Biomedical, Clinical & Life Sciences

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The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer and donor powered charity committed to supporting the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.The Scholar (Career Development) Award is meant to help develop the independent research of highly qualified individuals still early in their careers.  Up to $110,000/year, three-year minimum.

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The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer and donor powered charity committed to supporting the most promising research to find cures for childhood cancers and give survivors long and healthy lives.
These grants are for specific two-year research projects which are hypothesis driven and may be either laboratory, clinical, or epidemiological in nature. Grants will be $100,000/year or less.

Limit: 2 // PIs:

Science & Engineering Track: Q. Hao (Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering)
Medical Research Track: M.  Kuhns (Immunobiology)

UA may submit one concept paper in Physical Sciences and Engineering and one concept paper in Medical Sciences in this cycle.
The selected projects must participate in the concept counseling session with the W.M. Keck Foundation between July 1 and August 15 to determine if they can proceed to the Phase I submission.

The W.M. Keck Foundation Research Program uses a three-step process for this opportunity. The first step is a Concept paper. The Undergraduate Education program is currently not accepting concept papers. The next steps are by the foundation’s invitation. UArizona review criteria reflect previous interactions with the W.M. Keck Foundation. Proposals should focus on basic, fundamental science with broad applications.

The proposed work should show a significant leap forward rather than an extension of existing work.  

To be considered by Keck, applicants must have a statement from a federal program officer expressing that the project is not a good fit due to risk (rather than technical or theoretical fit) or a decline from a federal program where the summary statement or individual reviews highlight the incredible novelty, but the high-risk nature that makes it difficult to fund at the federal level.

 

The Science and Engineering Research Program seeks to benefit humanity by supporting high-risk/high-impact projects that are distinctive and novel in their approach to intractable problems, push the edge of their field, or question the prevailing paradigm. Past grants have been awarded to support pioneering science and engineering research and the development of promising new technologies, instrumentation, or methodologies. 

The Medical Research Program seeks to advance the frontiers of medicine to benefit humanity by supporting high-risk/high-impact projects that are distinctive and novel in their approach to intractable problems, push the edge of their field, or question the prevailing paradigm. Past grants have supported pioneering biological research, basic research, and the development of promising new technologies. The Keck Foundation does NOT fund work that is clinical, applied, or translational; treatment trials; or research for the sole purpose of drug development. 

Both senior and early career investigators are encouraged to apply. Team approaches, including interdisciplinary teams, are encouraged.

Limit: 2* // Tickets Available: 1 // M. H.Witte (Surgery, Neurosurgery, and Pediatrics) 

*No more than two applications are allowed per institution. If two applications are submitted then the 2 awards must be for different target groups.
 

A major goal of the National Plan to address Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and Alzheimer’s Disease-related Dementias (ADRD)  is to reduce the burden of AD/ADRD by accelerating research toward treatments, improving care and support for people facing these conditions now, and reducing the risk of AD/ADRD by promoting brain health. Despite this, there is a shortage of scientists conducting the wide variety of necessary innovative and interdisciplinary research projects, including basic biomedical, clinical, translational, prevention, and treatment research on AD/ADRD. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) aims to address goal G-4 of the National Institute on Aging's Strategic Directions for Research (2020-2025): “Attract and train more researchers from diverse scientific and cultural backgrounds." This will include supporting the recruitment of early-stage investigators from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences, to the NIH AD/ADRD portfolio. This FOA also aims to address the lack of early exposure to high-quality, hands-on research education experiences in the AD/ADRD field, another major barrier to increasing the AD/ADRD capable workforce.

To further expand the AD/ADRD training pipeline for earlier stage students, NIA will support summer research experiences for high school students, undergraduates, or science teachers. The expectation is that such a program would incubate and develop the next generation of  early-stage investigators to pursue research careers representative of in NIA mission critical areas, namely AD/ADRD research. Proposed programs should provide authentic "open-ended", hands-on exposure to AD/ADRD research as it relates to aging as part of a comprehensive program based in sound educational practices designed to stimulate the interest and advance the knowledge base of participants. In addition to hands-on research experiences, programs are expected to include complementary educational enrichment activities that support the participants' scientific development, such as relevant workshops (e.g., scientific writing and presentation skills), journal clubs, technical laboratory coursework, and training in rigor and reproducibility. Program goals and objectives should be grounded in literature and appropriate for the educational level of the audience to be reached, including the content to be conveyed, and the intended outcome(s). Outcomes for high school students may include preparing them for undergraduate admissions and enhancing their interest in pursuing a science decree. Outcomes for college students may include: reinforcing their intent to graduate with a science degree, preparing them for graduate or medical school admissions, and/or preparing them for careers in AD/ADRD research. Support for science teachers will be limited to those programs with a clear plan for how teachers will utilize their summer experience in their teaching during the school year, such as enhancing the STEM curriculum or increasing number of STEM courses taught. 

Focus on High School Students, Undergraduates, or Science Teachers: Science education research has demonstrated that early exposure to scientific research leads to the retention of trainees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) specifically highlights the need for retention of trainees in STEM by involving them in contemporary, hands-on research experiences especially during the first two years of college. Summer research experiences provide important experiential learning to sustain students’ interests in STEM and medicine careers. The short-term summer experience, in contrast to a year-long experience, allows for a focused and concentrated effort on instruction, and intentionally coincides with the time of year when the target populations of this program (i.e., high school students, undergraduate college students, and science teachers) would typically have the opportunity to engage in such a research educational experience. 

For the purpose of this announcement, institutions should explain how this program will be developed in a way that will foster diversity and inclusion at their organization. As indicated below, applicants must include a Recruitment Plan to Enhance Diversity which describes the program’s proposed recruitment efforts and how the proposed plan reflects past experiences in recruiting individuals from diverse backgrounds, including those from groups underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences (see NOT-OD-20-031 for additional information on NIH's Notice of Interest in Diversity). All programs are expected to be inclusive, supportive, and safe, and to provide opportunities for participants to interact with investigators who could contribute to their growth. Applications from a variety of institutions, including those from minority serving institutions (MSIs), are  encouraged.

Applicants should consider how the developed programs can optimize participation and potentially include additional participants from outside the applicant institution, especially those in local and/or affiliated institutions. Applicants must demonstrate how this program will add significant value over existing programs at the applicant institution.

Each institution must have a unique program structure that maximizes resources, departments, and faculty at the applicant institution to address the target population. Applicants are encouraged to propose collaborations with affiliated and/or local institutions, as appropriate. Applicants are also encouraged to partner with existing NIH-funded or other federally-funded resources and programs and leverage training activities from both federal and private-sector partners including, but not limited to, the following:

• Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs)
• Centers on the Demography and Economics of Aging
• Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC)
• Edward R. Roybal Centers for Translation Research in the Behavioral and Social Sciences of Aging
• Nathan Shock Centers
• Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)
• NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA)
• Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program (RCMI)

Institutionally Coordinated // Limit: 1 //  Contact RDS for more information

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites applications from eligible academic and research institutions to apply for funding to modernize existing or construct new biomedical research facilities. Applications will be accepted from public and private nonprofit institutions of higher education as well as from non-profit research organizations. Applications from both research-intensive institutions and Institutions of Emerging Excellence (IEE) in biomedical research, both highly resourced and low-resourced institutions, from all geographic regions in the nation are strongly encouraged.

NIH recognizes the importance of all institutions of higher learning in contributing to the nation’s research capacity. The goal of this NOFO is to modernize biomedical research infrastructure to strengthen biomedical research programs. Each project is expected to provide long-term improvements to the institutional research infrastructure. Intended projects are the construction or modernization of core facilities and the development of other shared research infrastructure serving an institution-wide research community with broad impact on biomedical research.

