OpenResearch announcementOpportunity RFA-RM-27-024

Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)

National Institutes of Health · Department of Health and Human Services

At a glance

Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) is an open federal grant opportunity from the National Institutes of Health (Department of Health and Human Services). Applications are due November 10, 2026. Individual awards are listed as $50K – $100K, with about 13 awards expected and $2M in total estimated funding. Applicant types listed as eligible include state governments, county governments, city or township governments, special district governments, independent school districts and 10 more. Cost sharing is not required. It is funded under Assistance Listing 93.310 (Trans-NIH Research Support).

Summary assembled from the official notice's fields. The official notice governs.

Key facts

Oct 8, 2026Posted
Nov 10, 2026Application deadlinenext date
Jul 1, 2027 (est.)Est. award date
Jan 9, 2027Archived

Posted: Oct 8, 2026
Close date: Nov 10, 2026
Archive date: Jan 9, 2027
Est. award date: Jul 1, 2027
Award floor: $50,000
Award ceiling: $100,000
Est. total funding: $2,000,000
Expected awards: 13
Cost sharing: Not required
Funding instrument: Grant
Opportunity category: Discretionary

Who can apply

State governments
County governments
City or township governments
Special district governments
Independent school districts
Public colleges & universities
Federally recognized tribal governments
Public & Indian housing authorities
Native American tribal organizations
501(c)(3) nonprofits
Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status
Private colleges & universities
For-profit organizations (not small businesses)
Small businesses
Others (see notice)

Additional information on eligibility (from the notice)

Refer to Section III. Eligibility Information in the NOFO for additional information on eligibility.Foreign Organizations/International CollaborationsNon-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) are not eligible to apply.Non-domestic (non-U.S.) components of U.S. Organizations are not eligible to apply.Foreign components, as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed.NIH will no longer issue awards (i.e., new, renewal, or non-competing continuation) to domestic or foreign entities that involve foreign subawards/subcontracts. All NIH-funded research involving foreign subawards/subcontracts must be submitted in response to a NOFO that is specifically designated for funded international collaborations. See NIH Grants Policy Statement 16.8 Collaborative International Research Awards.Applications involving foreign subawards/subcontracts submitted in response to this NOFO will be deemed noncompliant and will not be considered for funding. This policy applies to all monetary international collaborations resulting in foreign subawards/subcontracts, however, it does not preclude unfunded international collaborations or foreign components, funding for foreign consultants, or procurement of unique equipment or supplies from foreign vendors.Regional Organizations;

Can your organization apply?

A quick check against the listed applicant types — other requirements in the notice still apply.

Based on the published notice. Review the official notice for complete eligibility requirements.

What it funds

Official synopsis as published by the agency, formatted for readability.

The Common Fund Human Virome Program (HVP) aims to extensively and comprehensively characterize the "healthy" human virome (the collection of viruses that normally reside inside the human body without evidence of disease) and create tools, models, and methods that will enable an in-depth study of its variation and composition in relation to host factors and its influence on health and disease.

The purpose of this NOFO is to support small pilot projects that extend the goals of the HVP, including further validating, improving, and complementing existing and newly developed tools from the HVP program by leveraging human specimens collected from the cohorts under the program; samples from animals to promote the refinement, utilization, and translation of these tools to better serve the goals of the HVP program; expanding existing cohorts and/or biospecimen sampling sites for virome characterization; developing tools, assays, and methods to study the human virome; and defining functional interactions between the human virome and host. These pilot projects will expand the HVP consortium, and collaboration across the HVP is expected. Applicants outside the current HVP are encouraged to apply and pilot projects should not overlap with existing HVP efforts (visit the Common Fund website for a list of funded research).

Full announcement & documents

The full announcement has the complete rules — page limits, required attachments, evaluation criteria and any letter-of-intent dates. Files download directly from Grants.gov.

RFA-RM-27-024-Full-Announcement.htmlFull Announcement · RFA-RM-27-024-Full-Announcement.htmlHTML · 113 KB

How to apply

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Read the full announcement (NOFO)Eligibility, evaluation criteria, page limits and required attachments are in the full notice on Grants.gov. Open ↗
Confirm eligibility and fitCheck your organization type above; no cost sharing is required.
Register (or renew) in SAM.gov and get a UEIFree. New registrations can take several weeks; registrations must be renewed every year. Open ↗
Set up Grants.gov accessCreate a Grants.gov account and make sure someone has the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) role. Open ↗
Open the application packageUse opportunity number RFA-RM-27-024 on Grants.gov (Grants.gov Workspace). Open ↗
Prepare narrative, budget and attachmentsFollow the notice's format exactly — page limits and required forms are common reasons applications are rejected.
Ask the agency contact any questions earlyNational Institutes of Health · HumanVirome@od.nih.gov Open ↗
Submit before November 10, 2026Submit a few days early and keep your Grants.gov confirmation and validation emails.

Assistance Listing

What is an ALN?

93.310Trans-NIH Research SupportProgram →

Reported obligations under ALN 93.310

Historical data · not a prediction

FY24

$1.17B

FY25

$1.06B

FY26

$28.1M est.

Source: SAM.gov Assistance Listing 93.310. Program-wide totals, not awards from this specific opportunity.

Agency contact (as published)

National Institutes of Health
HumanVirome@od.nih.gov
301-402-2541

Changes we detected

Oct 9, 2026: Title changed

Quick answers

When is the deadline for “Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)”?

According to the official notice, applications are due November 10, 2026. Confirm the deadline and submission time on Grants.gov before applying.

Who is eligible to apply for “Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)”?

The official notice lists these applicant types as eligible: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public colleges & universities, Federally recognized tribal governments, Public & Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) status, Private colleges & universities and 3 more. Additional restrictions may apply; review the full notice.

How much funding is available through “Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)”?

Per the notice, individual awards are listed as $50k – $100k, total estimated program funding is $2,000,000 and the agency expects to make about 13 awards.

How do I apply for “Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)”?

Applications are submitted through the official source, not through GrantsJunction. Open the official notice on Grants.gov (opportunity RFA-RM-27-024), and review the full announcement and application package. Organizations applying through Grants.gov generally need an active SAM.gov registration and a Grants.gov account, which can take several weeks to set up.

Matched on shared Assistance Listings, agency, categories and eligible applicant types.

ForecastedResearchALN 93.310