The FY18 Defense Appropriation provides $15 million (M) to the Department of Defense Vision Research Program (VRP) to support innovative, high-impact vision research.  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 Materiel Command (USAMRMC).

FY18 VRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.

Focused Translational Team Science Award (FTTSA) – Preproposal due September 4, 2018

PIs must be independent investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent) with experience in developing and running large-scale initiatives.

• Co-investigators may be independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
• Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Support highly collaborative and translational team initiatives that would fundamentally advance the understanding and treatment of vision trauma. 
• Proposed research must focus on eye injury or visual dysfunction as related to a traumatic event.  Examples of trauma include, but are not limited to:
• • Blast, blunt, thermal or chemical trauma;
  • Trauma caused by directed energy weapons such as laser, microwaves and particle beams;
  • Ionizing radiation
• Supports a multifaceted, multidisciplinary and highly coherent investigation with 3-5 teams addressing complementary and synergistic questions that center around a specific trauma.  Examples of questions include, but are not limited to:
• • Elucidation of molecular, cellular, and biophysical mechanisms;
  • Identification of biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets;
  • Development and validation of therapeutic agents and/or devices;
  • Development and validation of drug delivery platforms appropriate for said trauma;
  • Development or improvement of clinically relevant models for said trauma;
  • Design of protection to mitigate the impact of said trauma on eye and vision.
  • The proposal should spell out the goals of individual teams as well as describe the ways for the teams to cooperate and effectively share and utilize the newly acquired knowledge in moving the project forward.
• Preliminary data required.
• May include a pilot clinical trial component that collects preliminary data to support the feasibility, rationale and design of subsequent clinical trials.
• Emphasis is on synergy, translational potential, and strategy to transition findings into products.
• Maximum funding of $5.0M for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
• Maximum period of performance is 4 year

Investigator Initiated Research Award (IIRA) – Preproposal due September 4, 2018

• Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
• Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Supports studies that will yield highly impactful discoveries or major advancements in the research and/or patient care of the military-relevant vision trauma.
• Must focus on eye injury or visual dysfunction as related to a military-related traumatic event.  Examples of trauma include, but are not limited to:
• • Blast, blunt, thermal or chemical trauma;
  • Trauma caused by directed energy weapons such as laser, microwaves and particle beams;
  • Ionizing radiation
• Preliminary data required.
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• Maximum funding of $500K for direct costs (plus indirect 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 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 USAMRMC 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 VRP 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