Immune Drivers of Autoimmune Disease

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) seeks to advance its mission through the continued support of the Immune Drivers of Autoimmune Disease (IDAD) network. This network aims to understand the earliest steps and triggers leading to autoimmunity and flare in humans, with the vision of ultimately preventing autoimmune disease. Priorities include discovering pre-clinical immune mechanisms, developing autoimmunity risk and staging prediction tools and biomarkers, building preclinical cohorts, leveraging remote recruitment and sampling, and artificial intelligence (AI)/big data. This complex, sustained collaboration relies on shared infrastructure to identify common triggers, pathways, and prevention opportunities. An Infrastructure Opportunity Fund (IOF) will be included in the initiative to provide the network the opportunity to conduct collaborative research projects. An IDAD Network Coordinating Center (NCC) will be responsible for administering the IOF and supporting additional coordinating activities amongst IDAD awardees, including the organization of Steering Committee meetings, resource sharing, data harmonization, sample sharing, and administering the IOF. Grant authorities that allow NIAID to forecast this opportunity are as follows: Sections 301 and 405 of the Public Health Service Act as amended (42 USC 241 and 284) and under Federal Regulations 42 CFR Part 52 and 2 CFR Part 2.