The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Research Program (NFRP) to support innovative, high-impact Neurofibromatosis (NF) research.  The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY21 NFRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.   

Areas of Emphasis:  The NFRP encourages applications that specifically address the critical needs of the NF community in one or more of the FY21 Areas of Emphasis.  Not all Areas of Emphasis are applicable to each award mechanism offered by the FY21 NFRP.  If the proposed research project does not address one of the FY21 Areas of Emphasis, justification that the proposed research project addresses an important problem related to NF research and/or patient care should be provided.  Applications submitted to the FY21 NFRP must address one or more of the following Areas of Emphasis:

• Biomarker discovery, utility, development, and validation
• Non-tumor manifestations not limited to:

o  Pain

o  Cognitive Manifestations

o  Sleep

• Heterogeneity of NF-related tumors
• Novel disease and treatment response markers using genetics, genomics, epigenetics, systems biology, metabolomics, or similar approaches
• Preclinical efficacy studies
• Target identification, drug discovery
• Nutritional, environmental, and other modifiers of NF
• Health services research

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/nfrp

Clinical Trial Award – Letter of Intent due July 8, 2021

• Must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor
  (or equivalent).
• Supports research with the potential to have a major impact on the treatment or management of NF.
• Funds phase 0, 1, or 2 clinical trials relevant to NF and/or schwannomatosis.  Combinations of phases are permitted.
• Must support a clinical trial and may not be used for preclinical research studies.
  • The maximum period of performance is 4 years.
  • The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $800,000 in direct costs ($1,000,000 in direct costs if requesting the Qualified Organizational Collaboration Option).

• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Exploration – Hypothesis Development Award – Letter of Intent due July 8, 2021

• Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
• Supports the initial exploration of innovative, high-risk, high-gain concepts and potentially groundbreaking concepts in NF research.
• Preliminary and/or published data are encouraged but not required.
• Clinical trials are not allowed
• The maximum period of performance is 2 years.
• The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $100,000 in direct costs.
• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Investigator-Initiated Research Award – Letter of Intent due July 8, 2021

Must be an investigator at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) who plans to commit at least a 10% level of effort for each budget period for the entirety of the award.

• Supports highly rigorous, high-impact research with the potential to make an important contribution to NF research and/or patient care.
• Preliminary and/or published data relevant to NF are required.
• Optional Features: Applications meeting criteria identified in the program announcement may apply for a higher level of funding for the following options: Qualified Collaborator and/or NF Open Science Initiative (NF-OSI).
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
• The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $525,000 in direct costs.
• The maximum allowable funding for applications including either the Optional Qualified Collaborator or the NF‑OSI Option is $575,000 in direct costs.
• The maximum allowable funding for applications including both the Optional Qualified Collaborator Option and the NF-OSI Option is $625,000 in direct costs.
• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Early Investigator Research Award – Letter of Intent due July 8, 2021

The investigator must:

• Be involved in a postdoctoral training or medical residency program; and
• Possess at least 1 and up to 4 years of continuous postdoctoral research experience by application submission deadline; and
• Possess a doctoral degree (i.e., Ph.D., M.D./Ph.D., D.O./Ph.D.) or a clinical doctoral degree (i.e., M.D./D.O. or Ph.D. in a clinical discipline) from an accredited organization or program.
  • Supports NF-focused research opportunities for individuals in the early stages of their careers.
  • Investigators must have a designated mentor who is an experienced NF researcher.
  • The maximum period of performance is 2 years.
  • The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $200,000 in direct costs.
  • Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Synergistic Idea Development Award – Letter of Intent due July 8, 2021

Must be an investigator at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) who plans to commit at least a 10% level of effort for each budget period throughout the entirety of the award.

• Supports new ideas that represent synergistic approaches involving two or three Principal Investigators (PIs) (Initiating PIs and PI[s]) to address a central problem or question in NF research.
• Preliminary and/or published data are required.
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
• The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $200,000,000 in direct costs.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov.  A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the NFRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org

The AMS Doctoral Completion Award provides funding to doctoral students to help support full-time dissertation writing leading to dissertation completion in the humanities or social sciences, writing on a history of medicine/health care topic – broadly defined as the study of past practices and epistemologies related to human health, healthcare, and disease.

