Due: March 13, 2026
The HIV Vaccine Research and Design (HIVRAD) Program supports projects that address hypotheses crucial to the design of an efficacious HIV/AIDS prophylactic vaccine. An application submitted in response to this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) should include hypothesis-supporting data that the research has advanced past the exploratory stage, including preliminary immunogenicity to justify the vaccine candidate development; and the application should lay out a research plan with clear decision points. Preclinical evaluation of vaccine concepts in nonhuman primates and/or small animal models, such as transgenic humanized mice, may be included. This NOFO will support research including but not limited to:
- Approaches to elicit durable and broadly adaptive immunity against HIV and/or SIV
- Identifying correlates of vaccine-induced immune protection against infection with HIV and/or SHIV/SIV in preclinical models
- HIV structural studies as they relate to designing HIV immunogens
- Improved animal model systems to address vaccine immunogenicity and/or efficacy
- Approaches to improve the immunogenicity of HIV antigens (e.g., novel adjuvants and delivery systems)
- Novel candidate vaccine design for addressing the heterogeneity of HIV
- Developing or improving vaccine vectors
- Determining how immune cells can be mobilized to relevant mucosal sites
- Investigations into innate immunity to alter the outcome of infection