Foundations for Digital Twins as Catalyzers of Biomedical Technological Innovation

The Foundations for Digital Twins as Catalyzers of Biomedical Technological Innovation (FDT-BioTech) is a collaborative funding initiative supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This program aims to catalyze biomedical innovation by funding foundational research in mathematics, statistics, computer science, and engineering that supports the development of digital twins and synthetic human models used in healthcare applications. These virtual constructs have the potential to revolutionize medical device evaluation, regulatory science, and personalized patient care. The program supports inherently interdisciplinary proposals that address major challenges such as creating computational representations of physiological systems, establishing robust verification and validation methods, ensuring model transferability and generalizability, and integrating ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) from the start. Proposals must also demonstrate potential regulatory science impact and include a section addressing ELSI concerns. Successful proposals are expected to involve interdisciplinary teams, including expertise from mathematical sciences and at least one domain discipline like biomedical sciences or cyberinfrastructure development. Eligible applicants are limited to U.S.-based two- and four-year institutions of higher education (including community colleges), acting on behalf of their faculty. Proposals involving international branches must clearly justify their necessity. An individual may only serve as PI or co-PI on one proposal. Collaborative proposals from multiple organizations are allowed but must be submitted via Research.gov and should not exceed a total budget of $1,000,000 for the entire collaboration. This program anticipates funding between 6 to 10 awards with a total funding pool of $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. The maximum duration for each project is three years, and the funding amount should be consistent with the project scope. Cost sharing is not allowed. The proposal deadlines are annually on the first Monday in May, with the next deadline set for May 5, 2025. For program-specific inquiries, proposers can contact a range of cognizant program officers across NSF, NIH, and FDA. Key NSF contacts include Dr. Yulia R. Gel, Dr. Zhilan J. Feng, Dr. Stephanie George, Dr. Varun Chandola, and Dr. Ashok Srinivasan. NIH and FDA contacts include Dr. Laura Biven, Dr. Fenglou Mao, and Dr. Aldo Badano. Full proposals can be submitted through Research.gov or Grants.gov following the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide.