Arkansas Children's Research Institute

Arkansas Children's Research Institute, a non-profit pediatric medical research center based in Little Rock, Arkansas, operates as a federal grant recipient and contract subcontractor across a portfolio spanning pediatric clinical research, translational immunology, pharmacokinetics, and rare disease pathogenesis. The institute holds no parent contract vehicles or federal procurement vehicles; its federal engagement centers on NIH grant awards and occasional service contracts. With 110 prime awards (52% of its 211 total federal awards) and 101 subcontract and sub-grant positions (48%), ACRI functions primarily as a prime recipient of federal research funding and as a participating site or research partner on larger consortia-led studies.

ACRI's capability portfolio is narrowly focused on pediatric-centered biomedical research. Prime contract work includes a $37,022.66 sole-source purchase order from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (James J. Peters VA Medical Center) awarded January 2023 for specialized mass spectrometry research services measuring plant-derived phenolics and carotenoids in pharmacokinetic and toxicology studies. Grant work dominates the footprint: recent NIH prime awards include a $107,307 K99/R00 career development grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (CFDA 93.859, awarded June 2026) studying muscle catabolism following burn injury; a $184,882 project grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (CFDA 93.837, awarded June 2026) investigating pulse oximetry accuracy in preterm infants; and an $801,261 NHLBI project grant (CFDA 93.837, awarded May 2026) on partial heart transplantation biology using a piglet model. ACRI also holds a Defense Health Agency research award ($154,000, November 2024, CFDA 12.420) on pediatric acute megakaryoblastic leukemia and a multi-year cooperative agreement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (awarded March 2024) as the Arkansas Center for Food Allergy Research (ARCOFAR), a Consortium for Food Allergy Research clinical research center serving underrepresented rural and low-income populations across a 30-year food allergy research foundation.

Federal grant concentration is heavily weighted to the National Institutes of Health. The top five funding agencies account for 52% of recent awards: the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases leads with 29 awards; NIH broadly (unspecified institutes) carries 26 awards; the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funds 20 awards; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute holds 20 awards; and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development anchors 14 awards worth $26.6 million in combined potential value. By dollar concentration, NICHD dominates the value ranking at $26.6 million across 14 awards, followed by NIAID, broad NIH funding, HRSA, and NHLBI. Across all 211 awards, the combined potential value reported is $46.2 million, though obligated dollars ($308.1 million) significantly exceed potential value, reflecting continuation funding and modifications on ongoing grants—a pattern typical of multi-year NIH research awards. ACRI's 39 distinct customer agencies reflect broad federal scientific-research engagement, but the concentration within NIH and HRSA is stark.

ACRI operates as a sub-recipient and subcontractor on large consortia-led research efforts. Recent contract sub-work includes participation in a TDA Research Phase II SBIR (awarded February 2025) evaluating ertapenem concentration in ischemic limbs during tourniquet use, and three identically scoped University of Pittsburgh sub-awards (July 2024) investigating low-titer group O whole blood and tranexamic acid as pediatric trauma resuscitation strategies. Grant sub-award participation is extensive, spanning 40+ universities and research centers as prime grantees: ACRI serves as a clinical research site or data-analysis partner on Food Allergy Research Consortium efforts (Johns Hopkins, multiple awards); pediatric fungal network studies (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia); rare disease consortia on congenital and perinatal infections (University of Alabama at Birmingham, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia); lymphatic malformation research (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia); and the Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) consortium (University of California San Diego), where ACRI is one of six sites enrolling substance-exposed and at-risk infants. Other high-volume sub-recipient roles include participation in sickle cell disease treatment programs under the Heartland/Southwest SCD Network (The Washington University sub-grantee coordinator, multiple award years), home visiting program evaluation through the Arkansas Department of Health, and training-program sub-awards from Indiana University (causal inference in obesity research, mathematical sciences in obesity, R25 education grants).

Activity has grown substantially year over year—six awards in 2022, nineteen in 2023, forty-eight in 2024, twenty-two in 2025, and eighteen in 2026 to date. This expansion reflects ACRI's positioning as a clinical research site within national consortia and its emergence as a prime NIH grantee. Seven awards face ultimate completion within the next twenty-four months, representing potential recompete opportunity for funders seeking to re-engage ACRI's pediatric research infrastructure. ACRI competes in full-and-open federal research funding mechanisms; no set-aside or socioeconomic designations characterize the footprint. The institute operates as a tax-exempt non-profit entity, making it ineligible for federal set-aside categories. ACRI's federal engagement is research-grant driven, with minimal federal contracting exposure and no involvement in federal procurement vehicles, GWACs, or schedule contracts.