Skip to main content

NIH Awards over $107 Million to Support Innovative Approaches to COVID-19 Testing and Surveillance

The National Institutes of Health has awarded over $107 million through its RADx Radical (RADx-rad) program, to support innovative approaches and reimagined uses of existing tools to address gaps in COVID-19 testing and surveillance, and develop platforms that can be deployed quickly during an emerging outbreak of COVID-19 or other infectious disease.  

The first round of RADx-rad awards will support 49 research projects and grant supplements at 43 institutions across the United States. It will focus on non-traditional viral screening approaches, such as biological or physiological markers, new analytical platforms with novel chemistries or engineering, rapid detection strategies, point-of-care devices, and home-based testing technologies.

The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) is one of eleven NIH institutes and centers supporting RADx-rad grants and supplements. The RADx-rad program is part of the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative, which was created to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing. Learn more about the types of projects being supported under the RADx-rad program.

NINR is supporting the following awards through the RADx initiative:

  • Multi-modal Wireless COVID Monitoring & Infection Alerts for Concentrated Populations
  • Reaching Communities through the Design of Information Visualizations (ReDIVis) Toolbox for Return of COVID-19 Results
  • Alive Church Network: Increasing COVID-19 Testing in Chicago’s African American Testing Deserts