Centers Without Walls for Collaborative Research in the Epilepsies Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) (U01) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The NIH funding opportunity RFA-NS-14-004, titled "Centers Without Walls for Collaborative Research in the Epilepsies: Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) (U01)," is a discretionary, health-focused cooperative agreement designed to push SUDEP research forward through tightly coordinated, multi-institution teamwork. The central goal is to speed up progress on three fronts: clarifying the biological and physiological mechanisms that lead to SUDEP, identifying and validating risk factors in people with epilepsy, and moving toward practical intervention strategies that could prevent SUDEP. Rather than supporting isolated projects, the announcement is structured to build a collaborative, center-like program that functions across sites (a "Center Without Walls"), with multiple research components deliberately linked together so they can share data, expertise, methods, and infrastructure.

This FOA uses the U01 cooperative agreement mechanism, which generally means the NIH expects substantial scientific involvement from the funding institute compared with a standard investigator-initiated grant. In practice, applicants should be prepared for a more interactive relationship with NIH program staff, including coordinated milestones, shared governance expectations, and an emphasis on collaboration and deliverables. The application format reflects that center-style approach: linked applications are required and must include an Administrative Core plus multiple Scientific Projects, with the option to add additional Cores if they are necessary to support the research aims (for example, a data management core, clinical phenotyping core, biostatistics core, neurophysiology core, pathology core, or similar shared resource). The Administrative Core is expected to provide leadership, coordination across participating sites, communication plans, oversight of progress, and integration across projects so the overall program functions as a single cohesive effort rather than a collection of independent studies.

The research focus is specifically SUDEP, a devastating outcome in epilepsy that remains incompletely understood. The FOA is aimed at accelerating discovery about the underlying mechanisms that contribute to SUDEP, which can include neurologic, cardiac, respiratory, autonomic, genetic, and systems-level pathways, as well as interactions among these systems. It also targets the identification of risk factors in individuals with epilepsy, which typically implies clinically meaningful predictors that can be measured, tracked, and used to stratify risk. Finally, it emphasizes working toward prevention, meaning the program should have a clear line of sight to interventions, whether they involve monitoring approaches, therapeutic strategies, clinical management changes, device-based solutions, or other preventive concepts that can be tested and refined as evidence develops.

From an administrative standpoint, the opportunity was posted September 20, 2013, with an original and current closing date of March 10, 2014, and an archive date of April 10, 2014. The NIH estimated total funding for the initiative at $3,000,000 and anticipated making one award. There is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The CFDA listing associated with the program is 93.853, which corresponds to Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders. Because only one award was expected, the FOA effectively describes a highly competitive, flagship-type center effort, where the proposed team, integration plan, and likelihood of producing actionable advances in SUDEP would be central to review.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic U.S. organizations, such as public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (with and without 501(c)(3) status), state and local governments (including counties, cities/townships, special district governments), independent school districts, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, tribal governments and tribal organizations, small businesses, and for-profit organizations (other than small businesses). The FOA explicitly includes a wide range of institution types that often participate in NIH programs, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations where appropriate. Importantly, non-U.S. entities are also eligible, including foreign organizations and foreign institutions, and foreign components of U.S. organizations are permitted as allowed under NIH policy, meaning the collaboration model can extend internationally if it strengthens the science and the program can justify that structure.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as an NIH-driven attempt to concentrate expertise and resources into a single, highly integrated collaborative network dedicated to SUDEP. The required combination of an Administrative Core and multiple Scientific Projects signals that NIH wanted applicants to propose not just strong individual studies, but a coordinated program where different disciplines and sites collectively address SUDEP mechanisms, risk prediction, and prevention in a way that would be difficult to accomplish through separate, unconnected grants. For full details, the archived announcement was provided via the NIH Grants Guide at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-NS-14-004.html, and NIH Office of Extramural Research contact points were listed for technical access or linking issues.

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