Current Funding Announcements

W81XWH-20-RFI-JWMRP: FY20 JWMRP Advancement of Previous Department of Defense (DoD) or Service 

Description: This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research grant applications 
directed toward developing next-generation human cell-derived microphysiological systems (MPS) and 
related assays that replicate complex nervous system architectures and physiology with improved 
fidelity over current capabilities. The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate basic 
technology-focused research to develop next-generation human cell-derived microphysiological 
systems (MPS) and related assays with improved fidelity to complex human brain, spinal cord, and/or 
sensory end organ circuit physiology, which will ultimately facilitate analysis of higher order 
functional deficits relevant to complex nervous system diseases.

This FOA encourages innovative approaches that are first-in-class, those that propose to 
substantially exceed the state of the art in tissue organization and function. These can be high 
risk, high impact designs. Additionally, this FOA encourages approaches that aim to improve 
robustness and reproducibility of physiologically relevant circuit or supportive systems-level 
measures.

• PAR-20-055: R01 Research Project Grant – this mechanism is intended to provide support for the 
further development of projects where preliminary data supports the feasibility of the line of 
investigation. Applicants without preliminary data may wish to apply to the companion R21 FOA.

• PAR-20-082: R21 Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant – this grant mechanism is intended to 
encourage exploratory/developmental research by providing support for the early and conceptual 
stages of project development. High risk/high reward projects that lack preliminary data may be 
most appropriate for this FOA. Applicants with preliminary data may wish to apply to the companion 
R01 mechanism.

NIH Institutes and Centers participating in this FOA have specific interests and priorities, 
including:

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
• The institute is interested in a broad variety of approaches and technology/methodology 
development. Some examples, but not limited to, would be technical development of microarchitecture 
reagents including appropriate buffers, media, polymers and synthetics to generate improved 3D 
platforms and microenvironments to facilitate cellular attachment, proliferation, in areas of 
differentiation or regeneration of taste buds, hearing/balance sensory epithelium, or vocal folds; 
experimental improvements of drug assessment studies, high throughput replication and comparative 
analyses of laryngeal, chemosensory and auditory/vestibular function (e.g., ototoxicity, noise or 
drug trauma, and age-related sensory loss); experimental improvements to implantable chip or scaffold-derived

PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT

MTEC Navy Multi-Topic: Advanced Biomedical Product Development for Naval Operations

MTEC-20-02-NavyMulti (release anticipated early January 2020) MTEC-20-03-NavyMulti (release anticipated early March 2020)

Description: This is a pre-announcement for multiple RFPs (two white paper submissions anticipated) focused on the advancement of engineering and medical prototypes and knowledge products relevant to enhanced readiness and resilience of Navy and Marine Corps health and performance. To maintain warfighter lethality and operational effectiveness in challenging environments, next generation biomedical products are required. Projects shall not be exploratory, and do require a foundation of preliminary data. MTEC-sponsored projects must result in “prototype” research deliverables that transition medical solutions to industry. Proposed prototypes shall be at a minimum of a TRL of 5 at the time of submission and address at least one Technology Focus Area, which include:

•    Casualty care (MTEC-20-02-NavyMulti)
•    Medical logistics enhancement (MTEC-20-02-NavyMulti)
•    Human performance ((MTEC-20-02-NavyMulti, MTEC-20-03-NavyMulti)
•    Prolonged and en route care (MTEC-20-03-NavyMulti)
•    Operational readiness (MTEC-20-03-NavyMulti)

Anticipated White Paper Due Dates: early February 2020 (MTEC-20-02-NavyMulti) and late April 2020 
(MTEC-20-03-NavyMulti)
Periods of performance: 12-36 months
Awards: $500,000 - $2M

For more information: https://mtec-sc.org/upcoming-solicitations/

DESCRIPTION: HHF's ERG grants provide seed money to stimulate data collection that leads to a continuing, independently fundable line of research. ERG Grantees advance scientific knowledge in the following under-researched areas: Hearing Loss in Children, Central Auditory Processing Disorder, Hyperacusis, Tinnitus, Ménière’s disease, Usher syndrome, making cancer drugs less ototoxic, and the links between hearing loss and diabetes, heart and kidney disease.

