Biomedical, Clinical & Life Sciences

Limit: 1 //  S. Song (Biomedical Engineering)

The funds are designed to provide to tenure track faculty members in their first to fourth year, at American Institutions, who hold M.D. and/or Ph.D. degrees, start-up support to move the project forward to the point where R01 or other independent funding can be obtained.  Applicants with current R01 funding should not apply.

Beginning in 2023, the grant provides $75,000 annually for a period of up to three years.  Grants are not renewable.  Institutions may submit one proposal per session.  Interested candidates should work through their sponsored projects office.

Proposals must contain an adequately detailed description of the project to be clearly understandable by the scientific members of the Trustees.  They need not be in the detail requested by the NIH for R01 grants and should not exceed five pages in length.  Additional material can be submitted, but the five-page application should contain the essential information.  References should also be included to support the proposal.  Note that the five page limit is only for the project description.  

A one-two page lay summary must be provided as part of the proposal. Applicants should bear in mind that our Board includes non-scientist members, making this summary of particular importance.  The summary should include the project’s title, and the investigator's contact information.

In addition to the institution providing recognition of an internal selection process resulting in no more than one candidate, (this requires just a sentence that may be included in the letters), the proposal must be accompanied by letters of approval by the Dean of the medical school and/or another senior faculty member or members who can represent the support of the institution and who are acquainted with the qualifications of the applicant and the potential impact of his/her work.

S. Mathena (Pediatrics)
One slot is still available.

UArizona may submit two proposals.

The NIH Director's Early Independence Award supports rigorous and promising junior investigators who wish to pursue independent research soon after completion of their terminal doctoral degree or post-graduate clinical training, thereby forgoing the traditional post-doctoral training period and accelerating their entry into an independent research career. For the program to support the best possible researchers and research, applications are sought which reflect the full diversity of the research workforce. Individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups and from the full spectrum of eligible institutions in all geographic locations, are strongly encouraged to apply to this Funding Opportunity Announcement. In addition, applications in all topics relevant to the broad mission of NIH are welcome, including, but not limited to, topics in the behavioral, social, biomedical, applied, and formal sciences and topics that may involve basic, translational, or clinical research. The NIH Director's Early Independence Award is a component of the High-Risk, High-Reward Research program of the NIH Common Fund.

Eligibility Requirements

Applications with multiple PDs/PIs will not be accepted. Only single PD/PI applications are allowed. Only the PD/PI may be listed as a Senior/Key Person and provide a Biographical Sketch.

U.S. citizenship is not required for PDs/PIs. For applications submitted on behalf of non-U.S. citizens with temporary U.S. visas, visa status must allow the PD/PI to conduct the proposed research at the applicant institution for the entire project period. The applicant institution is responsible for determining if and documenting that the PD's/PI's visa will allow the PD/PI to remain in the U.S. for the duration of the award.

Time window for eligibility: Given the focus on early research independence, the receipt date of the terminal doctoral degree or end of post-graduate clinical training of the PD/PI must be between June 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024. The degree receipt date is that which appears on the official transcript for the degree. The end of post-graduate clinical training includes residency and fellowship periods. The PD/PI must not have served as a post-doctoral fellow for more than 12 months following a previous, non-terminal doctoral degree (i.e., a post-doctoral fellowship served before June 1, 2022).

At the time of award, either 1) the Early Independence investigator must have received a PhD, MD, DO, DC, DDS, DVM, OD, DPM, ScD, EngD, DrPH, DNSc, ND (Doctor of Naturopathy), PharmD, DSW, PsyD, or equivalent doctoral degree from an accredited domestic or foreign institution (it is the responsibility of the sponsoring institution to determine if a foreign doctoral degree is equivalent), or 2) an authorized official of the degree-granting or training institution must certify that all degree requirements have been met and that the receipt date of the degree (as will appear on the transcript) will be before September 30, 2024.  An authorized official of the host institution must certify that the PD/PI will be able to conduct independent research at the institution at the time of the project start date.

Level of effort: In the first and second years of the project period, awardees must commit at least 9.6 person-months of effort to the Early Independence Award project each year (which is 80% effort per year). In years 3-5 of the project period, awardees may reduce their effort on the Early Independence Award project, but they must still conduct at least 9.6 person-months of general independent research each year (which is 80% effort per year). General independent research includes the effort spent on the Early Independence Award project and any other independent research projects the awardee is working on.

Research independence at time of application: Individuals are eligible only if they, at the time of application submission, do not have research independence. Lack of research independence is defined functionally rather than by position title. Eligible individuals must have all the following characteristics:

• The PD/PI's current research agenda is set through concurrence with mentors.
• The PD/PI's research is funded primarily through support to other investigators (mentored fellowships such as NIH F31 or F32 Fellowships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowships do not preclude eligibility).
• The PD/PI does not have any space assigned directly by the institution for the conduct of their research.
• The PD/PI, according to institutional policy, cannot apply for an NIH R01 grant without a special waiver or exemption from the institution.

Though PDs/PIs must not be functionally independent at the time of application submission, they may become functionally independent prior to time of award and still retain eligibility for the award.

Prospective PDs/PIs should contact appropriate institutional leaders to seek an appointment to an independent research position. Alternatively, institutions may actively recruit eligible junior scientists to apply for support through this program. In either case, the institution is expected to provide substantial support for the junior scientist, as detailed below. To foster independence, PDs/PIs may benefit from being hosted by an institution at which they have not previously studied or trained.

PDs/PIs may apply for a research career development (K) award and DP5 at the same time, but NIH policy prohibits scientific and commitment overlap. A PD/PI may not hold a DP5 and career development (K) award concurrently. If the PD/PI receives a career development (K) award, the career development (K) award must be relinquished to receive the DP5.

Limit: 1 // PI: Y. Shirai (Family and Community Medicine)

The AHCCCS ARP Program Award will provide eligible HCBS providers in the state with between $10,000 and $500,000 for programmatic or infrastructure projects to improve the experience, health, or safety of HCBS recipients in Arizona.
The following providers of HCBS in Arizona are eligible to apply:

· Behavioral Health Outpatient Clinics (Provider Type 77),

· Attendant Care (Provider Type 40),

· Integrated Clinics (Provider Type IC),

· Assisted Living Centers (Provider Type 49),

· Assisted Living Homes (Provider Type 36),

· Habilitation Providers (Provider Type 39),

· Community Service Agencies (Provider Type A3),

· Board-Certified Behavior Analysts (Provider Type BC),

· Adult Foster Care (Provider Type 50),

· Home Delivered Meals (Provider Type 70),

· Adult Day Health (Provider Type 27),

· Elderly and Physical Disability (EPD) HCBS (Provider Type 81), and

· Area Agencies on Aging.

AHCCCS will host two online webinars for eligible provider types related to this program award opportunity.

• C. Roman Palacios  (School of Information)
• R. Schomer (Plant Sciences)
• S. Sullivan (Chemical & Environmental Engineering)
• J.Green (Environmental Science)
• A. Mallik (Geosciences)
• M. Taylor (Chemistry & Biochemistry)

UA may submit up to three candidates per eligible department. Please note the Department of Astronomy will hold its internal competition. Please contact the department head for more information.

The Sloan Research Fellowships seek to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. These $75,000, two-year fellowships are awarded to researchers in recognition of distinguished performance and a unique potential to make substantial contributions to their field. Successful candidates for a Fellowship generally have a strong record of significant independent research accomplishments that demonstrate creativity and the potential to become future leaders in the scientific community.

Eligibility:

• Candidates must hold a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, or a related field.
• Candidates must be tenure-track, though untenured, as of September 15, 2023.
• Candidate’s faculty position must carry a regular teaching obligation.

In keeping with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's longstanding support of underrepresented minorities in the sciences, the Foundation strongly encourages the nomination of qualified women and minority candidates.

M. Chamberland (Maricopa County Cooperative Extension)

The Stanley Smith Horticultural Trust supports education and research in ornamental horticulture through grants to botanical gardens, arboreta, universities, and other charitable organizations strongly-aligned with its funding interests.

Research 
The advancement of research in ornamental horticulture and the publication of the results of such research. Examples include:

• trial/evaluation gardens for horticultural potential of selected plants in a region
• discerning appropriate cultural techniques and best horticultural practices for a specific group of plants
• laboratory freezer for DNA samples

Public gardens
Assisting in the creation, development, preservation, and maintenance of gardens accessible to the public for educational purposes. Examples include:

• new or revised home demonstration gardens or beds
• resurfacing garden trails for all-weather accessibility or ADA compliance
• damage remediation following a natural disaster

Ornamental Plants
Promotion of the environmentally responsible introduction, cultivation, and distribution of plants which have ornamental horticultural value. Examples include:

• testing potential new ornamentals for invasiveness
• promotion and demonstration of the use of local native ornamentals in local or home landscaping
• collections management software for ornamentals

Publications
Assisting in the publication of books or other works relating to ornamental horticulture. Examples include:

• guide to appropriate ornamentals for local and regional landscaping
• guide to best practices for controlling diseases and pests in ornamentals
• online publication of horticultural inventory for public access

Education

Informal and/or formal educational activities that further ornamental horticulture. Examples include:

• classes and workshops on developing and maintaining home gardens
• garden signage that notes cultural requirements, water- or fire-wise properties, or aesthetic attributes of plants
• horticultural internships
• construction or remodeling of educational facilities

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Discovery Targets and Pathways supports individuals engaged in a multidisciplinary, collaborative research training program at an accredited U.S. university that will extend their credentials in drug discovery research. 

Successful drug discovery involves the innovative application and integration of multiple scientific disciplines to create efficacious, safe, and differentiated treatment options for patients. The PhRMA Foundation seeks to fund novel early-stage, exploratory drug discovery research with the potential for translation to humans, including biological validation of potential drug targets, signaling pathways, or mechanisms of disease.  
Research topics could include, but are not limited to:   

• Genomics and Proteomics  
• Cellular and Molecular Biology  
• Design and Generation of Pharmacological Tools   
• In Vitro and/or In Vivo Pharmacology  
• Protein Biochemistry  
• Molecular Modelling  
• Structural Biology  
• Cell Imaging  
• Single Cell Analysis  
• Artificial Intelligence and Computational Approaches  

Projects that focus exclusively on single aspects such as identification of and development of assays for single targets, chemical probes, biomarkers, chemical library screening, or diagnostics will not be considered for review. Project aims should have a high likelihood of completion in the award timeframe.

Eligibility

• Applicants (U.S. and non-U.S. citizens) must be based at a PhD and/or MS degree-granting accredited U.S. university. 
• Applicants have a firm commitment from a research supervisor or sponsor at their university.  
• Applicants must hold a PhD, PharmD, MD, or appropriate terminal research doctorate. If you do not hold one at the time of application submission, please state in your extended letter when you expect to receive it, as it must be received before funding can begin. Funding can begin as early as January 1, 2024, or as late as August 1, 2024.  
• Applicants must be within their first five years of postdoctoral study at the time of award activation. 
• Applicants who are applying for funds to support postdoctoral work in the laboratory where their graduate work was performed will be given lower preference. One of the objectives of this fellowship is to gain new skills, and therefore, an ideal candidate will be conducting their research in a new laboratory and not where their graduate work was performed. 
• The Foundation will not consider multiple applications for similar efforts on the same project. For instance, if a predoc, postdoc, and faculty member from the same lab are all submitting applications for proposed efforts on the same project, the efforts must be separate activities and not duplicative.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

UArizona may submit one application per lab may apply for this award. 

The PhRMA Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Drug Delivery supports individuals engaged in a multidisciplinary, collaborative research training program at an accredited U.S. university that will extend their credentials in drug delivery research, including basic pharmaceutics, biopharmaceutics, pharmaceutical technology, pharmaceutical biotechnology, or biomedical engineering.  Successful proposals in Drug Delivery emphasize the quantitative understanding of the principles, pathways, and/or mechanisms underlying improved or optimized: 

• formulation composition and delivery modalities/technologies that enable more favorable transport (absorption, targeting, elimination) of drugs; and/or 
• drug dosage forms that can be manufactured to achieve higher quality, lower cost, and greater stability or flexibility. 

Today’s drugs include biologics, small molecules, and cell and gene therapy. Delivering increasingly complex drugs demands thorough understanding of technologies and formulation approaches. 
Research that focuses on findings that can be generalized to other systems will be prioritized. Testing the delivery of a single drug by one approach is less preferred. 

Eligibility

• Applicants (U.S. and non-U.S. citizens) must be based at a PhD and/or MS degree-granting accredited U.S. university. 
• Applicants have a firm commitment from a research supervisor or sponsor at their university.  
• Applicants must hold a PhD, PharmD, MD, or appropriate terminal research doctorate. If you do not hold one at the time of application submission, please state in your extended letter when you expect to receive it, as it must be received before funding can begin. Funding can begin as early as January 1, 2024, or as late as August 1, 2024.  
• Applicants must be within their first five years of postdoctoral study at the time of award activation. 
• Applicants who are applying for funds to support postdoctoral work in the laboratory where their graduate work was performed will be given lower preference. One of the objectives of this fellowship is to gain new skills, and therefore, an ideal candidate will be conducting their research in a new laboratory and not where their graduate work was performed. 
• The Foundation will not consider multiple applications for similar efforts on the same project. For instance, if a predoc, postdoc, and faculty member from the same lab are all submitting applications for proposed efforts on the same project, the efforts must be separate activities and not duplicative.  