Institutions with C06 awards funded under the Biomedical Research Facility Program (NOFOs PAR-21-139, PAR-22-088 or PAR-23-045) are not eligible to apply to this NOFO, provided the awards are active on the receipt date for this NOFO. Thus, only one C06 Biomedical Research Facility active award per institution would be allowed at any given time.

Application budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project. The maximum award budget from Federal funds is $8,000,000 direct cost. Applications with a budget less than $3,000,000 direct cost will not be considered. Since the scope of different projects will vary, it is anticipated that the size of the awards will vary.

Limit: Two applications per department*  // PIs: 
B. Wen (Child Health) 
M. Lee Frazure (Physiology)
A.Blythe C. (Asthma/Airway Disease Research Center)

*Each department may submit only two applications annually and is limited to a maximum of three active fellowships at any one time.

The Parker B. Francis Fellowship provides research support to clinical and basic scientists embarking on careers in clinical, laboratory or translational science related to Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at a U.S. or Canadian university or research institution. The ideal candidate is one with evidence of strong aptitude in research and who is in transition from post-doctoral trainee to independent investigator. It is essential that there be evidence of accomplishment and proficiency in research. Few applicants who are just beginning research training and have only one or two research publications are funded. 

Applicants are eligible to apply for a PBF Fellowship if at the time of application they are:

1. Scientists holding a relevant doctoral degree (e.g., M.D., Ph.D., Sc.D., D.V.M., Dr. P.H.) who are embarking on a career in clinical, laboratory or translational science related to Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at a U.S. or Canadian university or research institution.

2. A citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. or Canada or or holder of a Visa that spans the entire project period of the grant.

3. A Ph.D. or other non-M.D. scientist no more than seven years beyond completion of their doctoral degree or an M.D. scientist no more than seven years beyond clinical training (i.e., residency, internship, clinical fellowship) at the time of application. Candidates with greater than seven years since the doctoral degree require approval for continued training from the Scientific Director of the PBF Fellowship Program.

4. Applicants must be approved by their department to apply for the PBF Fellowship. Institutions may have no more than three Parker B. Francis Fellows in a single department at a given time, a department may submit nor more than two applications annually, and a mentor may sponsor only one application annually.

5. Individuals are not eligible for a PBF Fellowship if, at the time of application, they are or have been principal investigator on an NIH K or R series research award or other nationally competitive research award at the comparable level.

6. If a PBF Fellow receives an NIH K or Research Award or any nationally competitive grant at a similar level, at any point on or after the start date of the PBF award, the amount of the award will be changed per the Allowable Cost policy. Please contact PBF@thoracic.org for more information.

7. PBF Fellows are required to have at least 75 percent of their time available for research. Most successful candidates have two-to-five years of research experience and a minimum of two or three research publications at the time of fellowship application.

MENTORS
Mentorship of the fellow by an established investigator is required. Any established faculty scientist at a university or a not-for-profit research institution may mentor a candidate for fellowship. Mentors at government or corporate laboratories are not eligible. The mentor should be in a position to guarantee that 75 percent of a fellow's time is available for research. The mentor should be committed to fostering the candidate's career advancement and should be the primary scientific advisor. Secondary scientific mentors at the same or a different institution are encouraged but not required. Their roles should be described in the body of the application. Many fellows spend some portion of their fellowship years working with a secondary mentor, who is at another institution.

INSTITUTIONS
There are no restrictions regarding discipline or department. Clinical or basic science departments are suitable; however, it is expected that the proposed research will focus on lung biology or lung disease. Awards are limited to institutions located in the US and Canada, including medical schools, universities, major hospitals or other institutions affiliated with major universities. Each department may submit only two applications annually and is limited to a maximum of three active fellowships at any one time.

NOTES ABOUT OTHER GRANT SUPPORT
Individuals are not eligible for a PBF Fellowship if, at the time of application, they are or have been principal investigator on an NIH K or R series research award or other nationally competitive research award at a comparable level.

PBF Fellows in the second or third year of their Fellowship, who receive an NIH K or R series award or similar grant, may request approval to retain the Fellowship and to reallocate a portion of the Fellowship salary support to supplies or other research costs. In fact, obtaining research grants is an appropriate goal for PFB Fellows. Click here to learn more about the Allowable Cost Policy.

Awards will not be given if either the fellow or mentor currently holds funding from the tobacco industry, even if the tobacco monies will not be used to support the PBF sponsored research.

APPROPRIATE TOPICS
A broad array of approaches to pulmonary and critical care medicine, ranging from cell and molecular studies, to those involving epidemiologic and clinical aspects of human subjects are appropriate. We also encourage applications from pulmonary medicine specialists interested in pursuing research in bioethical aspects of pulmonary medicine or critical care. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the ethics of clinical trials in critical care, end-of-life decisions and resource allocation. The context of all these topics should be pulmonary biology and lung disease. Applicants must meet all the eligibility standards. Mentors and/or applicants considering whether a particular area is appropriate are encouraged to discuss potential projects with the Scientific Director of the PBF Fellowship Program, Polly E. Parsons, M.D.

BUDGET

The Parker B. Francis Fellowship provides three years of funding. The budget year begins July 1 and ends June 30. The budget guidelines are included below.

The total budget for individuals starting a PBF Fellowship in 2022 is $225,000 over three years or $75,000 per year.

Allowable costs are restricted to the PBF Fellow’s salary plus fringe benefits and may include travel to a maximum of $2,000 per year. Any costs other than the Fellow’s salary support and travel allocation must be approved by the Scientific Director of the PBF Fellowship Program.

Direct research project costs should be supported by the mentor’s research grants. Such grants are an essential part of the application as documentation of sufficient financial support to complete the fellow’s project.

Indirect costs and equipment purchases are not allowed.

It is permissible to supplement a Parker B. Francis stipend with funds from research grants, departmental funds or clinical income (if clinical duties are minimal). If a supplement is accepted, an explanation regarding its source and subsequent obligations must be provided to the PBF Fellowship Program Office. Fellows are also encouraged to apply for additional grant support after receiving a PBF award.

If there is an unexpended balance at the end of the second fellowship year, the next year's award will be reduced by that amount. In the final year, any unexpended balance in excess of $1,000 must be returned to the Francis Family Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri.

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

Only one application per institution is allowed.

The purpose of the “Clinical Trial Methods in Neurological Disorders Course" Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support educational activities in the mission areas of NINDS. The overarching goal of this R25 is to attract investigators who are new to or with limited exposure to clinical research, promote training of this workforce with the long-term goal of increasing the reliability and effectiveness of clinical trials by 1) introducing the principles of good clinical practice to investigators in any clinical neuroscience subspecialty, thereby providing a foundation for scientifically rigorous and ethical performance of patient oriented clinical research 2) exposing early career clinical scientists to the challenges and potential solutions to overcome these challenges in clinical research and, 3) increasing the number and expertise of knowledgeable clinical research investigators in the workforce to enhance the pipeline of scientifically sound, well-designed clinical trials. Long term, the development of well-trained, experienced clinical researchers with expertise will foster better clinical trials design and thereby hasten the introduction of improved regimens for therapy and prevention of neurological disorders into everyday medical practice and patient care.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this NOFO will support educational activities with a primary focus on:

Courses for Skills Development: The goal of this activity is to support a clinical trial methodology course to train a group of talented, dedicated clinical neuroscience researchers to enable them to obtain external funding in the future. Key components of the course include a program of didactic lectures, individual or group projects, discussion sessions, and mentoring sessions.  The award will provide support for expenses for the implementation of the course in each year, including travel for all non-government course participants (faculty, advisors, and scholars) and all necessary materials and facilities, including meeting space, computer access, virtual meeting platform and course materials.

Research Experiences: An emphasis on early phase (i.e., phase I /II or pilot) trials within the mission areas of NINDS is essential, including pediatrics and rare diseases to address the full spectrum of neurological disorders. Developing trial designs for early phase trials are especially challenging yet critical to inform future scientific steps.  A major component of the educational course is expected to be small group protocol development sessions and individual one-on-one mentoring sessions with faculty, as well as outreach/engagement in the community to learn crucial aspects of trial development and potential recruitment. At the conclusion of the course, participant scholars should have developed a sound clinically relevant and feasible clinical trial protocol.

This NOFO aims to provide support for research education projects focused on clinical trial methodology in neurological disorders that are novel, innovative and designed to accomplish a specific goal based on a well-conceived evaluation plan. Applications will be expected to include a detailed plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities proposed and to include a plan for disseminating results of this program.

Research education programs may complement ongoing research training and education occurring at the applicant institution, but the proposed educational experiences must be distinct from those training and education programs currently receiving Federal support. R25 programs may augment institutional research training programs (e.g., T32, T90) but cannot be used to replace or circumvent Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) programs.

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

Only one application per institution is allowed.

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to establish a Coordinating and Data Management Center (CDMC) that will coordinate and manage the activities of the Gastroenterology Neurology Research Centers (GNRCs), as described in the companion NOFO, RFA-DK-22-036, as part of the Gut Brain Parkinson's Disease Consortium (GBPDC). The responsibilities of the CDMC include, but are not limited to: (1) development of study protocols and coordination of enrollment of subjects into the study; (2) management of consortium-wide meetings and conferences, and cross-consortium collaborative activities; (3) provision of statistical and computational analysis support; and (4) establishing a central data hub for data capture, curation and management, and protocol development and registration. The CDMC will manage GBPDC-wide reporting and data and specimen sharing requirements, to include coordination of distribution of blood, biopsies, and other biological samples to the GNRCs. The CDMC will also manage the operations of the GBPDC Steering Committee and other operational committees and provide the infrastructure for the efficient design and conduct of multicenter studies and establish a repository of participant samples that may be used for ancillary studies of etiology and pathogenesis. NIDDK encourages applications from institutions that foster a diverse research environment, (for more information, see, e.g., NOT-OD-20-031), and encourages Research on Sex/Gender Differences, Sexual and Gender Minority-Related Research and Race/Ethnic Diversity (see NOT-DK-22-003). 

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


Only one application per institution is allowed.

The NEI Center Core Grant combines three or more Resource and/or Service Cores for a group of R01 investigators to enhance their research, consolidate resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and/or contribute to cost effectiveness by providing a service with lower costs or higher quality than could be attempted for independent projects by several individual Program Directors/Principal Investigators (PD(s)/PI(s)). Shared resources and facilities that are accessible to a group of independently funded investigators lead to greater productivity for the separate projects and can provide instrumentation and facilities that are too costly to be maintained by an individual investigator. The design and purpose of each Center Core may vary in how it serves its users. This program is designed to enhance an institution's environment and capability to conduct vision research and to facilitate collaborative studies of the visual system and its disorders and promote new research within the NEI mission and Strategic Plan. 

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

Only one application per institution is allowed.

The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity is to invite Institutional Network Awards (U2C-TL1) to cultivate a highly integrated cohort of trainees and early career investigators and to develop career development resources to accelerate kidney, urologic, and hematologic research. To maximize integration and promote a true trainee community, Institutions are invited to submit a single, unified U2C-TL1 application to engage, recruit, prepare, and sustain the next generation of scientists able to contribute to advancing research in kidney, urology, and hematology. Applications representing multiple institutions within a single metropolitan area are strongly encouraged (see Section III.3). Successful awardees are expected to relinquish all active T32s supported by the NIDDK, Division of Kidney, Urologic, and Hematologic Diseases (KUH) at the time of the U2C-TL1 award.