The National Institute on Aging (NIA) Late Onset of Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) Family-Based Study (FBS) (U24) | Apply Online

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the NIA Late Onset of Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) Family-Based Study (FBS) (U24) funding opportunity?

This opportunity (PAR-16-205) is a National Institute on Aging (NIA) funding announcement that uses a U24 cooperative agreement to build and operate research infrastructure for the Late Onset Alzheimer's Disease (LOAD) Family-Based Study (FBS). The infrastructure is intended to strengthen the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) by expanding and maintaining a family-based sample resource for late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

What is the main purpose of this award?

The main purpose is to support coordinated systems, processes, and capabilities needed to expand and maintain a high-value family-based sample resource for late-onset Alzheimer's disease. It is designed to function as an infrastructure/resource effort rather than funding a single hypothesis-driven research study.

Is this funding meant for a single research study testing a specific hypothesis?

No. The central purpose is not to fund one hypothesis-driven research project. Instead, it supports the operational backbone needed to build, expand, and sustain a family-based resource that can be used for genetic sequencing and related analyses within the ADSP ecosystem.

How does this opportunity relate to the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP)?

The award is explicitly intended to strengthen the ADSP by supporting and expanding the infrastructure and resources needed for family-based samples and associated data that are valuable for sequencing-based discovery and validation of genetic contributors to late-onset Alzheimer's disease risk.

Why does the FOA emphasize families with multiple affected relatives?

Families (pedigrees) with multiple relatives affected by Alzheimer's disease can be especially informative for identifying and validating genetic contributors to disease risk. These family structures can help detect genetic signals, including rare variants, that may be harder to identify in standard case-control collections.

What does "family-based sample resource" mean in this context?

It refers to a curated set of families with late-onset Alzheimer's disease, particularly multiply affected families, along with well-documented relationships, biospecimens where appropriate, and sufficient clinical, demographic, and risk-factor information to make genetic sequencing data interpretable and scientifically useful.

What are the major infrastructure activities supported by this FOA?

The FOA supports infrastructure to expand the existing NIA LOAD Family-Based Study sample set by identifying and characterizing additional relatives within multiply affected families. Activities described include improving the depth and completeness of family structures, collecting new biospecimens where appropriate, and ensuring strong clinical and demographic characterization so sequencing and genetic analyses are meaningful.

Does the FOA support collecting new biospecimens?

Yes, collecting new biospecimens is included as an activity "where appropriate," as part of identifying and characterizing additional relatives within multiply affected families and enhancing the overall value of the family-based sample resource.

Why is careful documentation of relationships and phenotyping highlighted?

Genetic findings depend heavily on how well participants are phenotyped and how accurately family relationships are documented. The FOA emphasizes infrastructure that supports rigorous ascertainment and documentation rather than ad hoc, one-off recruitment approaches, so that sequencing results can be interpreted reliably.

Does this opportunity include longitudinal follow-up of participants?

Yes. The FOA supports longitudinal follow-up, meaning the infrastructure should enable ongoing tracking of participants over time, not just a single enrollment or one-time assessment.

What kinds of longitudinal data are described as valuable for this program?

Examples mentioned include systems to recontact participants and families, update clinical status, and capture meaningful changes for Alzheimer's disease research, such as cognitive trajectories, age at onset, and transitions from unimpaired to mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Why is longitudinal follow-up important for a family-based Alzheimer's cohort?

Longitudinal data can increase the value of family-based cohorts by helping distinguish relatives who are truly unaffected from those who may develop symptoms later, and by improving analyses that relate genetic variation to the timing and progression of disease.

What does "ascertainment of antecedent risk factors" mean in this FOA?

It refers to collecting information on exposures and characteristics that precede disease onset and may influence risk or resilience. The FOA gives examples such as medical history, lifestyle factors, and other relevant background variables.

Why does a genetics-focused program care about risk-factor and clinical data?

The FOA notes that genetics is best interpreted alongside well-curated clinical and risk-factor data. In family studies, careful measurement can help disentangle shared environment and shared genetics, which improves interpretability and downstream scientific use of sequencing data.

What funding mechanism is used, and what does it imply?

The opportunity uses a U24 cooperative agreement mechanism. A cooperative agreement indicates substantial NIH programmatic involvement, with NIH staff collaborating with awardees on priorities, milestones, and coordination with broader initiatives such as the ADSP. It also implies that governance, data standards, and operational decisions may need to align closely with NIH expectations and other ADSP-related components.

Which agency issued this funding opportunity?

The opportunity was issued by HHS/NIH (agency listed as HHS-NIH11), categorized under health.

What CFDA number is associated with this opportunity?

The information provided lists CFDA 93.866 (also listed as 93.866 in the provided data).

What is the maximum award amount (award ceiling) listed?

The award ceiling is listed as up to $1,100,000.

How many awards were expected?

The expected number of awards is 1, indicating a single awardee would likely serve as the main infrastructure hub or coordinating resource for the activities described.

When was the FOA posted, and what were the closing dates?

The FOA was created and posted on April 19, 2016. The original and current closing date were both September 7, 2019.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations capable of operating large-scale research infrastructure. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding higher education institutions in those nonprofit categories as stated); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other entities as described in the FOA's additional eligibility language.

Why is eligibility so broad for this program?

The work is infrastructure-heavy and can be housed in a variety of organizational settings (universities, medical centers, nonprofits, or other coordinating entities) that can manage multi-site recruitment, follow-up, and data and biospecimen management.

What is the expected deliverable of this grant, based on the description provided?

The expected deliverable is an expanded, well-characterized, longitudinally followed set of families with multiple Alzheimer's cases, along with associated antecedent risk-factor and clinical data suitable for high-quality genetic discovery and validation work within the ADSP ecosystem.