Virtual Approaches Towards New Chemistries for Un-drugged Targets through A Specialized Platform for Innovative Research Exploration (ASPIRE) Collaborative Research Program (U18 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) | RFA TR 21 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA TR 21 002

The Virtual Approaches Towards New Chemistries for Un-drugged Targets through A Specialized Platform for Innovative Research Exploration (ASPIRE) Collaborative Research Program (U18 Clinical Trials Not Allowed) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding opportunity administered through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). It is built around one central goal: speeding up the discovery of new chemical matter for biological targets that currently have no known drugs capable of modulating them. In other words, the program is aimed at expanding the reachable portion of biology for therapeutic discovery by creating and improving tools that can find, design, and validate entirely new starting points for drug development, especially for targets that have historically been difficult to drug or have been overlooked.

The program is structured as a collaborative effort between NCATS intramural scientists (researchers working within NIH) and external (extramural) partners such as universities, nonprofits, companies, and other eligible organizations. The intent is not simply to fund stand-alone projects, but to support tightly integrated team science where extramural investigators contribute new capabilities that plug directly into an NCATS-established platform. That platform is described as integrated and modular, combining physical and virtual components spanning automated synthetic chemistry, artificial intelligence and machine learning, engineering, informatics, and biological testing. This particular funding announcement focuses on the virtual side of the platform: applicants are expected to propose and develop virtual modules that enhance what the overall system can do. A companion opportunity (RFA-TR-21-001) is referenced for physical module development, making it clear that RFA-TR-21-002 is meant to emphasize computational, informatics, AI/ML, and other virtual approaches rather than laboratory hardware or purely physical automation.

From a scientific outcome perspective, the FOA is targeting improvements that make the end-to-end discovery process more powerful and scalable. The anticipated results include the identification, design, synthesis, and validation of new chemical entities that can serve as credible starting points for drug development against novel targets. Another explicitly stated outcome is the expansion of chemical space available for drug screening, which reflects an interest in generating or enabling access to types of molecules that are underrepresented in current screening libraries or that traditional workflows struggle to produce efficiently. By integrating AI/ML and informatics with synthesis and testing, the program is essentially aiming for a more iterative, data-driven loop where computational predictions can guide chemistry and biology experiments, and experimental results can feed back to improve computational models.

Administratively, this opportunity is a discretionary grant program using a Cooperative Agreement mechanism (U18). Cooperative agreements generally imply substantial scientific or programmatic involvement from the funding agency compared to a standard research project grant, which aligns with the platform-centric, collaborative nature of ASPIRE and the emphasis on working directly with NCATS intramural teams. Clinical trials are not allowed under this FOA, which signals that the focus is on discovery and preclinical translational capabilities (methods, modules, and enabling technologies) rather than testing interventions in human participants. The activity category is Health, and the CFDA (assistance listing) number provided is 93.350.

The eligible applicant pool is broad and includes many types of U.S. governmental entities and organizations, such as state, county, and city governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; and Native American tribal organizations that are not federally recognized tribal governments. It also includes nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status, for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses. The opportunity also explicitly calls out additional eligible applicants, including Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, eligible federal agencies, and even non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations). The breadth of eligibility reflects an interest in pulling in specialized expertise wherever it resides, particularly in areas like AI/ML, cheminformatics, computational chemistry, data infrastructure, and virtual screening methods that can materially strengthen the ASPIRE platform.

Key identifying details in the source information include the funding opportunity number RFA-TR-21-002, the creation date of 2020-12-10, and an original closing date of 2021-07-08. While an award ceiling and expected award count are not specified in the provided text, the overall design of the program indicates a selective, collaboration-heavy model where funded teams are expected to contribute modules that can be integrated into a broader NCATS ecosystem rather than producing isolated outputs. In practical terms, a competitive application would be expected to describe a virtual module or capability that is clearly relevant to discovering new chemistries for undrugged targets, demonstrates a realistic plan for integration with NCATS intramural efforts, and produces outputs that help generate and validate novel chemical entities and broaden screening-ready chemical space.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Virtual Approaches Towards New Chemistries for Un-drugged Targets through A Specialized Platform for Innovative Research Exploration (ASPIRE) Collaborative Research Program (U18 Clinical Trials Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.350.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-12-10.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-07-08. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

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