Liver Cirrhosis Network: Scientific and Data Coordination Center (U24 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA DK 20 004

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 20 004

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced a discretionary grant opportunity to create a Liver Cirrhosis Network focused on advancing clinical and translational research on adult liver cirrhosis. This specific funding opportunity (RFA-DK-20-004) supports a single award for a Scientific and Data Coordination Center (SDCC) using a U24 cooperative agreement mechanism, with clinical trial activity listed as optional. The SDCC is intended to serve as the operational and scientific hub that helps organize, standardize, and accelerate network-wide research efforts, working in tandem with separately funded Clinical Research Centers that are being solicited under a companion announcement (RFA-DK-20-003). In practical terms, the SDCC is the central coordinating body that enables multiple clinical sites to function as one coherent network by aligning study operations, data practices, and collaborative scientific work.

The main purpose of the Liver Cirrhosis Network is to strengthen and streamline multi-site research that can translate into better understanding, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment strategies for cirrhosis in adults. Because cirrhosis is a complex, heterogeneous condition with varying causes and clinical trajectories, a network approach allows researchers to pool expertise, patient populations, and data across institutions, improving statistical power and speeding up the testing of clinically meaningful questions. By design, the SDCC role emphasizes coordination, shared infrastructure, and consistency across studies, which is especially important for research involving longitudinal follow-up, standardized outcome definitions, biospecimens, imaging, and harmonized clinical data collection.

As a cooperative agreement, this U24 award reflects substantial programmatic involvement from NIH/NIDDK compared to a standard research grant. That generally means the awardee is expected to work closely with NIDDK and the funded clinical sites on governance, prioritization of research activities, performance metrics, and network policies. The SDCC would typically be responsible for core functions such as study start-up support, protocol and manual-of-operations development, data management systems, quality control, statistical design and analysis support, coordination of regulatory and reporting workflows, facilitation of committee meetings, training and communication across sites, and network-level dissemination activities. The “clinical trial optional” designation signals that the SDCC may support clinical trials, but the award is not strictly limited to trial coordination; it can also support observational studies and other clinical/translational research activities depending on the network portfolio.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of domestic organizations and public entities. Eligible applicants listed include state, county, city or township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; certain other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations (both with and without 501(c)(3) status, as long as they are not higher education institutions in that nonprofit category); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; and small businesses. The announcement also explicitly notes 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, regional organizations, Indian/Native American Tribal Governments other than federally recognized, and U.S. territories or possessions. The overall intent is to encourage applications from a wide range of institutions that can credibly operate a national-scale coordination center and support inclusive, multi-site research.

At the same time, there are clear restrictions related to foreign participation. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic (non-U.S.) foreign institutions are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible to apply. However, the announcement allows “foreign components” as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, meaning that while the prime awardee must be domestic and the project cannot be led by a non-U.S. institution, certain well-justified international collaborations or activities may be permitted under NIH rules when included as foreign components.

Key administrative details provided include the funding opportunity title “Liver Cirrhosis Network: Scientific and Data Coordination Center (U24 Clinical Trial Optional),” funding opportunity number RFA-DK-20-004, and the sponsoring agency NIH. The opportunity is categorized under the activity area of food and nutrition and health, and it is associated with CFDA number 93.847. The original closing date listed is 2020-12-01, and the posting or creation date is 2020-08-14. The announcement text emphasizes that only one SDCC is being sought, which underscores that this is a centralized network leadership and infrastructure award rather than a program funding multiple independent coordination centers.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as NIH/NIDDK’s effort to build a durable, standardized, and collaborative research platform for adult cirrhosis, where the SDCC provides the backbone: shared data systems, consistent methods, and network-wide coordination that make multi-site clinical and translational studies more efficient, comparable, and impactful.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Liver Cirrhosis Network: Scientific and Data Coordination Center (U24 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-08-14.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-12-01. (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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