R. Hossein ( Aerospace-Mechanical Engineering)

NIOSH organizes its research program under the framework of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). NORA is a partnership program to stimulate innovative research and improved workplace practices. Unveiled in 1996, NORA entered its third decade (2016-2026) with an enhanced structure. It now consists of ten industry sectors based on major areas of the U.S. economy, and seven health and safety cross-sectors organized according to the major health and safety issues affecting the U.S. working population. The national agenda is developed and implemented through the NORA Sector and Cross-Sector Councils. Each council develops and maintains an Agenda for its sector or cross-sector. The collection of agendascomprises the agenda for the nation for improvements in occupational safety and health. The agenda also provides a vehicle for stakeholders to describe the most relevant safety and health issues, research gaps, and needs.

Protecting the health and safety of mine workers by preventing diseases, injuries, and fatalities is a NIOSH priority, along with making certain that workers are qualified, trained, and properly equipped. The NORA Mining Agenda was developed and implemented through NORA Sector Councils and is guidance for the nation as a whole, while the 2019-2023  Mining Program Strategic Plan is specific to NIOSH and its capabilities and resources. 
 

The NIOSH Mining Program has established three overarching strategic goals for this plan:

Strategic Goal 1: Reduce mine workers’ risk of occupational illness

Strategic Goal 2: Reduce mine workers’ risk of traumatic injuries and fatalities

Strategic Goal 3: Reduce the risk of mine disasters and improve post-disaster survivability of mine workers.

This is a collaborative grant and applicants should outline their expected interactions with NIOSH researchers and subject matter experts.

Objectives

The objective of this cooperative agreement is to address research initiatives in automation, robotics, and intelligent mining systems to improve workplace safety and health in U.S. mining operations. 

The impact of research conducted by recipients should focus on advances in assured autonomy, i.e., assuring autonomous mining equipment and robotics achieve improved workplace safety and health for mine workers while meeting efficiency and productivity goals.

Interactions with mining stakeholders have shown that the U.S. industry is lagging behind other parts of the world in the implementation of automation technologies due to a lack of guidance in implementing new technology, questions about technology readiness, a lack of guidance and tools for effectively dealing with the migration from human-operated equipment to autonomous equipment, and concerns about the potential unsafe interactions between autonomous equipment and workers. Impacts could include but are not limited to:

Applicants are encouraged to consider those aspects of their graduate degree program in mining and explosives engineering, including unique facilities, that could best support their proposed research related to automation, robotics, and intelligent mining systems.

Clearly state your proposed goals and objectives, and directly link these to the occupational health and safety burdens you are addressing.

Provide data to support your selection of the proposed work, such as morbidity or mortality rates and indicators of the size of the population at risk (including estimates of the target population’s potential risk of exposure to the hazard, frequency of exposure, or sociodemographic factors such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity). Similarly, provide qualitative data that describe exposures, the magnitude of the problem, and potential benefits and impacts of addressing the issue. Qualitative data may be necessary when the nature of the exposure or population at risk makes it difficult to collect large-scale, representative quantitative data.

1. • Advances in and implementation of human-centered design principles for automated equipment and the systems used to monitor or interact with them.
   • New methods, guidance, and best practices in change management, training/retraining workers, technology integration, and safety evaluation.
   • New methods and evaluation techniques for safe design that consider the entire mining operation as a system.
   • Advances and availability of enabling technologies for assured autonomy including sensors, data fusion and processing, artificial intelligence, and systems for improved machine and operator situational awareness.
   • Availability of new miner rescue and post-disaster surveillance technologies.

J. Van Haren (Biosphere 2)

Mid-scale RI-2 is an NSF-wide competitive program that addresses scientific demand for research infrastructure in the $20 million -$100 million cost range for implementation. Mid-scale RI-2 is intended to support visionary projects that are high-priority national needs as identified by research communities of the United States, rather than projects primarily serving regional, campus or local interests. Solving the most pressing scientific and societal problems of the day – such as those called out in National Academies reports and decadal surveys, identified through research community planning and prioritizing exercises or other emerging national priorities – using new technologies, techniques, and concepts is encouraged in this competition. The scientific justification should demonstrate how the proposed research infrastructure provides potentially transformative research capability or access relative to what is currently available to the general U.S. research community. Investigators whose preliminary proposals are for capabilities similar to those currently available to the U.S. research community are unlikely to be invited to submit full proposals. All proposals should show the project's value and benefit to the U.S. science community.

