The FY17 Defense Appropriations Act provides $5 million (M) to the Department of Defense Lupus Research Program (LRP) to support innovative and impactful research that addresses fundamental issues in lupus.  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).

FY17 LRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website. 

Applications submitted to the FY17 LRP must address at least one of the three Focus Areas listed below:

•           Understand lupus disease heterogeneity including, but not limited to, progressive stages of lupus disease over time, strategies and technologies to subtype patients, lupus disease mechanisms, biopsychosocial studies, personalized medicine, variation in treatment and its effects on patient outcomes, socioeconomic studies, environmental studies, and epidemiological studies.

•           Understand how the underlying genetic components of lupus disease relate to clinical disease characteristics using functional genomic studies.

•           Determine the pathobiology of lupus in target human tissues including, but not limited to, imaging studies, genetics of lupus disease in particular tissues, and metabolomics.

http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/lrp

Concept Award – Letter of Intent Due December 21, 2017, Full Application Due January 4, 2018

• Investigators at all academic levels
• Supports high-risk studies that have the potential to reveal new avenues for investigation into lupus.
• Must describe how the new idea will enhance existing knowledge of lupus.
• Must address at least one of the FY17 LRP Focus Areas
• Submission of letter of intent is required prior to full application submission
• Inclusion of preliminary data is encouraged
• Clinical trials are not allowed
• Maximum funding of $150,000 for total costs
• Maximum period of performance is 1 year

Impact Award – Letter of Intent Due December 21, 2017, Full Application Due January 4, 2018

• Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent)
• Supports new high-risk, high-reward ideas that could lead to critical discoveries or major advancements in the field of lupus research.
• Must describe how the new idea will enhance existing knowledge of lupus or develop a novel course of investigation.
• Emphasis is on impact
• Must address at least one of the FY17 LRP Focus Areas
• Submission of letter of intent is required prior to full application submission
• Inclusion of preliminary data is encouraged
• Clinical trials are not allowed
• Maximum funding of $525,000 for total costs
• Maximum period of performance is 3 years

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 the LRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk

301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org