Connecting Machine Readable Digital Human AD/ADRD Neuropathological Library Platforms for Advanced Analytics (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA NS 22 062

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA NS 22 062

This NIH funding opportunity (RFA-NS-22-062) is a NINDS-led Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (AD/ADRD) initiative focused on building the infrastructure needed to share and analyze human digital neuropathology at scale. The central goal is to create an open-source, standards-based software platform that lets multiple, geographically separated brain banks and data repositories operate as a single federated digital library. In practical terms, the program is aiming for a “many sites, one front door” model: users should be able to discover, access, and work with digital neuropathological slide images across participating institutions through a unified access portal rather than having to navigate separate systems and rules at each location.

A major emphasis is on making digital slide data genuinely usable for modern computational work, not just viewable. The initiative calls for the development of common tools and standards that support consistent data description and interoperability, along with capabilities for cross-site annotation and computational image analysis. That includes support for advanced analytics, which typically means enabling workflows that can run algorithms across large collections of whole-slide images and associated metadata while keeping data distributed at the source sites. The expectation is that the platform will enable multi-site neuropathological analyses in a federated manner, which can reduce data silos and make it easier to combine evidence across cohorts, scanners, staining protocols, and institutions.

Alongside building the platform, the opportunity specifically requires software testing to validate and verify that the tools and platform actually work for real multi-site federated neuropathology use cases. This is not framed as a purely theoretical software engineering effort; it is meant to demonstrate that the federation approach can support credible, reproducible analyses across multiple repositories. In other words, a key deliverable is evidence that the developed software and standards can be used successfully for multi-institution neuropathological studies, including the kinds of tasks researchers need most: locating relevant slides, applying consistent annotations, executing computational pipelines, and comparing results across sites.

Data sharing is not an optional add-on in this announcement; it is a core feature. The FOA highlights broad sharing of neuropathological data to accelerate progress in AD/ADRD research, including creating a digital resource that supports distribution and sharing of assessed neuropathological tissue data. The program is aligned with Open Science expectations for any software and tools produced, meaning the code is expected to be shared openly rather than kept proprietary. It also calls for the federated digital library to follow FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable), which typically implies strong attention to metadata standards, persistent identifiers where applicable, clear access mechanisms, and formats and APIs that allow reuse and integration with other resources.

Administratively, this is a discretionary NIH opportunity using a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24), which usually means NIH staff will have substantial involvement in the project’s direction, milestones, and coordination compared with a standard research grant. The activity is in the health category and is explicitly labeled “Clinical Trial Not Allowed,” signaling that the work should be focused on resource development, software infrastructure, and validation/testing rather than enrolling participants or conducting prospective clinical interventions.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations. Eligible applicants include various levels of government (state, county, city/township, special districts), public and private institutions of higher education, independent school districts, federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other entities. The announcement also explicitly notes categories such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, AANAPISIs, TCCUs, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions. Non-U.S. (foreign) institutions are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible; however, foreign components as defined by NIH policy are allowed, which generally means a U.S. applicant may include certain foreign elements if justified and compliant with NIH rules.

Key opportunity details included in the listing are an original closing date of 2022-11-04, an award ceiling of $650,000, and CFDA numbers 93.853 and 93.866. Overall, the program is best understood as an infrastructure-and-standards effort intended to unlock large-scale, cross-institution digital neuropathology research for AD/ADRD by making distributed slide collections accessible through a single portal, enabling shared annotation and advanced computational analysis, and ensuring that both the data-sharing approach and the software stack adhere to open and reusable science practices.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Connecting Machine Readable Digital Human AD/ADRD Neuropathological Library Platforms for Advanced Analytics (U24 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.853, 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2022-08-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2022-11-04. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $650,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA NS 22 062

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