Microphysiological Systems (MPS) for Modeling Diabetes (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA DK 17 035

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 17 035

This NIH/NIDDK funding opportunity (RFA-DK-17-035) supports the creation of a research consortium focused on building and validating advanced human "tissue chip" models, formally described as Microphysiological Systems for Modeling Diabetes (MPS-MOD). The core idea is to develop lab-based, human-relevant platforms that reproduce key aspects of normal metabolic physiology and then reliably demonstrate how that physiology shifts toward disease. The program is positioned as an enabling step toward faster and more predictive diabetes therapeutic discovery by providing model systems that are more faithful to human biology than many traditional cell culture or animal approaches.

The scientific focus is on microphysiological systems that represent major metabolic tissues involved in diabetes and metabolic dysfunction, specifically pancreatic islets, liver, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissue (WAT). Applicants are expected to engineer systems that do more than simply keep cells alive; the platforms should be designed to capture multi-dimensional tissue function and the kinds of measurable responses that matter for diabetes research. A major expectation is that experimental designs will include ways to quantify pathophysiological changes linked to metabolic disease, including interactions between immune cells and metabolic tissues, since inflammation and immune-metabolic crosstalk can be central drivers of metabolic dysfunction.

A key feature of the program is the emphasis on validation and credibility of the models. The usefulness of each MPS-MOD platform will be judged partly by whether established diabetes therapeutic agents and known biomarkers produce expected, biologically meaningful changes in the system. In other words, applicants need to build platforms that can be challenged with well-characterized drugs or perturbations and then read out responses in a way that reflects known diabetes biology. The solicitation stresses the use of best practices and rigorous study design, signaling that reproducibility, appropriate controls, and careful benchmarking are not optional add-ons but central measures of success.

Another major pillar is the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), including isogenic lines and patient-derived lines. NIDDK highlights that high-quality, well-characterized iPSC resources and standardized differentiation protocols are critical to making disease-specific models reliable tools rather than one-off demonstrations. The long-term vision is that iPSC-based tissue chips could become routine assets for drug development workflows, including screening, repurposing, and toxicity testing, by providing scalable human systems with interpretable endpoints. Over time, the opportunity points toward "clinical trials in a dish," where collections of iPSCs reflecting the genetic and phenotypic diversity of type 2 diabetes (T2D) could be used to identify biomarkers of drug response and support more personalized treatment strategies.

From a team and collaboration standpoint, the opportunity is explicitly multidisciplinary. Competitive applications are expected to bring together expertise spanning stem cell biology, bioengineering, computational biology, pharmacology, and domain-specific biology in liver, islet, adipose tissue, metabolism, and diabetes. The intent is to assemble integrated teams that can handle the full pipeline: selecting and characterizing iPSC lines, differentiating cells into relevant tissue types, building microengineered platforms, integrating immune components where appropriate, defining robust functional readouts, and applying analytic and computational methods to interpret complex, multi-tissue data.

Mechanistically, this is a cooperative agreement using the UG3/UH3 structure, with clinical trials not allowed. In practical terms, that typically means an initial milestone-driven development phase (UG3) followed by a second phase (UH3) that proceeds only if agreed-upon performance and validation benchmarks are met, with NIH staff playing an active stewardship role consistent with cooperative agreements. The activity falls under NIH program areas associated with health and food/nutrition, with CFDA numbers 93.350 and 93.847 listed in the source data.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations, including many government entities, public and private institutions of higher education, nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), and small businesses, as well as eligible tribal entities and housing authorities. The announcement also calls out a range of mission-relevant institution types and community-focused organizations as eligible (for example, HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, AANAPISIs, TCCUs, and faith-based or community-based organizations). At the same time, it places clear limits on non-U.S. participation: non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible. However, foreign components, as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement, are allowed, which typically means discrete project elements may be performed abroad under specific conditions while the applicant organization remains U.S.-based.

Administrative details in the provided record include the original closing date of March 20, 2018, a creation date of December 11, 2017, and the sponsoring agency listed as the National Institutes of Health, with the program housed within NIDDK. The award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the excerpted source data, but the scope and consortium framing indicate an intent to fund coordinated, high-impact platform development rather than isolated exploratory projects.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Microphysiological Systems (MPS) for Modeling Diabetes (UG3/UH3 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): 93.350, 93.847.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2017-12-11.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-03-20. (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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