Nuclear Organization and Function Interdisciplinary Consortium (NOFIC)(U54) | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The Nuclear Organization and Function Interdisciplinary Consortium (NOFIC) (U54) funding opportunity, issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Funding Opportunity Number RFA-RM-14-006, was designed to build a set of cooperative, center-style awards focused on the next wave of genome organization research. The core idea behind the program is that understanding how mammalian genomes work requires more than reading DNA sequence; it also requires detailed knowledge of how chromosomes are folded and arranged in three-dimensional space inside the nucleus, how that organization changes across cell types and conditions, and how structure connects to function such as gene regulation and other genome activities.

This FOA specifically calls for establishing technology development and data production centers whose mission is to create and harden the tools needed for the field to move forward. The emphasis is on high-throughput technologies capable of generating three-dimensional physical and functional maps of mammalian genomes. In practical terms, that means methods that can scale, produce reproducible results, and be compared across labs, so that the resulting data are reliable enough to support broad biological conclusions rather than isolated case studies. The announcement highlights the expectation that funded centers will not only develop new approaches, but also benchmark, standardize, and validate them. That wording signals a strong push toward community-ready platforms: methods with clear performance characteristics, shared standards, and validation evidence that makes data interpretable across different sites, instruments, and experimental contexts.

Beyond technology, NOFIC also seeks predictive modeling that links genome structure to genome function. The program’s goal is not just to draw 3D maps, but to turn those maps into testable, quantitative models that can forecast how changes in nuclear architecture might influence gene expression programs, cellular identity, or responses to perturbations. The FOA also stresses testing the relevance of emerging principles of nuclear organization within concrete biological paradigms and systems, which points to a translational mindset within basic science: principles should be evaluated in real biological contexts rather than remaining purely descriptive. Put simply, the centers were expected to connect method development and data generation to biological insight by applying new tools to defined systems where hypotheses about nuclear organization can be challenged and refined.

The mechanism is a U54 cooperative agreement, meaning NIH anticipated substantial programmatic involvement and coordination rather than a hands-off research grant. Cooperative agreements typically come with closer interaction with NIH staff, collaborative expectations among awardees, and a focus on consortium-level deliverables. The overall structure implied by the FOA is a coordinated set of centers working toward shared goals, where technology outputs, datasets, standards, and models are intended to be broadly useful and interoperable.

In terms of funding and administrative details, the FOA falls under the “Discretionary” opportunity category and the “Health” funding activity category, with CFDA number 93.310 (Trans-NIH Research Support). The estimated total funding listed is $10,000,000, and there is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The opportunity was posted on September 24, 2014, with an original closing date of December 16, 2014, a current closing date of December 19, 2014, and an archive date of January 19, 2015, indicating it is a closed, historical opportunity rather than an open solicitation.

Eligibility was broad across U.S.-based organizations, including public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities), small businesses, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and multiple levels of government (state, county, city/township, special district), as well as tribal governments and tribal organizations, public housing authorities, and independent school districts. The FOA also explicitly included a range of institution types such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, AANAPISIs, TCCUs, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, faith-based or community-based organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and eligible federal agencies. At the same time, it clearly excluded non-U.S. (foreign) organizations and non-U.S. components of U.S. organizations from applying, while allowing “foreign components” as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, which generally means limited parts of the work can be conducted abroad under specific rules even when the prime applicant must be U.S.-based.

For applicants or readers who needed the full original announcement, NIH provided an Additional Information link to the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts entry (RFA-RM-14-006) and a general support contact through the NIH Office of Extramural Research webmaster for access or technical linking issues. Overall, NOFIC (U54) was framed as a consortium-building investment meant to accelerate the field by producing robust, standardized 3D genome mapping technologies, generating high-value datasets, building predictive structure-function models, and grounding new nuclear organization concepts in real biological systems through coordinated, NIH-supported centers.

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