Deadline: 10-Oct-2025
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has announced a major research funding opportunity aimed at improving the understanding and treatment of viral lung infections in young children.
Through the creation of the Viral Infections in the Young Lung (VINYL) Consortium, the initiative will support a seven-year research program that investigates the causes, severity, and long-term effects of viral lower respiratory tract infections in hospitalized infants and toddlers.
This opportunity invites applications for a Clinical Coordinating Center, which will include five Clinical Centers and a Biorepository submitted as one unified application. A companion funding announcement seeks a Data and Analytics Coordinating Center. Together, these components will form a consortium responsible for enrolling and deeply phenotyping 1,500 children between birth and two years old who are hospitalized with diagnoses such as bronchiolitis, pneumonia, or pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome.
The VINYL Consortium will follow enrolled participants from hospitalization through preschool age to assess both early and delayed pulmonary outcomes. Required follow-up visits will occur six months after hospital discharge and again at age four to five. The research will also include a control group to better understand disease impact and variability. A novel hybrid model will be used to track patients over time through a combination of electronic health records, caregiver questionnaires, and in-person clinical evaluations.
The program encourages research focused on identifying distinct clinical phenotypes, understanding how early-life viral infections influence the immune system and lung development, and evaluating long-term consequences such as preschool wheezing, sleep disturbances, and neurocognitive outcomes. The Clinical Coordinating Center application must also propose two to four interventional mechanistic studies to investigate potential treatments and underlying biological processes in the developing lung.
The Biorepository within the consortium will lead the collection, storage, and management of biospecimens, linking them to clinical data managed by the Data and Analytics Coordinating Center. These resources will be made accessible to the broader research community throughout the project to foster further scientific discovery.
Eligible applicants include academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses, tribal governments, and various local and federal government entities. The total funding available for the Clinical Coordinating Center is expected to reach over $28 million over the full seven-year period, beginning with a one-year planning phase followed by six years of full implementation, provided specific milestones are met. Application budgets are limited to 1 year for the UG3 phase for a limit of up to $1,640,000 direct costs. Upon transition to UH3 phase after meeting the milestones agreed upon by NIH and the investigative team, application budgets are limited to direct costs of $3,060,000 in year 2; $4,970,000 in year 3; $6,530,000 in year 4; $5,900,000 in year 5; $5,645,000 in year 6; and $5,037,000 in year 7.
This funding opportunity represents a significant step toward understanding how early viral infections affect children’s respiratory health and development. By building a diverse and well-characterized cohort of young patients, the VINYL Consortium aims to generate insights that can inform prevention, treatment, and long-term care strategies for children affected by viral lung diseases.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.