Opportunity Information: Apply for PA 14 154
Apply for PA 14 154
- The National Institutes of Health in the education environment health income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Early Stage Development of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics, and Big Data Science (R43/R44)" and is now available to receive applicants.
- Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.113 Environmental Health 93.121 Oral Diseases and Disorders Research 93.172 Human Genome Research 93.242 Mental Health Research Grants 93.273 Alcohol Research Programs 93.279 Drug Abuse and Addiction Research Programs 93.286 Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health 93.361 Nursing Research 93.846 Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases Research 93.855 Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research 93.856 Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research 93.859 Biomedical Research and Research Training 93.865 Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research 93.879 Medical Library Assistance.
- This funding opportunity was created on Mar 14, 2014 and posted on Mar 14, 2014.
- Applicants must submit their applications by May 7, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
- Eligible applicants include: Small businesses.
- Other Eligible Applicants include the following Non domestic (non U.S.) Entities (Foreign Institutions) are not eligible to apply. Non domestic (non U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply. Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowed.
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Opportunity Summary:
The Early Stage Development of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics, and Big Data Science (R43/R44) opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number PA 14-154) was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant program designed to help small businesses build and test new technology that can move biomedical research forward. The central idea is to fund early-stage research and development that produces practical, enabling tools in computing, informatics, and big data science, especially tools that make it easier for researchers to handle modern biomedical data and answer meaningful biomedical or behavioral research questions. Rather than supporting technology development in isolation, the FOA emphasizes that proposed work should be grounded in real scientific problems in health and disease, so the resulting products have clear value to the research community.
The program used the SBIR R43/R44 mechanism, which is NIH's standard phased approach for small business innovation: Phase I (R43) typically supports feasibility and proof-of-concept work, while Phase II (R44) supports further development, refinement, and validation toward a more mature prototype or product-ready capability. In practice, this structure encourages applicants to propose a clear development path from an initial technical concept to a more robust, tested solution that can be adopted by biomedical researchers, research institutions, or the broader health ecosystem.
In terms of scientific scope, the FOA was intentionally broad across NIH mission areas and was described as relevant to most NIH Institutes and Centers. That means projects could relate to basic biomedicine as well as research spanning essentially any organ system, condition, or disease area, so long as the primary deliverable is a technology advance in biomedical computing, informatics, or big data methods. The announcement highlights several major themes, including the development of collaborative environments (for example, platforms that help distributed teams share data, workflows, and results), data integration approaches (methods and systems to combine heterogeneous datasets such as genomics, imaging, clinical data, and wearable sensor streams), and improved analysis and modeling methodologies. It also calls out novel computer science and statistical approaches, signaling interest in new algorithms, architectures, and analytic techniques that can better handle scale, complexity, uncertainty, and real-world messiness in biomedical datasets.
A key motivation behind the FOA is the growing availability of large and complex datasets in biomedical research and the need for tools that can translate those datasets into usable knowledge. This includes the practical challenges of storing, organizing, harmonizing, and securing data, as well as the scientific challenges of extracting signal from noise, building models that generalize, and supporting reproducible, transparent research. The opportunity is framed around enabling rapid progress in areas of scientific opportunity, so proposals were expected to offer more than incremental improvements; they were meant to advance the state of the art in ways that open up new research capabilities or substantially improve efficiency, scalability, or rigor.
Eligibility was limited to small business concerns, consistent with SBIR rules. Foreign (non-U.S.) entities were not eligible to apply, and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations were also not eligible; however, the FOA notes that foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowed in some circumstances. The announcement specified no cost sharing or matching requirement, which typically lowers the barrier for small companies to pursue early-stage R&D without needing to bring additional non-federal funds to meet a match.
Administratively, this was a discretionary grant program posted and created on March 14, 2014, with an original and current closing date listed as May 7, 2017, and it was archived on June 7, 2017. The FOA is associated with multiple CFDA numbers across a wide set of NIH research areas (including genome research, mental health, drug abuse, infectious diseases, child health, nursing research, and general biomedical research infrastructure and innovation), which reinforces how broadly applicable the targeted technologies were expected to be. The full announcement was hosted on the NIH grants website (PA-14-154), and NIH provided a standard contact route through the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) webmaster for access or linking issues.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the PA 14-154 funding opportunity?
PA 14-154, titled "Early Stage Development of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics, and Big Data Science (R43/R44)," was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding opportunity designed to support early-stage research and development of new technologies that advance biomedical research.
What was the main goal of this SBIR program?