The project grant program supports small-budget proposals for research projects in the history of medicine and allied disciplines such as science and technology studies, sociology, anthropology, and classics. Projects must strive to advance the history of health, healthcare and disease, or the education of health professionals.

The AMS Postdoctoral Fellowship provides support to promising researchers at a pivotal time in their careers. Candidates should be embarking on a period of full-time post-PhD degree studies and wish to add to their experience by engaging in research in Canada or abroad. The fellowships are intended for emerging scholars to complete work already started on projects featuring the study, analysis, and interpretation of past practices, philosophies, and/or epistemologies related to human health, health care and/or disease, or the education of health professionals, or to begin a new project in the field.

With support from the Canada Life Assurance Co., we are pleased to offer two official awards, along with possible honorary mentions, to Canadian organizations and collaborations. Winners will be celebrated in the following ways:

• Winners will be showcased in a public webinar hosted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and A Way Home Canada.
• Winners will be invited to share their work in conference presentations as opportunities arise.
• Winners will be invited to join the National Learning Community on Youth Homelessness, if they are not already members.
• Winners will receive a mini case study of their initiative, produced by research and communications staff at the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. The case studies will be published in the Homeless Hub newsletter, with a national and international reach of more than 18,000 subscribers.
• Winners will be showcased in an updated edition of the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness.
• Winners may be eligible to receive professional evaluation and public policy support for their initiatives, depending on the context and identified needs/opportunities.

Priority will be placed on programs or initiatives that are:

• proactive, rather than reactive, approaches to youth homelessness, from a preventative and rights-based lens
• demonstrating significant impacts in the lives of vulnerable youth aged 13-24 years old
• delivering programs or services aimed at preventing youth homelessness that align with one or more elements of prevention from the Roadmap for the Prevention of Youth Homelessness

Organizations may self-nominate their own program or initiative, or nominate another organization or initiative.

If you are interested in being nominated for this award, please contact Dr. Batia Stolar, Associate Vice-President, Research & Graduate Studies, at avp.research@lakeheadu.ca

This request is designed to solicit proposals to the Strategic Investment Fund that will leverage KBHN funds and Network expertise in new ventures with the potential to generate impact and value for end users and stakeholders. The expected outputs of these projects could include, but are not limited to, changes in practice or policy, advancing new technologies or establishing new applications for existing technologies, and expanding or scaling direct supports for children and families.

The Canada Council for the Arts can help propel the careers of outstanding researchers through its prestigious Killam Prizes. We are pleased to announce that the 2022 competition is now underway!

Five (5) prizes are awarded annually – one in each of the disciplines of engineering, health sciences, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. These career achievement awards recognize substantial and distinguished contribution, over a significant period, to scholarly research.

Value: $100,000 each
How to qualify: Nominate a candidate to the Canada Council for the Arts
Deadline: 30 June, 2021
For further information: See the guidelines.

We have also enabled nominations to be submitted electronically through a dedicated email address:
killam-prizes@canadacouncil.ca.

If you are interested in being nominated for this award, please contact Dr. Batia Stolar, Associate Vice-President, Research & Graduate Studies, at avp.research@lakeheadu.ca  

The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Kidney Cancer Research Program (KCRP) to support research of exceptional scientific merit in the area of kidney cancer.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation.  The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY21 KCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website. 

Applications submitted to the FY21 KCRP must address one or more of the following focus areas:

• Conduct basic biology research to better understand etiology and cancer progression, metastatic disease, refractory disease and therapeutic resistance, genetic and environmental risk factors and the prevention of kidney cancer.
• Identify and develop new strategies for screening, early-stage detection, accurate diagnosis and prognosis prediction of kidney cancers, with examples including biomarkers and imaging.
• Define the biology of rare kidney cancers and develop treatments to improve outcomes and reduce death.
• Develop novel therapeutic strategies for the treatment of kidney cancer, such as novel drug targets, therapeutic modalities and agents, treatment combinations and drug delivery systems.
• Identify and implement strategies to improve the quality of life of patients.
• Identify and implement strategies to mitigate health disparities, such as access to healthcare, social and cultural factors, environmental factors, and biological contributors.

