Purpose:
The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support a coordinating center (CC), which will coordinate research efforts across the NIDA funded longitudinal cohorts that address emerging and high priority research on HIV/AIDS in the context of substance use and substance use disorders (SUD). The CC will serve as 1) a national data and specimen resource that harmonizes and collects data and biological samples from the NIDA cohorts and affiliated studies, and enables additional research efforts through virtual repositories; 2) a facilitator of current and future research at the intersection of HIV and substance use and SUD; and 3) the central hub for organizing and enabling communication within and outside the NIDA cohort studies program, including annual meetings, advisory and scientific oversight committees.
Background:
The CC was first established in 2017 to coordinate data and biological resources generated by the NIDA funded cohort studies addressing a wide range of research topics related to HIV/AIDS and addictive substance use, and infectious diseases that are strongly syndemic with these problems. Together, these cohorts possess a combined sample size of ~12,000 participants and over 20,000 historical participants. The cohorts include diverse key populations of ethnic, sexual and gender minorities living with HIV or at high risk for HIV e.g.,men who have sex with men (MSM), African Americans and Hispanic/Latinos MSM, people who inject drugs (PWID), young MSM, people living with HIV (PLWH) and PLWH with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection, and transgender and gender nonconforming/non-binary youth (TGMY). The list of the funded cohort programs and/or sites is available at NIDA HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Cohort Studies | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The cohorts track and report various types of drug use (stimulants, opioids, synthetic opioids, e.g. Fentanyl, marijuana and hallucinogens), poly drug use and trends in drug use that contribute to increased risk of HIV acquisition and transmission.
The core study areas include:
- Stimulant use and its impact on HIV transmission and clinical outcomes, i.e. viral loads and CD4 cell counts
- Microbiome and HIV pathogenesis in PWUD
- High risk behaviors associated with drug use and HIV seroconversion
- Immunologic and host genetic factors in HIV seroconversion
- Mathematical modeling and cost-effectiveness studies related to HIV, HCV, and substance use treatment and prevention services
- HIV care models and ART adherence in high risk marginalized populations
- Uptake of HIV testing and prevention services including pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP)
- Long term health consequences of HIV and ART in PWUD
- HIV associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND), aging, cardiovascular and liver disease in people co-infected with HCV
- Social determinants of health disparities related to HIV and SUD, access to care and prevention services for HIV and HIV-related comorbid conditions
- Phylogenetic analysis of HIV clusters in injecting networks
- Molecular studies of HIV infection and persistence in PWU
Key Dates:
URL for more information:
https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-DA-22-033.html
Filed Under: Funding Opportunities