Purpose

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support the continued operation, maintenance, and dissemination of unique knowledge, data, and/or bioinformatics resources that are of major importance to the research community using animal models of embryonic developmental processes. These grants will support ongoing development and enhancement of the resources, user training and services, provision of community generated data storage and curation, wide dissemination of the tools and/or resources, and expansion of interoperability with other NIH bioinformatics resources.

Background

The emergence and rapid evolution of high-resolution sequencing and other omics technologies have generated unprecedented quantities of molecular-level data from the analyses of biological systems. This rapid progress has been particularly significant in the areas of genomics and proteomics. This exponential increase of information has been augmented by increased computing power to digitally record, store, and analyze large amounts of molecular data. However, for the ever-increasing quantities of information to be maximally useful to biomedical scientists, it is necessary to establish and maintain resources that enable the compilation, annotation, storage, and dissemination of available data integrated with existing and/or contextualizing information in compliance with the FAIR Data principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). Additionally, corresponding tools in bioinformatics for data input, curation, and analysis, as well as technical support and user training are required to efficiently utilize these knowledge and/or data resources.

Objectives

These Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics are intended to support the continued availability, operation, improvement and maintenance of knowledge, data, digital information, bioinformatics tools and/or resources, user training and services, and wide dissemination of these tools or resources.

To qualify for support, knowledge or bioinformatics resources, such as software and algorithms, must be of demonstrable value toward advancing research utilizing animal model systems in the biomedical sciences and must also be of particular importance to those seeking to understand the biological basis of human and animal development and the etiology of structural congenital anomalies.

The resources must be sufficiently mature to have verifiable support from and utility for users within the developmental biology research community, operate according to FAIR data principles, and have a demonstrable national and international impact.

Examples of activities that Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics are intended to support include but are not limited to:

• Efforts to curate and annotate unique collections of data, information, or knowledge that support learning and research utilizing animal model systems
• Information and knowledge processing, including information extraction, integration of data from heterogeneous open access sources, event detection, and feature recognition within these datasets
• Tools for analyzing large datasets, including genomic and proteomic data, data regarding gene and protein expression, and elements that regulate that expression in relation to cellular, anatomical, and/or developmental coordinates
• Datasets and tools for analysis of gene regulatory networks, protein-protein interaction networks, epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, systems biological approaches, and other tools for understanding normal and abnormal biological function and/or development
• Other unique datasets or information tools of demonstrable utility for biomedical research using animal models of developmental processes
• Systems for knowledge representation, including simulations and virtual reality, retrieval tools and intelligent agents for scientific information related to developmental processes
• Utilization of appropriate data standards for the model organism community being served, such as controlled vocabularies and ontologies

Resource Program Grants in Bioinformatics are not intended to support:

• Research and development intended as proof of concept, to ascertain feasibility, or to underwrite the initial development of a tool or resource
• Projects that utilize a tool or database being supported through these resource program grants. Such projects should seek funding through customary NIH research grant mechanisms
• Tools and resources that duplicate activities of the National Library of Medicine or existing resources supported by other Institutes of the National Institutes of Health

Applicants who wish to undertake biomedical informatics research, to develop and test novel information technologies, or to perform feasibility or proof-of-concept studies, should respond to other NOFOs.