The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support innovative research that will inform our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the formation of structural birth defects using animal models in conjunction with human translational/clinical approaches. Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of advances in genetics, omics methods (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, etc.), and synthetic biology, biochemical and other approaches to developmental biology research to identify specific genetic, epigenetic, environmental, or gene/environment interactions associated with the formation of, susceptibility to, and variability of structural birth defects in human populations.