The FY17 Defense Appropriations Act provides $10 million (M) to the Department of Defense Hearing Restoration Research Program (HRRP) to support promising, necessary research for the treatment of burdensome and very prevalent auditory system injury that will foster new directions in the field of hearing restoration and propel the science forward to therapeutic interventions that restore auditory function.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) 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).

The HRRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications.  FY17 HRRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in September 2017.  Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released.  This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

Focus Areas: The HRRP will only consider applications that specifically address the critical needs of the Hearing restoration research community in one or more of the FY17 Focus Areas. The HRRP will solicit research applications that address at least one of the following FY17 Focus Areas:

• Develop reliable in vitro human models for evaluating hearing restoration therapies

• Accelerate translation of biological regeneration into therapies that restore auditory function including, for example, treatments that enhance:

1. Synaptic plasticity

2. Hair cell and neural regeneration

• Develop and validate assessment techniques and/or treatment methods that address functional hearing restoration including, for example:

1. Personalized prognostic indicators of therapeutic success

2. Better differential diagnostic tests

3. Improved evaluation of treatment methods

 

Translational Research Award (TRA)

• Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to submit applications.

·         Pre-application (Letter of Intent) is required.

·         Supports preclinical translational research that will accelerate the movement of promising initiatives relevant to hearing restoration into clinical applications.

·         In this first year of the program, applications submitted must focus on the development of reliable in vitro human models to evaluate hearing restoration therapies or research that translates biological regeneration initiatives into therapies that restore auditory function.

• Preliminary data required.

·         Maximum funding of $1,000,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).

·         Maximum period of performance is 3 years.

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

 

 

Focused Research Award (FRA)

• Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to submit applications.

·         Pre-application (Letter of Intent) is required.

·         Supports functional hearing restoration research that develops and validates assessment techniques and treatment methods using patient-centric outcomes to identify potential predictive indicators for successful treatment of functional auditory system deficits.

·         Research in this area should result in refined diagnostic tools and improved evaluation of the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches for functional hearing restoration.

• Preliminary data required

·         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 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 funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

 

Applications must be submitted through the federal government’s single-entry portal, Grants.gov.  Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  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 other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil