Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program: Artificial Intelligence for Multimodal Data Modeling and Bioinformatics Center (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA RM 21 001

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA RM 21 001

This funding opportunity (RFA-RM-21-001) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (U54; clinical trial not allowed) to establish an Artificial Intelligence for Multimodal Data Modeling and Bioinformatics (AIMDMB) Center as part of the broader Nutrition for Precision Health (NPH) consortium, which is powered by the All of Us Research Program. The overall aim is to accelerate precision nutrition research by building advanced computational and bioinformatics capacity that can turn complex, real-world human data into practical, predictive tools for understanding how different people respond to foods, nutrients, food components, and dietary patterns. Rather than focusing on a single data type or a narrow research question, the Center is meant to function as a central, enabling resource that helps the entire consortium integrate data, analyze it, and produce models that improve individualized nutrition guidance and long-term health outcomes.

A central scientific goal is the creation of “actively learning” algorithms and other advanced modeling approaches that can predict dietary responses and health trajectories over time. The FOA emphasizes longitudinal dynamics, meaning the models should account for how an individual’s biology and health indicators change across repeated measurements, not just at one time point. It also encourages sophisticated computer modeling tools, including in silico approaches such as digital “replicates” of dietary response and user-tailored, high-fidelity computational models. These models are expected to incorporate multimodal inputs that may include demographic, environmental, behavioral, clinical, social, cultural, and multi-omic data (for example, genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, microbiome data), with the intent of capturing real drivers of inter-individual variability in nutrition response.

On the infrastructure side, the Center is expected to develop robust, AI-enabled informatics platforms for handling multimodal, metadata-complete human datasets generated across the NPH consortium. In practical terms, that means building and maintaining computational capabilities that make heterogeneous consortium data usable for machine learning and statistical modeling at scale. The FOA specifically calls for a suite of tools for data integration, harmonization, analysis, and visualization across “multi-modal and multi-fidelity” datasets, along with an adaptive design so that future data types and new data streams can be incorporated without having to rebuild the system from scratch. A major expectation is that the Center’s outputs will make the consortium’s data “AI-ready,” which typically implies consistent data standards, rich metadata, clear provenance, strong quality control, and formats that support modern analytics workflows.

The Center also has an explicit consortium-facing role as a hub for communication and dissemination of state-of-the-art practices for AI-ready biomedical data. In other words, it is not only building tools but also helping establish shared approaches across participating projects, improving interoperability and consistency, and supporting the broader research community’s ability to use the resulting resource. This cooperative agreement mechanism (U54) signals that NIH expects substantial programmatic involvement and close coordination with other NPH awardees, rather than a fully independent investigator-driven project.

Collaboration is a defining feature of this opportunity because all Nutrition for Precision Health awardees are expected to work together to plan and execute a large dietary intervention study designed to catalyze precision nutrition research. The AIMDMB Center’s role is to enable and accelerate that work by providing the computational backbone, modeling expertise, and data ecosystem needed to extract actionable insights from the intervention and associated measurements. The end products envisioned by NIH include (1) a rich, reusable data resource for the research community and (2) algorithms and modeling tools that improve the precision and usefulness of nutrition advice for individuals, with the broader public health goal of improving health and reducing chronic disease burden.

In terms of eligibility and administrative details, the opportunity is listed under CFDA 93.310 and falls under the health funding activity category. It is open to a wide range of U.S.-based applicant organizations, including state, county, and local governments; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments and certain tribal organizations; independent school districts; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) as well as small businesses; and other eligible entities. The FOA also highlights additional eligible applicant types such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), along with faith-based or community-based organizations and U.S. territories or possessions. Foreign institutions (non-U.S. entities) are not eligible to apply as the applicant organization, but foreign components of U.S. organizations are allowed under NIH policy, meaning parts of the work can be carried out internationally if justified and compliant with NIH rules. The original closing date listed for the solicitation was April 6, 2021, and the issuing agency is NIH.

• The National Institutes of Health in the health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Nutrition for Precision Health, powered by the All of Us Research Program: Artificial Intelligence for Multimodal Data Modeling and Bioinformatics Center (U54 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.310.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2021-01-21.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-04-06. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• 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.

Apply for RFA RM 21 001

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: