NIH Brain Development Cohorts (NBDC) Biospecimen Access (X01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | PAR 23 229

FAQs: NIH Brain Development Cohorts (NBDC) Biospecimen Access (PAR-23-229)

What is the NIH NBDC Biospecimen Access opportunity (PAR-23-229)?

It is an NIH resource-access grant mechanism (X01) that provides a formal pathway for researchers to request and use stored biological samples from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to answer new research questions without launching a new clinical study.

What is the main purpose of this opportunity?

The purpose is to enable outside investigators to access already collected ABCD biospecimens (and, where appropriate, associated ABCD data) to conduct analyses that advance scientific understanding of adolescent development, health, behavior, and related outcomes, while avoiding the time and cost of new biospecimen collection.

What study are the biospecimens coming from?

The biospecimens come from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, a large nationwide longitudinal project following more than 11,000 children who entered the study at ages 9 to 10 and are being followed for about a decade.

Why is ABCD considered a high-value resource for biospecimen research?

ABCD combines stored biospecimens with extensive behavioral assessments and neuroimaging collected repeatedly over time. That linkage supports analyses connecting biology with brain development, behavior, mental health, environmental context, and trajectories of risk and resilience across adolescence.

What types of biospecimens can investigators request through ABCD?

The opportunity describes access to saliva, urine, hair, deciduous teeth, and blood collected within ABCD.

What can saliva samples be used for in this context?

Saliva is commonly used for hormone measurement and related endocrine questions, including work relevant to hormones and puberty when aligned with ABCD-linked measures.

What can urine and hair samples be used for?

Urine and hair are often used to assess substance use, substance exposure, and certain environmental exposures, with the added benefit that they can reflect different exposure time windows depending on the matrix.

Why are deciduous teeth included as an available specimen type?

Deciduous teeth are described as a valuable matrix for studying environmental exposures and toxicants over early developmental periods.

What can blood samples support?

Blood can support genetic analyses as well as metabolic and hematologic assays, enabling a range of biomarker and multi-omics style questions when appropriate.

Can researchers link biospecimen results to neuroimaging and behavioral data?

Yes. The program description emphasizes that these materials are linked to ABCD participants with repeated assessments and brain imaging, enabling integrative analyses across biology, brain, and behavior.

What kinds of research topics are a good fit for this opportunity?

The description indicates projects may range across substance exposure and related health outcomes, hormones and puberty, environmental exposures, genetics, and multi-omics or biomarker work, as long as the work fits the access-and-analysis purpose of the mechanism.

What does it mean that this is an X01 mechanism?

Based on the provided description, X01 here functions as a resource-access mechanism focused on obtaining access to existing ABCD biospecimens for analysis, rather than supporting the launch of a new participant-facing clinical study.

What does "Clinical Trial Not Allowed" mean for applicants?

It means proposals should not involve running an interventional or prospective clinical trial. Applicants should propose analyses that rely on already collected ABCD biospecimens (and associated ABCD data, where appropriate) rather than recruiting participants, delivering an intervention, or altering clinical care.

Does this opportunity fund new biospecimen collection from participants?

No. The opportunity is described as a pathway to request and use stored samples already collected by ABCD, not to collect new biospecimens through a new clinical study.

Who administers this grant opportunity?

The administering agency is the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The opportunity is connected to NBDC Biospecimen Access Program information hosted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Where can applicants find additional background information about ABCD and the biospecimen access program?

The description points to the ABCD Study website (abcdstudy.org) for cohort and measures background, and to the NIDA funding opportunities page describing the biospecimen access program information.

What types of organizations are eligible to apply?

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of U.S. organizations and governments, including state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and private institutions of higher education; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses) and small businesses; and other entities.

Are minority-serving institutions and community-based organizations eligible?

Yes. The announcement explicitly includes categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities, and faith-based or community-based organizations.

Are federal agencies eligible to apply?

Yes. The eligible applicant categories listed include eligible federal agencies.

Can non-U.S. (foreign) organizations apply?

Yes. The listed eligible categories include non-U.S. (foreign) organizations.

Are U.S. territories or possessions included in eligibility?

Yes. The description explicitly includes U.S. territories or possessions among eligible applicant categories.

What is the opportunity category and funding instrument type?

The opportunity category is discretionary, and the funding instrument type is a grant.

What activity areas does this opportunity fall under?

The activity areas listed span education, environment, and health.

What Assistance Listing (CFDA) numbers are associated with this announcement?

The associated assistance listing numbers provided are 93.113, 93.242, 93.273, 93.279, 93.307, 93.313, and 93.399.

When was this opportunity posted, and when does it close?

The posting (creation) date listed is August 11, 2023, and the closing date listed is May 5, 2026.

Is an award ceiling or expected number of awards provided in the excerpt?

No. The provided source excerpt does not specify an award ceiling or expected number of awards, noting that this can be common for access mechanisms where costs and capacity depend on factors like specimen availability and handling requirements.

What should a strong application emphasize, based on the description?

A strong application would typically (1) make a clear case that the proposed analyses specifically require ABCD samples, (2) describe how the requested biospecimens will be used to answer well-defined scientific questions, and (3) align with the non-clinical-trial, resource-access purpose of the mechanism.

Does the opportunity support research that combines multiple biospecimen types?

The description indicates a broad set of specimen types are available and notes multi-omics or biomarker work as within the potential scope, suggesting that projects may propose integrated analyses as long as they fit the access-and-analysis purpose.

What is the practical advantage of using this biospecimen access pathway instead of starting a new study?

The program is described as reducing the burden and cost of biospecimen collection and enabling hypothesis testing using well-characterized samples from a large, diverse U.S. cohort already followed longitudinally with rich supporting data.