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): 93.121, 93.213, 93.273, 93.393, 93.846, 93.847, 93.853, 93.865, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-02-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2023-03-09. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,500,000.00 in funding.
• 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 NS 22 018

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