Mucosal Environment and HIV Prevention (MEHP) (R01) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Mucosal Environment and HIV Prevention (MEHP) (R01) funding opportunity (PA-12-106) is a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program focused on improving non-vaccine biomedical HIV prevention strategies by deepening scientific understanding of how these interventions behave within, and are influenced by, mucosal tissues. The central idea is that products like topical microbicides and oral or topical pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) do not operate in a vacuum: their real-world safety and effectiveness depend heavily on the biological conditions at the sites where HIV exposure commonly occurs, particularly the male and female genital tract and the gastrointestinal mucosa. This opportunity supports research aimed at clarifying how the tissue "micro" environment (local cellular composition, immune activation, epithelial integrity, microbiome, mucus properties, inflammation, and similar factors) and "macro" environment (broader tissue structure, physiological conditions, co-infections, hormonal influences, and other contextual features) shape prevention outcomes.

This is a discretionary grant program using the R01 research project grant mechanism, placing it in the category of investigator-driven, hypothesis-based research projects that typically propose a cohesive set of aims to answer well-defined questions. The overarching long-term goal is to increase both safety and efficacy of non-vaccine prevention approaches by explaining why a given intervention works better in some contexts than others, why adverse effects can occur, and what biological markers or tissue conditions might predict protection versus failure. In practical terms, the research encouraged under MEHP would help the field understand how drug delivery, drug concentration at exposure sites, mucosal immune responses, epithelial barriers, resident microbial communities, and concurrent genital or gastrointestinal conditions can alter susceptibility to infection or modify how preventive agents perform.

The announcement is tied to NIH health-related research activities and is associated with CFDA numbers 93.855 (Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research) and 93.856 (Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Research). There is no cost sharing or matching requirement, which means applicants are not required to commit non-federal funds as a condition of award. The opportunity was originally posted on February 14, 2012, created on October 19, 2012, and it lists key dates including an original closing date of January 7, 2015, with a current closing date shown as January 7, 2013, and an archive date of February 7, 2013. (In other words, the listing as provided reflects an older, now-archived opportunity, but it is still useful for understanding NIAID priorities and the type of science NIH has sought in this space.)

Eligibility is broad and includes a wide range of domestic and international institutions. Eligible applicants include public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (both with and without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (including small businesses and other for-profits), and multiple levels of government entities such as state, county, city or township governments, special district governments, and independent school districts, as well as public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities. The opportunity explicitly includes Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) and tribal organizations (other than federally recognized tribal governments), as well as regionally focused organizations. Additional categories called out include historically underrepresented or mission-specific institutions and organizations 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 faith-based or community-based organizations. Importantly, non-U.S. entities (foreign institutions) are eligible to apply, non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations may participate, and foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are allowed, reflecting the global nature of HIV prevention research and the need for studies in diverse populations and settings.

Administrative details in the source data indicate the sponsoring agency is NIH (specifically NIAID), and the full announcement was made available through the NIH Grants Guide, with an additional information link provided: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-12-106.html. For access or technical issues, the contact listed is the NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER) Webmaster at FBOWebmaster@OD.NIH.GOV, which is a support contact for linking and electronic access rather than a scientific program contact.

Overall, MEHP (R01) is best understood as an initiative to move beyond evaluating whether a microbicide or PrEP strategy works on average, and instead to dissect the biological and tissue-level reasons behind variable performance and side effects at mucosal exposure sites. By funding mechanistic and translational research on genital and gastrointestinal mucosal environments, the program aims to enable smarter prevention design, better product selection and formulation, improved dosing or delivery approaches, and potentially the identification of mucosal biomarkers that could guide future clinical development and implementation of HIV prevention tools.

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Previous opportunity: Functional Glycomics in HIV Vaccine Design (R01)

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