P(t) = k*p0*exp(r*t) / (k+p0*(exp(r*t)-1))

nlme(y ~ k*p0*exp(r*t) / (k+p0*(exp(r*t)-1)), ## not working at all (bad numerical properties?)
            data = data,
            fixed = k + p0 + r ~ var1 + var2,
            random = k + p0 + r ~ 1|UID,
            start = c(p0=1, k=100, r=1))

nlme(y ~ SSlogis(t, Asym, xmid, scal), ## not working, as start= is inappropriate
            data = data,
            fixed = Asym + xmid + scal ~ var1 + var2, ## works fine with ~ 1
            random = Asym + xmid + scal ~ 1|UID,
            start = getInitial(y ~ SSlogis(Dauer, Asym, xmid, scal), data = data))

library(nlme)
data <- groupedData(y ~ t | UID, data=data) ## not strictly necessary
initVals <- getInitial(y ~ SSlogis(t, Asym, xmid, scal), data = data)
baseModel<- nlme(y ~ SSlogis(t, Asym, xmid, scal),
    data = data,
    fixed = list(Asym ~ 1, xmid ~ 1, scal ~ 1),
    random = Asym + xmid + scal ~ 1|UID,
    start = initVals
)

nestedModel <- update(baseModel, fixed=list(Asym ~ var1, xmid ~ 1, scal ~ 1), start = c(fixef(baseModel)[1], 0, fixef(baseModel)[2], fixef(baseModel)[3]))

library(lme4) ## careful loading nlme and lme4 concurrently
customLogitModel <- function(t, Asym, AsymVar1, xmid, scal) {
    (Asym+AsymVar1*var1)/(1+exp((xmid-t)/scal))
}

customLogitModelGradient <- deriv(
    body(customLogitModel)[[2]],
    namevec = c("Asym", "AsymVar1", "xmid", "scal"),
    function.arg=customLogitModel
)

## find starting parameters
initVals <- getInitial(y ~ SSlogis(t, Asym, xmid, scal), data = data)

# Fit the model
model <- nlmer(
    y ~ customLogitModelGradient(t=t, Asym, AsymVar1, xmid, scal, var1=var) ~
    # Random effects with a second ~
    (Asym | UID) + (xmid | UID) + (scal | UID),
    data = data,
    start = c(Asym=initVals[1], AsymVar1=0, xmid=initVals[2], scal=initVals[3])
)