Developmental Centers for Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology (P20) | RFA DK 17 002

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 17 002

The Developmental Centers for Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology (P20) funding opportunity, listed as RFA-DK-17-002, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant program under the Department of Health and Human Services that aims to strengthen and expand the research ecosystem focused on benign (non-cancer) urological diseases and disorders. Its central goal is to move the field forward by deliberately building interdisciplinary research teams, creating shared research resources, and encouraging integrative approaches that can open up new lines of investigation or enable better, more efficient studies across the community.

A key feature of this program is its emphasis on collaborative, complementary expertise. Applicants are expected to assemble teams whose members bring different but fitting skills to the table, such as clinical urology, nephrology, epidemiology, imaging, bioengineering, computational biology, physiology, data science, or other relevant disciplines. These teams can propose one of two general types of work. The first is Resource Development Projects, which focus on creating innovative tools, methods, datasets, models, specimens, platforms, or other enabling resources that would help accelerate benign urology research. The second is Scientific Research Projects, which are new research efforts that use integrative methods to answer important questions tied to benign urological conditions. The program is structured to ensure that what is built does not remain siloed: resources created through Resource Development Projects are expected to be shared once they have been validated, while resources generated within Scientific Research Projects are generally shared by the end of the award (or at termination), in line with the overall purpose of advancing the broader field rather than only one lab or institution.

Structurally, each award is organized as a Developmental Center that is built around a single Project, rather than multiple large subprojects. Even though the Center is centered on that single Project, it must also include two required components: an Administrative Core and an Educational Enrichment Program. The Administrative Core is intended to provide coordination, management, and oversight so the Center operates smoothly, meets milestones, and maintains accountability for progress, collaboration, and sharing. The Educational Enrichment Program is meant to develop and broaden the community engaged in benign urology research by supporting training, mentoring, and research development activities. In practical terms, this can include seminars, workshops, visiting speakers, cross-disciplinary training opportunities, pilot-style educational experiences, or other activities that help cultivate investigators and promote interdisciplinary thinking.

The FOA also makes clear that this P20 program does not exist in isolation. It is designed to operate in partnership with other NIH-backed efforts that support benign urology research capacity and career development, specifically the George M. OBrien Urology Cooperative Research Centers Program (U54) and the Multidisciplinary K12 Urologic Research (KURe) Career Development Program. This linkage signals an intent to create a connected pipeline: P20 Developmental Centers can help generate resources, preliminary findings, and collaborative networks that align with or feed into the broader cooperative research infrastructure of the U54 centers, while also complementing clinician-scientist and researcher career development supported through K12 programs.

From an eligibility standpoint, the opportunity is broadly open to a wide range of applicant organizations, reflecting NIH norms for biomedical research funding. Eligible applicants include various levels of government (state, county, city/township), 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 and other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities), for-profit organizations (other than small businesses), small businesses, and other categories as allowed under the FOA text. This wide eligibility is meant to encourage participation from diverse institutional settings, including academic medical centers, research institutes, and other organizations capable of assembling interdisciplinary teams and delivering sharable products.

Administrative details in the source information indicate the opportunity was created on December 15, 2016, with an original closing date of March 7, 2017. The award ceiling listed is $200,000, and the expected number of awards is 2. The program is categorized as a discretionary grant, with activity areas labeled under Food and Nutrition, Health, and a CFDA number of 93.847, which is associated with NIH/NIDDK programs supporting kidney, urologic, and hematologic research.

In short, this P20 FOA is designed as a focused, capacity-building mechanism for benign urology: it funds a Developmental Center built around one central project, requires strong administrative coordination and an educational component, prioritizes interdisciplinary collaboration, and places a strong expectation on generating and sharing validated research resources. The broader intent is to strengthen the research community and infrastructure so that future benign urology studies can be conducted faster, more collaboratively, and with better tools and shared foundations.

• The Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Developmental Centers for Interdisciplinary Research in Benign Urology (P20)" 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 Dec 15, 2016.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 07, 2017. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $200,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• 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 (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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