Proposals for research infrastructure that is part of a larger project must clearly state the impact of the proposed infrastructure on the project, whether and how any specific part(s) of the infrastructure would be identified with NSF, and the benefit to the U.S. research communities that NSF supports.

The Total Project Cost (TPC) submitted to NSF for implementation must be at least $20 million but less than $100 million. Mandatory cost analyses will be conducted on proposals considered for award and will need to demonstrate a high probability that the project can be completed in less than $100 million. Projects whose most likely risk-adjusted costs are found to exceed this threshold, as determined via the NSF cost analysis, will not be considered for funding from the Mid-scale RI-2 Program. NSF will utilize independent cost estimate reviews (in some cases performed by contractors or other government agencies) to inform the cost analysis.

PIs are reminded of the GAO cost escalation and uncertainly requirements as outlined in the RIG (Section 4.2.2.3). Besides the award duration, careful consideration should also be given to the 2-year cycle of the Mid-scale RI-2 Program, from solicitation publication to eventual award decision, and its potential impact on the anticipated total project cost. Thus, proposed budgets should carefully consider validity of quotes, market forces, escalation (including inflation), and other potential influencing factors that could push the risk-adjusted total project cost above the programmatic threshold.

If a PI finds, while developing the project budget, that the total project cost could reasonably exceed the upper limit of the Mid-scale RI-2 Program, they should consult with the cognizant Program Officer about other potential options.

NSF defines Research Infrastructure (RI) as any combination of facilities, equipment, instrumentation, or computational hardware or software, and the necessary human capital in support of the same. Major facilities and mid-scale projects are subsets of research infrastructure. The NSF Mid-scale RI-2 Program supports the implementation of unique and compelling RI projects at a national scale. Mid-scale RI-2 projects may include any combination of equipment, instrumentation, cyberinfrastructure, broadly used large-scale data sets, and the commissioning and/or personnel needed to successfully complete the project. Mid-scale RI-2 projects should fill a research community-defined scientific need or national research priority that enables current and next-generation U.S. researchers and a diverse STEM workforce to remain competitive in the global research environment. Mid-scale RI-2 investments are expected to demonstrate high potential to significantly advance the Nation's research capabilities. Mid-scale RI-2 projects will directly enable advances in any of the research domains supported by NSF, including STEM education research. Projects may also include upgrades to existing research infrastructure.

Mid-scale RI-2 is intended to support the implementation stage of a wide variety of RI projects. Mid-scale RI-2 therefore uses an inclusive definition of implementation, which can include traditional stand-alone construction or acquisition as well as a degree of final development for infrastructure and equipment projects. For example, it could include a spiral development step leading to the acquisition of a larger system for cyberinfrastructure or other shared community research capability.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

Brain Research Foundation is inviting UArizona to nominate one senior faculty member to submit a Letter of Intent for the 2023 Scientific Innovations Award (SIA). The objective of the program is to support projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources but still have a high likelihood of producing important findings. It is expected that investigations supported by these grants will yield high impact findings and result in major grant applications and funding as well as significant publications in high impact journals.

To be eligible, the nominee must be a full-time associate professor/full professor working in the area of neuroscience and brain function in health and disease. Current major NIH or other peer-reviewed funding is preferred but evidence of such funding in the past three years is essential. The grant period is for two years totaling $150,000. The support focus is for new research projects of the highest scientific merit. 

Brain Research Foundation’s Scientific Innovations Award Program provides funding for innovative science in both basic and clinical neuroscience. This funding mechanism is designed to support creative, exploratory, cutting edge research in well-established research laboratories, under the direction of established investigators.

The objective of the SIA is to support projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources but still have a high likelihood of producing important findings. It is expected that investigations supported by these grants will yield high impact findings and result in major grant applications and significant publications in high impact journals.

Funding Preferences:

• Funding is to be directed at projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources but still have a high likelihood of producing important findings. This should be a unique project for senior investigators who are encouraged to stretch their imagination into areas that can substantially change an area of research.
• Funding of research projects that will likely lead to successful grant applications with NIH and other public and private funding entities.