Limited Competition for the Continuation of Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen LABS) (UM1) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

This funding opportunity, titled "Limited Competition for the Continuation of Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen LABS) (UM1)," is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement announcement issued by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Its central aim is to keep the Teen LABS consortium running long enough to complete a deeper, longer-term follow-up of adolescents who have undergone bariatric surgery, with a specific focus on evaluating long-term safety and long-term effectiveness. In practical terms, the grant is designed to support continued longitudinal tracking of the original adolescent study participants so researchers can better understand outcomes that only become clear years after surgery, such as sustained weight changes, metabolic health, complications, nutritional consequences, psychosocial effects, and other durability and risk questions that require extended observation.

The competition is "limited" because it is essentially restricted to the existing Teen LABS leadership already funded under the earlier initiative originally called "Adolescent Bariatrics Assessing Health Benefits and Risks," later renamed Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen LABS), funded under RFA DK 03 022. Rather than opening the door to entirely new teams to start a parallel study, NIDDK is offering a one-time chance to extend the work of the established consortium. The announcement explicitly invites two applications only: one application must come from the principal investigator responsible for the Clinical Centers component, and the other must come from the principal investigator responsible for the Data Coordinating Center. This structure reflects how large multi-site longitudinal clinical research programs are typically maintained: the clinical sites handle participant-facing work (follow-up visits, clinical data collection, specimen collection when relevant, and retention efforts), while the data coordinating center manages data systems, quality control, statistical coordination, centralized reporting, and overall study coordination functions.

The award mechanism is a cooperative agreement (UM1), which generally signals that NIH expects to have substantial scientific or programmatic involvement during the project period compared to a standard research grant. In a consortium like Teen LABS, that usually means NIDDK program staff may play an active role in oversight, coordination, and ensuring that milestones and performance expectations are met, especially around recruitment, retention, data completeness, and adherence to agreed-upon protocols. The continuation support is authorized for up to five years, but it is not unconditional; the continuation is contingent on satisfactory participant recruitment and retention. That requirement highlights a core vulnerability of longitudinal adolescent studies: the science depends heavily on keeping participants engaged over time, minimizing loss to follow-up, and maintaining consistent, high-quality measurements across years and across sites.

Financially, the opportunity lists an estimated total funding amount of $2,000,000 and anticipates two awards, aligning with the two-part structure of the consortium (Clinical Centers and Data Coordinating Center). The activity category is listed under Food and Nutrition / Health, and the CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 93.847 (Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research), which is consistent with NIDDK's mission and the obesity/metabolic outcomes central to bariatric surgery research.

Key administrative details include the funding opportunity number RFA-DK-10-503, a posted date of February 4, 2011, and an original/current closing date of April 6, 2011, with an archive date of May 7, 2011. The announcement is described as a one-time solicitation, meaning it was intended as a single, specific extension path for this existing cohort and consortium rather than an ongoing annual or recurring funding program.

Although the eligible applicant list in the record is broad and includes many organization types (such as higher education institutions, nonprofits, for-profits, small businesses, tribal organizations, state and local governments, and various minority-serving institutions), the actual competition is functionally constrained by the "limited competition" language and the explicit invitation to the current Teen LABS clinical and data coordinating leadership funded under the earlier RFA. In other words, while many institutions can be eligible in principle under NIH rules, this particular FOA is aimed at the already-established Teen LABS infrastructure and investigators, because the goal is to continue following the same adolescents already enrolled rather than building a brand-new cohort.

Overall, the grant opportunity is best understood as an extension and stabilization effort for an existing multi-site adolescent bariatric surgery longitudinal study. NIDDK is emphasizing long-term evidence generation about benefits and risks in a population where the clinical stakes are high and where long-term outcomes are still evolving. The continuation supports the consortium model (clinical sites plus a coordinating center), relies on cooperative agreement oversight, and ties the ability to use the full five-year window to real performance indicators, especially participant retention, which is critical for producing credible, generalizable long-term safety and efficacy findings.

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