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/kcrp

Concept Award – Letter of Intent due June 22, 2021

Idea Development Award – Preproposal due June 15, 2021

Modified for FY21

Established Investigators:

Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) and 10 years or more from a terminal degree; or

Early-Career Investigators:

Investigators at the level of Assistant Professor, Instructor, or Assistant Research Professor (or equivalent) and less than 10 years from a terminal degree (excluding time spent in medical residency or family medical leave) at the time of application submission.

• Supports new ideas that represent innovative, high-risk/high-gain approaches to kidney cancer research, and have the potential to make an important contribution to kidney cancer.

• Innovation and Impact are the most important review criteria.

• Different funding options, based on the scope of the proposed research, are available with compelling justification.

• Preliminary data are required.

• Clinical trials are not allowed.

Maximum funding of $600,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

• Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.

• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Early Detection Studies Option:

• Maximum funding of $650,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

• Period of performance not to exceed 3 years.

• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

Population Science and Prevention Studies Option:

• Maximum funding of $2 million in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

• Period of performance not to exceed 4 years.

Postdoctoral and Clinical Fellowship Award – Letter of Intent due June 22, 2021

Translational Research Partnership Award

The Initiating Principal Investigator (PI) must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor or equivalent.

The Partnering PI must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor or equivalent.

Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible to be Partnering PIs.

• Supports partnerships between clinicians and laboratory scientists that accelerate ideas in kidney cancer into clinical applications.

• Supports translational correlative studies.

• Preliminary data are required.

• Clinical trials are not allowed.

• Maximum funding of $750,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).

• Maximum period of performance is 3 years.

• Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov.  A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the KCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk

301-682-5507

help@eBrap.org

The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Bone Marrow Failure Research Program (BMFRP) to support research of exceptional merit that focus on bone marrow failure diseases. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY21 BMFRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.

The objective of the FY21 BMFRP is to fund scientifically meritorious research focused on BMF diseases. Investigator‐initiated research is encouraged in the areas of congenital or acquired BMF. Studies focused on BMF syndromes and their progression to other malignancies, such as leukemia, are acceptable. However, research primarily focused on myeloproliferative neoplasms, leukemia, or other malignancies is discouraged. Stem cell biology studies and translational projects, including bone marrow transplantation studies, should be clearly related to BMF diseases.

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/bmfrp

Idea Development Award – Preproposal due July 9, 2021

• Established Investigator: Independent investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent) or an Assistant Professor (or equivalent) with 10 years or more from his/her first faculty appointment (or equivalent) by the application submission deadline.
• Early Career Investigators: Independent investigators at the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent), and within 10 years from his/her first faculty appointment (or equivalent) by the application submission deadline.
• Supports innovative ideas and high-impact approaches based on scientifically sound evidence in order to move toward the vision to understand and cure bone marrow failure (BMF) diseases.
• Proposed research should have a high probability of revealing new avenues of investigation.
• Research project should include a well–formulated, testable hypothesis and a well-developed and articulated research approach.
• Must address at least one of the FY21 BMFRP IDA Focus Areas.
• Strong BMF research team.
• May include relevant preliminary data.
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• Translational potential should be considered and described.
• Pre-application is required; application is by invitation only.
  • The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
• The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $450,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

Investigator-Initiated Research Award (IIRA) – Preproposal due July 9, 2021

Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) by the application submission deadline.

• Two funding levels of intent:

Ø  Funding Level 1: Supports studies that further develop ideas, expand upon key discoveries, and have the potential to make significant advances in BMF research, patient care, and/or quality of life. Correlative studies to existing clinical trials/studies are encouraged.

Translational potential should be considered and described.

• Funding Level 2: Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling efforts The proposed studies should be empirical in nature, product driven, and focused on the accumulation of data to support an IND application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Applicants are required to identify lead BMF therapy candidate(s), and transition plans should be considered and adequately described.
• Emphasis on Research Approach and Impact.
• Strong BMF research team.
• Preliminary data required.
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• Must address at least one of the FY21 BMFRP IIRA Focus Areas.
• Partnering PI Option: Allows two PIs, termed Initiating and Partnering PIs, to collaborate on a single application.

Pre-application is required; application is by invitation only

Funding Level 1:

• The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
• Maximum funding of $600,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

Funding Level 2: IND-enabling efforts

• The maximum period of performance is 4 years.
• Maximum funding of $800,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs).

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the BMFRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org