Expanding the Chemical Space for Carbohydrates (R01) | Apply Online

FAQs: Expanding the Chemical Space for Carbohydrates (R01) - RFA-GM-09-005

What is the NIH opportunity "Expanding the Chemical Space for Carbohydrates (R01)"?

It is an NIH discretionary grant opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number RFA-GM-09-005) focused on advancing chemical methods and toolkits for modern glycomics. The aim is to make diverse, well-defined, biologically relevant carbohydrate (glycan) structures more practical to access and use in research.

What problem was this funding opportunity trying to solve?

The opportunity targets a key bottleneck in glycoscience: compared with DNA and proteins, glycans are harder to synthesize, standardize, and scale into widely usable libraries. As a result, many researchers lack practical access to diverse and well-characterized carbohydrate structures needed for screening, structural analysis, and downstream biological studies.

What was the main scientific purpose of this FOA?

The FOA sought projects that develop new chemical methodologies that are rapid, cost-effective, and scalable, with a strong emphasis on expanding the range of carbohydrate structures available for research.

What kinds of research outputs or deliverables were encouraged?

Applications were encouraged to propose innovations that make glycan-related reagents more accessible, more diverse, and easier to use. Examples described in the opportunity include improved approaches to build carbohydrate libraries, develop reliable carbohydrate standards for structural analysis, and create or optimize methods to functionalize glycans for experimental use.

What does "expanding the chemical space for carbohydrates" mean in practice?

In practice, it refers to enabling access to a broader and more diverse set of carbohydrate structures (glycans) that are well-defined and biologically relevant, supported by methods that can be performed efficiently and scaled to produce libraries and standards useful to the wider research community.

Was this opportunity focused more on chemistry method development or on biological discovery?

The emphasis described is on chemical methodology and enabling technology development for glycomics, including synthesis, functionalization, library generation, and standards that support downstream biological studies.

What types of glycan-focused resources were highlighted as needs?

The FOA highlighted the need for (1) diverse carbohydrate libraries, (2) reliable carbohydrate standards for structural analysis, and (3) practical strategies to functionalize glycans so they can be linked, labeled, immobilized, or otherwise adapted for experiments.

What is meant by "functionalizing glycans" in the context of this FOA?

Functionalizing glycans refers to inventing or optimizing strategies that allow glycans to be modified so they can be linked to other molecules, labeled, immobilized on surfaces, or otherwise made compatible with experimental formats used in glycomics and related biological studies.

Did the FOA emphasize high-throughput screening?

Yes. A major emphasis was placed on enabling or improving high-throughput screening approaches for studying interactions such as glycan-protein and glycan-lipid binding.

What kinds of biological interactions were specifically mentioned?

The opportunity specifically mentioned glycan-protein and glycan-lipid binding interactions as key targets for improved study through high-throughput screening and improved tools.

Why are glycan interaction studies important, according to the FOA description?

These interaction studies were described as foundational for understanding cell recognition, signaling, immune responses, pathogen attachment, and disease processes where glycosylation changes.

What funding mechanism was used for this opportunity?

The initiative used the NIH Research Project Grant (R01) mechanism.

What does the R01 mechanism imply about the type of project supported?

Based on the description provided, the R01 mechanism supported hypothesis-driven or technology-driven research projects with clear aims and deliverables, suitable for substantial method development efforts.

Which NIH institute sponsored this FOA?

The sponsoring NIH institute listed was NIGMS.

What was the CFDA number and category associated with this opportunity?

The activity category was health/biomedical research and research training, and the CFDA number listed was 93.859.

Was cost sharing or matching required?

No. The opportunity did not require cost sharing or matching.

How much total funding was estimated for this FOA?

The FOA projected a total estimated funding pool of $2,000,000.

How many awards were anticipated?

About five awards were anticipated.

What was the stated award ceiling?

The stated award ceiling was $250,000 (as provided in the source data).

Who was eligible to apply?

Eligibility was broad and included public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (including small businesses); and governmental entities such as state, county, city/township, and special district governments.

Were mission-focused and community-linked institutions included in eligibility?

Yes. The eligibility list explicitly included Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, and faith-based or community-based organizations, among others.

Were regional organizations and U.S. territories included as eligible applicants?

Yes. The eligibility list included regional organizations as well as U.S. territories or possessions.

Could federal agencies apply?

Yes. The eligibility list included eligible federal agencies.

Were public/Indian housing authorities included as eligible applicants?

Yes. Public/Indian housing authorities were explicitly included in the eligibility list.

Were non-U.S. (foreign) organizations eligible?

Yes. The eligibility list included non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations).

When was this funding opportunity posted?

It was posted on January 21, 2009.

What was the application closing date?

The original and current closing date was March 19, 2009.

Was this an open-ended program announcement or a time-limited solicitation?

It was time-limited. The archive date was April 19, 2009, indicating it was not an open-ended opportunity.

What was the funding instrument type?

The funding instrument type was a grant.

Which agency issued the opportunity?

The issuing agency was the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Where was the full announcement hosted, and where were technical access issues directed?

The full announcement was hosted through the NIH grants system. Technical access issues were routed to the NIH Office of Extramural Research webmaster contact provided in the notice.

What was the overall intended payoff of this FOA?

The intended payoff was to strengthen the chemical foundation of glycomics by improving synthetic routes, functionalization and conjugation methods, practical glycan libraries, and dependable standards. This was expected to make glycan-focused biology easier to do at scale, improve the quality and comparability of structural glycan analyses, and accelerate discoveries about glycans in human biology and disease.