Limited Competition for the Continuation of Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Study Clinical Research Center (Collaborative U01) | RFA DK 16 508

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA DK 16 508

This funding opportunity, RFA DK 16 508, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (Collaborative U01) designed to continue the long-running follow-up of participants in the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study. EDIC is the observational study that began in 1994 immediately after the landmark Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT). DCCT showed that intensive diabetes management substantially lowered the risk of complications compared to conventional therapy, and when the trial ended, all participants were trained in intensive therapy. EDIC was created to track what happens over the long term in this same well-characterized type 1 diabetes cohort, allowing researchers to measure the lasting effects of earlier treatment and to understand how glucose control and other risk factors shape complications across decades.

The core aim of this FOA is to fund the EDIC Clinical Research Center, which acts as the central operational hub that manages and supports the network of EDIC Clinical Centers. The work is focused on continued cohort follow-up and on studying the development, progression, and long-term course of type 1 diabetes complications. The FOA emphasizes major outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, mortality, and severe microvascular disease (including blindness, kidney failure, and amputation). It also calls out longer-term functional and neurologic outcomes, including neurocognitive impairment and physical fragility, reflecting the cohort's aging and the need to understand diabetes-related health trajectories over the life span.

Operationally, the EDIC Clinical Research Center is responsible for coordinating EDIC core activities across the participating Clinical Centers in line with established study protocols, the Manual of Operations, and local Institutional Review Board (IRB) requirements. The Clinical Centers carry out the on-the-ground research activities, collect participant data and specimens using established procedures, and then transmit data and samples to centralized resources such as the EDIC Biostatistics Research Center, a central laboratory, and other core facilities as required by the study protocol(s). The FOA also highlights the importance of enabling and facilitating ancillary studies that leverage the EDIC cohort, its dataset, and stored biologic, genetic, and other samples, ensuring that additional investigator-approved research can be integrated without disrupting the standardized, longitudinal nature of the main study.

From a funding structure perspective, this is a cooperative agreement, meaning NIH is expected to have substantial involvement in the project compared to a typical grant. The award ceiling listed is $3,500,000, and the opportunity is categorized under discretionary funding with an activity focus in health (CFDA 93.847). A companion FOA, RFA DK 16 509, is referenced as supporting the continuation of the EDIC Biostatistics Research Center, signaling that the overall EDIC infrastructure is being maintained through coordinated awards that cover both clinical operations and statistical/data management leadership.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizations and governmental entities, including state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and certain tribal organizations; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses, among others. The FOA also explicitly mentions categories such as HBCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions, tribally controlled colleges and universities, AANAPISI institutions, faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions. At the same time, non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply, although foreign components (as NIH defines them in the NIH Grants Policy Statement) are allowed, which typically means discrete parts of the project may be carried out abroad under specific NIH rules while the applicant organization remains U.S.-based.

Key administrative details included in the source information are the opportunity number (RFA DK 16 508), the original closing date (2016-11-08), and the creation date (2016-08-01). Overall, the opportunity is essentially about preserving and advancing one of the most influential longitudinal cohorts in type 1 diabetes research by funding the centralized clinical research infrastructure needed to keep participants engaged, maintain consistent measurements and specimen handling, coordinate multiple sites, and support both core and ancillary scientific questions about long-term complications and aging with type 1 diabetes.

• The National Institutes of Health in the food and nutrition, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Limited Competition for the Continuation of Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) Study Clinical Research Center (Collaborative U01)" 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 2016-08-01.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2016-11-08. (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 $3,500,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

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