Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03, Clinical Trials Not Allowed)
This grant funds small pilot projects to develop or improve tools, methods, and studies that advance understanding of the human virome and its effects on health, using human or animal samples, without clinical trials.
Funder: National Institutes of Health
Due Dates: November 10, 2026 (Application deadline)
Funding Amounts: $50,000–$100,000 per award; $2 million estimated total funding for 13 awards
Summary: Supports small pilot projects that extend the Human Virome Program through tool development, expanded sampling, and research on virome–host interactions.
Key Information: Clinical trials are not allowed, and projects should not overlap with existing Human Virome Program efforts.
Description
The NIH Common Fund Human Virome Program (HVP) aims to comprehensively characterize the “healthy” human virome: viruses normally residing in the human body without evidence of disease. It develops tools, models, and methods to study the virome’s composition and variation, its relationship to host factors, and its influence on health and disease.
This R03 opportunity supports small pilot projects that extend HVP goals. Projects may validate, improve, or complement HVP tools using human specimens from program cohorts or animal samples; expand existing cohorts or biospecimen sampling sites; develop virome tools, assays, and methods; or define functional interactions between the virome and host. The pilots will expand the HVP consortium, with collaboration across the program expected. Applicants outside the current HVP are encouraged to apply.
