The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $20 million (M) to the Department of Defense Vision Research Program (VRP)to support impactful military-relevant 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).
FY19 VRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.
Applications submitted to the FY19 VRP must address at least one of the following Focus Areas:
- Eye injury or visual dysfunction as related to a military-relevant traumatic event. Examples of military-relevant trauma may 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
- Diagnosis and treatment of eye injuries in austere environments and prolonged field care settings
https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/vrp
Focused Translational Team Science Award (FTTSA) – Preproposal due August 6, 2019
· The overall Principal Investigator (PI) must be an independent investigator at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent) with demonstrated success in leading large collaborative research project(s).
· Leaders of individual projects may be independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
· The overall lead PI is required to devote a minimum of 20% effort to this award.
Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• Supports a highly collaborative and translational team initiative that will fundamentally advance the understanding and treatment of eye injury and/or visual dysfunction that result from a military-relevant trauma.
• Must address one or more of the FY19 VRP Focus Areas.
• Applications shall include at least three but no more than five distinct research projects that together form a concerted and synergistic effort to address an overarching challenge.
• Preliminary data required for each individual project.
• One of the projects may include a pilot clinical trial where limited clinical testing of a novel intervention is conducted to inform the feasibility, rationale, and design of subsequent clinical trials.
• Must have a detailed Implementation Plan for participating research groups to coordinate efforts, facilitate collaboration, and create synergy.
- Maximum funding of $5,000,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
- The maximum period of performance is 4 years.
Investigator-Initiated Research Award (IIRA) – Preproposal due August 6, 2019
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 research and/or patient care of eye injury and/or visual dysfunction as related to military-relevant trauma.
· Must address one or more of the FY19 VRP Focus Areas.
· Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk/high-reward research in the earliest stages of development. No preliminary data is required.
· Funding Level 2 supports the advancement of more mature research toward clinical translation. Preliminary data required.
· It is the responsibility of the applicant to select the funding level that is most appropriate for the research proposed. The funding level should be selected based on the stage and maturity of the research, rather than the amount of the budget.
· Clinical trials are not allowed
Funding Level 1:
· Maximum funding of $260,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
· The maximum period of performance is 2 years.
Funding Level 2:
· Maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
· The maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Translational Research Award (TRA) – Preproposal due August 6, 2019
Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
· Supports translational research that moves promising laboratory research into clinical applications.
· It is expected that an Investigational New Drug (IND)/Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) application will be submitted during or by the end of the period of performance.
· Must address one or more of the FY19 VRP Focus Areas.
· Preliminary data required.
· May include a pilot clinical trial component where limited clinical limited clinical testing of a novel intervention is conducted to inform the feasibility, rationale, and design of subsequent clinical trials.
· Maximum funding of $750,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
· The 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 (https://cdmrp.army.mil).
Point of Contact:
CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org
