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Grants / Department of Health and Human Services / National Institutes of Health

PAR-25-153: Assay development and screening for discovery of chemical probes, drugs or immunomodulators (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Closed Closed September 7, 2026 Opportunity PAR-25-153

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of National Institutes of Health notices from 2024.

National Institutes of Health offered grants to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses. Applications closed on September 7, 2026.

From the official notice on Grants.gov, last changed November 6, 2024. Checked November 7, 2026.

About this NIH notice

Projects funded under PAR-25-153 were run by National Cancer Institute (NCI, 11 projects). Contact the program officer at the institute that fits your project before you apply; the notice lists them.

Application due dates, page limits and budget limits are set in the notice. Read PAR-25-153 in the NIH Guide.

Other notices with this title

National Institutes of Health has posted this title under other numbers: earlier or later rounds, or the same competition for another area. Each has its own dates and may change its rules.

NoticePostedDeadlineStatus
PAR-23-264August 10, 2023Closed November 20, 2024Closed

Key dates

PostedNovember 6, 2024
DeadlineSeptember 7, 2026
Archived by Grants.govOctober 13, 2026

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses.

All 15 applicant types the notice lists

Other Eligible Applicants include the following: Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions; Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs); Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government; Faith-based or Community-based Organizations; Hispanic-serving Institutions; Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized); Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations); Regional Organizations; Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs) ; U.S. Territory or Possession.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses, businesses.

Is this a realistic fit?

What the grant funds

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits applications for identification of small molecules that function to elucidate the biology of disease as chemical probes or function as agonists or antagonists of disease target(s) for therapy or immunotherapy. The NOFO is intended to support discovery research for the identification of validated hits relevant to health-related outcomes of participating NIH Institutes. Stages of discovery research covered by this NOFO include: 1) assay development for specific biological targets and disease mechanisms relevant to the mission of participating NIH Institutes with the intent to screen for small molecule compounds that show potential as probes for use in advancing knowledge about the known targets, identifying new targets, or as pre-therapeutic leads; 2) screen implementation high throughput target-focused approaches or moderate throughput phenotypic- and fragment-based approaches to identify initial screening hits; 3) hit validation, including implementation of secondary assays that are orthogonal to the primary assay, advanced cheminformatics analysis and initial medicinal chemistry inspection to prioritize the hit set, and follow-up assays to characterize mode and mechanism of action of the validated hits; 4) hit-to-lead optimization, including SAR to optimize target engagement, selectivity and to minimize chemical liabilities, ADME, PK and PD studies, and, if appropriate, in vivo modeling to test efficacy or biological effects.

Category: Education, Health.

Funded under PAR-25-153 so far

NIH funded 11 projects under PAR-25-153 in fiscal 2026, at 8 institutions. The median yearly award was $656,267.

Most projects: University of California Los Angeles (California), 3, University of California, San Diego (California), 2, University of Texas HLTH Science Center (Texas), 1, UT Southwestern Medical Center (Texas), 1, Columbia Univ New York Morningside (New York), 1.

From NIH RePORTER, which lists each project once per fiscal year it was funded. Amounts are the yearly award.

Who has won Cancer Treatment Research grants before

From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Cancer Treatment Research (93.395) awarded $5.6 billion across 3,622 grant awards, an average of $1.5 million per award.

Largest recipients, fiscal 2021 to 2025
RecipientStateAwardsAmount
The Univeristy of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterTexas144$188 million
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc.Massachusetts68$185 million
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew York35$179 million
Public Health InstituteCalifornia4$168 million
Fred Hutchinson Cancer CenterWashington57$156 million

Top states: California ($843 million), New York ($604 million), Massachusetts ($568 million), Texas ($444 million), Pennsylvania ($417 million).

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.

Questions people ask

Is PAR-25-153 still open?

No. It closed on September 7, 2026.

Who can apply for Assay development and screening for discovery of chemical probes, drugs or immunomodulators (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)?

National Institutes of Health accepted applications from nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, small businesses and businesses. The notice adds further conditions, so read its eligibility section.

What is the deadline for Assay development and screening for discovery of chemical probes, drugs or immunomodulators (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)?

Closed September 7, 2026. Applications are no longer accepted; the program's newer notices are on this page when there are any.

Who has been funded under PAR-25-153?

NIH RePORTER lists 11 projects funded under PAR-25-153 in fiscal 2026, at 8 institutions. The most were at University of California Los Angeles, University of California, San Diego, University of Texas HLTH Science Center.

Who has won Cancer Treatment Research grants before?

The largest recipients over five fiscal years were The Univeristy of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. The program made 3,622 awards worth $5.6 billion in that time.

Similar open grants