The program aimed to help small businesses build and test practical, enabling tools in biomedical computing, informatics, and big data science. The focus was on technologies that make it easier for researchers to work with modern biomedical data and answer meaningful biomedical or behavioral research questions.
What kinds of projects did the FOA want to support?
The FOA emphasized early-stage technology R&D leading to usable tools, platforms, methods, or systems for biomedical research. It highlighted themes such as collaborative environments, data integration across heterogeneous sources (for example, genomics, imaging, clinical data, and wearable sensors), and improved analysis/modeling approaches, including novel computer science, statistical, and analytic methods.
Did the FOA require that technology development be tied to real biomedical problems?
Yes. Rather than supporting technology development in isolation, the FOA stressed that proposed work should be grounded in real scientific problems in health and disease so that the resulting products have clear value to the biomedical research community.
What does the R43/R44 mechanism mean?
R43/R44 refers to NIH's phased SBIR approach. Phase I (R43) typically supports feasibility and proof-of-concept work. Phase II (R44) typically supports further development, refinement, and validation toward a more mature prototype or product-ready capability.
How did the phased structure affect what applicants were expected to propose?
The structure encouraged a clear development path from an initial technical concept (Phase I) to a more robust, tested solution (Phase II) that could be adopted by biomedical researchers, research institutions, or the broader health ecosystem.
How broad was the scientific scope of PA 14-154?
The FOA was intentionally broad across NIH mission areas and was described as relevant to most NIH Institutes and Centers. Projects could relate to basic biomedicine or to essentially any organ system, condition, or disease area, as long as the primary deliverable was a technology advance in biomedical computing, informatics, or big data methods.
What types of technology themes were specifically mentioned?
The announcement highlighted major themes including (1) collaborative environments (such as platforms enabling distributed teams to share data, workflows, and results), (2) data integration approaches for heterogeneous datasets, and (3) improved analysis and modeling methodologies. It also called out novel computer science and statistical approaches.
Why did NIH emphasize big data tools in this FOA?
The FOA was motivated by the growing availability of large and complex biomedical datasets and the need for tools that can translate those datasets into usable knowledge. It recognized both practical challenges (storing, organizing, harmonizing, and securing data) and scientific challenges (extracting signal from noise, building models that generalize, and supporting reproducible, transparent research).
Were incremental improvements acceptable under this FOA?
The opportunity was framed around enabling rapid progress in areas of scientific opportunity. Proposals were expected to offer more than incremental improvements by advancing the state of the art in ways that open new research capabilities or substantially improve efficiency, scalability, or rigor.
Who was eligible to apply?
Eligibility was limited to small business concerns, consistent with SBIR rules.
Could non-U.S. (foreign) organizations apply?
No. Foreign (non-U.S.) entities were not eligible to apply.
Could a U.S. organization include non-U.S. components?
No. Non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations were also not eligible, as stated in the FOA.
Are foreign components ever allowed under this FOA?
The FOA noted that foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, may be allowed in some circumstances.
Was cost sharing or matching required?
No. The announcement specified no cost sharing or matching requirement.
When was PA 14-154 posted, and what were the key dates?
The program was posted and created on March 14, 2014. The original and current closing date listed was May 7, 2017. The FOA was archived on June 7, 2017.
Is this funding opportunity still active?
No. The FOA was archived on June 7, 2017, indicating it is no longer active as a current solicitation.
Which NIH areas or programs did this FOA relate to?
The FOA was associated with multiple CFDA numbers spanning a wide set of NIH research areas (including genome research, mental health, drug abuse, infectious diseases, child health, nursing research, and general biomedical research infrastructure and innovation), reflecting the broad applicability of the targeted technologies.
Where was the full announcement hosted?
The full announcement was hosted on the NIH grants website as PA-14-154.
Who was the listed contact for access or linking issues?
NIH provided a standard contact route through the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) webmaster for access or linking issues.
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| Early Stage Development of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics, and Big Data Science (R01) Apply for PA 14 155 Funding Number: PA 14 155 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education Environment Health Income Security and Social Services Funding Amount: $300,000 |
| Extended Development, Hardening and Dissemination of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics and Big Data Science (R01) Apply for PA 14 156 Funding Number: PA 14 156 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education Environment Health Income Security and Social Services Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
| Early Stage Development of Technologies in Biomedical Computing, Informatics, and Big Data Science (R41/R42) Apply for PA 14 157 Funding Number: PA 14 157 Agency: National Institutes of Health Category: Education Environment Health Income Security and Social Services Funding Amount: Case Dependent |
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