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Notice of Special Interest: Tools to Enhance the Study of Prenatal and Pediatric Hydrocephalus

National Institutes of Health

The purpose of this Notice is to inform potential applicants about an area of special interest to NINDS in research to develop or substantially modify existing cutting-edge tools that will advance prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research. Applications should aim to transform the field of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research by generating tools including animal and cell models, novel methods and innovative technologies that will be widely used throughout the neuroscience community to understand disease mechanisms and/or developing therapeutics.

Hydrocephalus is a condition in which the primary characteristic is excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain resulting in enlargement of the ventricles. Prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus may be caused by either intrinsic factors including genetics or extrinsic factors including hemorrhage or infections. It occurs in 1 in 1000 newborns. The most common treatment for hydrocephalus is surgical drainage by the placement of a shunt or endoscopic third ventriculostomy with choroid plexus cauterization (ETV-CPC). Little is known about the pathogenesis (biological mechanisms leading to the disease state) of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus.

The Notice invites research grant applications that propose to develop or substantially modify existing cutting-edge tools that will advance prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research. The primary objective of this Notice is to remove barriers to hydrocephalus research that are due to scarcity of tools to investigate both the disease mechanisms and alternative therapies (non-shunt) in a rigorous manner. Applications should aim to transform the field of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus research by generating tools including animal and cell models, novel methods and innovative technologies that will be widely used throughout the neuroscience community to understand disease mechanisms and/or developing therapeutics.

Topics of interest include 1) novel or significantly improved cell and/or animal models of hydrocephalus; and 2) novel methods and/or innovative technologies to accelerate the understanding of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus. Cutting-edge and/or high-risk applications are strongly encouraged.

For PA-20-183 , only mechanistic clinical trials will be accepted in accordance with NOT-NS-18-011 . NIH defines a mechanistic clinical trial as follows: "A mechanistic study is designed to understand a biological or behavioral process, the pathophysiology of a disease, or the mechanism of action of an intervention.”

Studies that focus on the following will be considered non-responsive: research tools to study pediatric research not focused on hydrocephalus pathogenesis but on perinatal traumatic brain injury, brain hemorrhage and hypoxia; shunt development; natural history studies; and non-mechanistic clinical trials (i.e., efficacy, effectiveness, and implementation). Applications may not necessarily be hypothesis-driven, but rather should focus directly on tool development.

Hypothesis-driven research focused on understanding the molecular, cellular and developmental mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of prenatal and/or pediatric hydrocephalus is being supported by NOT-NS-23-004 .

This notice applies to application receipt dates on or after October 5, 2022 and subsequent receipt dates through December 10, 2025.

NOT-NS-23-003