The FY19 Defense Appropriations Act provides $15 million (M) to the Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Research Program (NFRP) to support innovative, high-impact NF research. Applications to the FY19 NFRP are being solicited by the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). 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).
FY19 NFRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.
https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/nfrp
Areas of Emphasis: The NFRP encourages applications that specifically address the critical needs of the NF community in one or more of the FY19 Areas of Emphasis. Not all Areas of Emphasis are applicable to each award mechanism offered by the FY19 NFRP. If the proposed research project does not address one of the FY19 Areas of Emphasis, justification that the proposed research project addresses an important problem related to NF research and/or patient care should be provided.
- · Health services research
- – Evidence-based best clinical practices
- § Outcomes of specific therapies, including surgery and radiation therapy
- – Implementation and access to NF-specific healthcare
- – Utilization of technology and informatics
- · Heterogeneity of NF-related tumors
- · Non-tumor manifestations
- – Cognitive, behavior, sleep, pain, hypotonia, communication, etc., including quality of life measures, and self-reported and underreported manifestations
- · Novel disease and treatment response markers using genomics, epigenetics, systems biology, metabolomics, or similar approaches
- – Transition from benign to malignant
- · Nutritional, environmental, and other modifiers of NF
- · Preclinical efficacy studies
- · Target identification, drug discovery
- · Targeted immunotherapies
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Clinical Trial Award – Letter of Intent due May 23, 2019
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 neurofibromatosis (NF)
· Funds Phase 0, I, or II clinical trials relevant to NF and/or schwannomatosis. Combinations of phases are permitted.
· Funding must support a clinical trial and may not be used for preclinical studies.
· Scientific rationale and preliminary data required for Phase I, II clinical trial applications.
· Maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $800,000 in direct costs ($1,000,000 for direct costs if requesting the Qualified Collaborator Option).
· Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.
- · Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Exploration – Hypothesis Development Award – Letter of Intent due May 23, 2019
Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)
· Supports the initial exploration of innovative, high-risk, high-gain concepts in NF research.
· Preliminary and/or published data encouraged but not required.
· Projects involving human subjects or human anatomical substances must be exempt under 32 CFR 219.104(d) or eligible for expedited review under 32 CFR 219.110 or 21 CFR 56.110.
· Clinical trials not allowed.
· The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is of $100,000 in direct costs.
· Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.
- · Maximum period of performance is 2 years
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New Investigator Award – Letter of Intent due May 23, 2019
Must be either:
An independent investigator at or below the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) and must plan to commit at least 30% of his/her effort toward the proposed research project; or
An established investigator in an area other than NF at or above the level of Assistant Professor seeking to transition into a career in NF research and must plan to commit at least 10% of his/her effort toward the proposed research project.
To be eligible, applicants may not have received more than $300,000 in direct costs for NF research as a Principal Investigator of one or more Federally funded, non-mentored peer reviewed grants.
· Supports the continued development of promising independent investigators and/or the transition of established investigators into a career in the field of NF research.
· Prior experience in NF research is not required.
· Preliminary and/or published data relevant to NF and the proposed research project is required.
· Clinical trials not allowed
· The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $450,000 in direct costs.
· Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.
· Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Early Investigator Research Award – Letter of Intent due May 23, 209
The investigator must:
Be involved in postdoctoral training or medical residency program; and
Possess at least 1 and up to 4 years of continuous postdoctoral research experience by the Early Investigator Research Award application submission deadline; and
Possess a clinical 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 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.
· Maximum period of performance is 2 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 is also 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.
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
