March 11, 2021

Vanderbilt-wide Limited Submission Opportunity: Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC)- Research Program Site (U19)

Vanderbilt (VU + VUMC): This is a joint competition for VU and VUMC investigators. All investigators should follow these instructions.

NOTE: These instructions are for the HIPC research program site (U19) opportunity. To apply for the HIPC Coordinating Center (U01) opportunity, find instructions on the OOR limited submissions site.

Vanderbilt (VU+VUMC) may submit one application to the NIH Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC)- Research Program Site (U19) opportunity.

The goal of this RFA is to support institutions to participate in a network of human immunology profiling research groups in the area of infectious diseases, including HIV. NIAID established the HIPC to employ established and recent advances in immune profiling technologies to study the human immune system (1) before and after vaccination against an infectious disease; (2) before and after administration of an adjuvant that selectively targets immune components; and (3) during or following naturally-occurring infections, including HIV.

Studies supported under this FOA will measure the diversity and commonalities of human immune responses under a variety of conditions and longitudinally using high-throughput systems immunology approaches coupled with detailed clinical phenotyping in well-characterized human cohorts. The resulting data will be used to develop molecular signatures that define immune response profiles and identify biomarkers that correlate with the outcomes of vaccinations, vaccine adjuvants or natural infections in humans. An additional goal of this program is to promote rapid public access to HIPC-supported data and meta-data through public portals such as ImmPort. 

All proposed research (non-HIV and HIV-focused applications) must include unbiased, data-gathering, quantitative systems biology experimental approaches with human samples (e.g., genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, RNAi screens, proteomics, metabolomics, lipidomics, or glycomics) and correlate results with outcomes of infection or vaccination. Frequent, prospective, and longitudinal sampling linked with deep clinical phenotyping is strongly encouraged to enable the study of dynamic changes and identification of biomarkers.

Examples of research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Measurement of dynamic, longitudinal changes in immune profiles following vaccination, adjuvant administration, or natural infection with a pathogen that correlate with clinical outcome.
  • Comparison of longitudinal immune profiles among ethnically diverse or special populations (e.g., infants, neonates, older adults, atopic individuals, transplant recipients, patients with autoimmune disease) after natural infection or administration of a vaccine or adjuvant, including examination of differential responses in males versus females.
  • Analyses of cellular populations and tissue/organ compartments associated with development and maintenance of long-term immunological memory to infection and vaccination.
  • Identification of immune profiles that correlate with vaccine efficacy or surrogates of efficacy.
  • Comparison of immune profiles in vaccinated populations to immune profiles in populations with naturally acquired infections.
  • Identification of markers of mucosal, tissue/organ or skin immune responses that reflect or contrast with markers of systemic response.
  • Systems serology and other high throughput characterization of humoral immunity.
  • Dissociation of markers of protective immunity from markers of vaccine toxicity/reactogenicity.
  • Examination of the role of the human microbiome in modifying immune responses to vaccinations or natural infections.

See the solicitation for more information.

Internal Application Process:

Anyone interested in being considered as Vanderbilt’s potential nominee must submit the following (in PDF format) to LSO@vanderbilt.edu by 5 p.m. on March 16: 

  • Brief (2-page maximum) research plan including summary budget
  • NIH Biosketch or 5-page CV
  • Statement of support from department chair/center director

Any questions about this opportunity or the LSO process may be directed to LSO@vanderbilt.edu.