The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $20 million (M) to the Department of Defense Joint Program Committee 8/Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program (JPC-8/CRMRP) to support the development of regenerative medicine solutions and technical capabilities that repair, reconstruct, or regenerate tissue lost or damage due to traumatic injury through collaborative partnerships and synergistic projects that inform and build on each other.  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 Development Command (USAMRDC).

The JPC-8/CRMRP is offering the Regenerative Medicine Focused Research Award (RMFRA) as its next iteration of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), AFIRM III, in FY19 to continue its effort to support the development of regenerative medicine solutions.  The JPC-8/CRMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications for the RMFRA.  The FY19 JPC-8/CRMRP Program Announcement and General Application Instructions for the RMRFA mechanism are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in June 2019.  Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcement is released.  This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

Focus Areas and Areas of Encouragement

All projects submitted under the FY19 JPC-8/CRMRP RMFRA will be required to address one or both of the following Focus Areas:

• Peripheral nerve regeneration
• Skeletal muscle regeneration

Efforts to regenerate peripheral nerve should focus on restoring maximal function; the goal should be accelerating functional recovery and/or reducing the need for autograft; efforts should not simply address metrics of nerve regrowth or conduits to cross nerve gaps.  Similarly efforts to regenerate skeletal muscle should extend beyond restoration of muscle bulk or structure and address restoration of maximal muscle function.  The FY19 JPC-8/CRMRP RMFRA Areas of Encouragement include:

• Immediate reconnection of severed peripheral nerves (e.g., preventing Wallerian degeneration)
• Regeneration of composite muscle and nerve injuries leading to improved function
• Regenerative therapies for volumetric muscle loss
• Preservation of denervated end organs
• Maintenance of the motor end plate or regeneration of the neuromuscular junction
• Improving the rate of peripheral nerve regeneration

https://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/2019/19dmrdppreann_jpc8

Regenerative Medicine Focused Research Award (RMFRA)

Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)

·      Preproposal is required; full application submission is by invitation only.

·      Accommodates either Single Principal Investigator (PI) or Multiple PI submissions.  All research teams should include highly qualified investigators. Partnerships should include multidisciplinary investigators that bring resources and expertise that combine to create a robust, synergistic collaboration.

·      Supports the development of regenerative medicine technical capabilities and solutions through collaborative partnerships and synergistic projects (Multiple PI submissions) or through comprehensive projects (Single PI submissions) to accelerate regenerative medicine solutions and technical capabilities that repair, reconstruct, or regenerate tissue lost or damaged due to traumatic injury

·      Multi-institutional collaborations between/among academia, industry, and Department of Defense and/or Department of Veterans Affairs facilities are highly encouraged.

·      Research projects should be either advanced preclinical research or early stage clinical trials (Phase 0, I, or IIa)

·      Applications must address one or both of the FY19 JPC-8/CRMRP RMFRA Focus Areas

·     Maximum funding of $10,000,000 for total costs (direct plus indirect costs)

·     Submissions may range in size and scope as appropriate for the work proposed, and will be equally considered.  Submissions with a total of less than the maximum  of $10M are encouraged

·     Maximum period of performance is 5 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 Announcement and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms will also be found on Grants.gov.  A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcement is 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 JPC-8/CRMRP, please visit the CRMRP website (https://crmrp.amedd.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

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