Novel Cell Non-autonomous Mechanisms of Aging (R01) | RFA AG 18 009

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA AG 18 009

The Novel Cell Non-autonomous Mechanisms of Aging (R01) funding opportunity (RFA-AG-18-009) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant program focused on uncovering how aging in one cell or tissue can drive aging changes in other cells and tissues through signals that travel or are communicated across the body. Instead of looking only at "cell-autonomous" aging processes (the damage and dysfunction that build up within an individual cell), this FOA emphasizes "cell non-autonomous" mechanisms, meaning the outward-facing signals and messengers produced by aging cells that influence other cells at a distance. The intent is to fund projects that go beyond describing correlations and move toward a deeper, mechanistic understanding of what these aging signals are, how they arise from cell-intrinsic aging, how they are released, how they move between cells or tissues, and how they ultimately trigger aging-related effects once they reach their targets. The bigger picture goal is to clarify how important these non-autonomous signaling pathways are for aging at the tissue, organ system, or whole-organism level, and to generate insights that could reshape how researchers think about aging as a coordinated, multi-tissue process rather than a set of isolated cellular events.

Scientifically, the FOA is centered on the full lifecycle of an aging signal. It encourages applicants to identify the nature of the signals (for example, secreted factors, metabolites, extracellular vesicles, inflammatory mediators, neuroendocrine cues, immune-derived signals, or other communicators), explain how cell-autonomous aging processes generate them (such as stress responses, proteostasis collapse, mitochondrial dysfunction, senescence-associated changes, or DNA damage responses), and then map how these signals exit cells and propagate through the organism (release mechanisms, circulation, synaptic or paracrine routes, transport through fluids, or relay via intermediary cell types). It also prioritizes understanding how recipient cells detect and respond to these cues, including the downstream pathways that translate an incoming message into functional decline, altered repair capacity, inflammatory activation, metabolic disruption, stem cell exhaustion, or other hallmarks associated with aging. In practical terms, the FOA is looking for projects that build a coherent mechanistic chain from source cell aging to signal production, signal dissemination, and target cell aging outcomes, ideally in ways that illuminate new biology and open the door to intervention strategies later on.

Administratively, this opportunity is a discretionary NIH grant using the R01 funding instrument, categorized under health research with CFDA number 93.866. The original closing date listed for this particular FOA was October 3, 2017, and the opportunity record shows an award ceiling of $250,000, with the creation date of April 25, 2017. (In NIH contexts, budgeting and the meaning of a "ceiling" can vary depending on how the FOA was structured and what costs are considered, but the listing indicates that $250,000 is a key cap associated with this announcement.) The expected number of awards is not specified in the provided source text.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations typically able to apply for NIH research support. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofit organizations both with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education in the nonprofit category described); public housing authorities and Indian housing authorities; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments; for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other eligible entities. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, U.S. territories or possessions, regional organizations, tribal governments that are not federally recognized, and non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). This emphasis signals a deliberate openness to a wide range of institutional types, including minority-serving institutions and international organizations, as long as they meet NIH requirements for the mechanism and FOA.

Overall, the opportunity is designed to push the field toward a more integrated understanding of aging as a communicative process, where damage or dysfunction in one location can spread influence through defined molecular or cellular messages. A competitive application under this FOA would be expected to propose genuinely novel, mechanistic work that clarifies the identity and origin of non-autonomous aging signals, the routes by which they travel, and the causal pathways through which they induce aging phenotypes in distant targets, ultimately improving understanding of aging at the level of tissues, organ systems, and the whole organism.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Novel Cell Non-autonomous Mechanisms of Aging (R01)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.866.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-04-25.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-10-03. (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 $250,000.00 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 AG 18 009

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