APPLICATIONS OPEN October 14, 2019

FUNDING Up to $50,000 per year for each project for an initial period of one year, renewable for one additional year. PROGRAM DATE October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021

Information: https://hearinghealthfoundation.org/emerging-research-grants

Questions about grant program and processes: grants@hhf.org

If you would like to submit a grant for consideration of funding in 2020-2021, a LETTER OF INTENT and BIOSKETCH, including details regarding other existing support, must be submitted by November 1st of the year prior to funding. The next funding cycle begins July 1, 2020. The letter of intent must state the desired grant mechanism for the proposal (CSA, Fellowship grant, Research Grant), the Principal Investigator and Institution(s), a working title and abstract and include Specific Aims and a proposal summary (2 page limit on abstract and aims).

W81XWH-19-S-CRRP Combat Readiness – Medical Research Program Rapid

Development and Translational Research Award

Description: The CRRP was initiated by Congress in FY19 to pursue military-relevant advanced technology and therapeutic research related to forward deployable solutions that can promptly address life-threatening injuries, medical threats, and treatments for Warfighters in current and future battlefield settings. The Congressional language for the CRRP encompasses research that would enable the Warfighter to better respond to serious injury, as well as solutions to mitigate the long-term effects of battlefield trauma, including: (1) enhancing battlefield diagnostics for neurological injuries and hemorrhage; DoD FY19 CRRP Rapid Development and Translational Research Award 4 (2) integrated wound care and tissue regeneration therapies; (3) environmental and wearable sensors, combined with advanced computing, for surveillance and monitoring of chemical and biological threat exposures; (4) telemedicine applications for battlefield medicine, to allow for better collection, integration, and transfer of patient data from battlefield medical units through transport and treatment; (5) chemical and biological exposure, countermeasures, and management strategies; and (6) solutions for infectious disease management, including sepsis. The CRRP vision is to deliver high-impact medical solutions throughout the continuum of care to increase survivability and readiness of the Warfighter in diverse operational settings. Per the program’s mission statement, the CRRP seeks to develop innovative solutions to increase medical readiness, mitigate fatalities, optimally treat life-threatening injuries, and promote positive long-term outcomes. Innovations developed by CRRP-supported research may be applied proactively as a way to establish medical readiness ahead of deployment, in-theater at the point of injury or during periods of prolonged care, or during transport/en route care within and from theater. These solutions will not only help to minimize the morbidity and mortality of combat-related injuries sustained by the Warfighter, they will also often translate to civilian care.

Focus areas include wearable sensors with multiple capabilities to identify and monitor medical management of injuries and/or exposures, such as environmental exposures and neurological injury.

Pre-app due: 23 October 2019

Full app due: 13 November 2019 Period of Performance: 2 years Max Funding: $1.5M

For more information, https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-

opportunity.html?oppId=320460

RFA-HL-20-030: Regenerative Medicine Innovation Project (RMIP) Investigator-Initiated Clinical Trials (UG3/UH3 – Clinical Trial Required)

Description: The National Institutes of Health (NIH) participating Institutes and Centers, in coordination with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), seek highly meritorious clinical trial applications proposing to explore and enable the development of safe and effective regenerative medicine (RM) interventions using adult stem cells.

Of particular interest are projects using RM products that have undergone appropriate product development and pre-clinical studies and have demonstrated readiness to advance into clinical trials. This FOA seeks Phase I and beyond clinical trial applications that present a strong scientific rationale for the proposed clinical trial and a comprehensive scientific and operational plan.

Before the time of award and if applicable, successful applicants must obtain an Investigational New Drug (IND) authorization or Investigational New Device Exemption (IDE) approval to administer the product to humans.

Due to the complex nature of requirements in this FOA (e.g., 1:1 matching funds, resource sharing), applicants are strongly encouraged to communicate with the appropriate NIH Scientific/Research Contact and review online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) prior to submitting an application. Staff will be able to advise applicants in determining if their research meets the requirements and objectives of this FOA.

Scientific/research contact for NIDCD:

• Nancy L. Freeman, Ph.D.

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) Telephone: 301-402-3458

Email:FreemanN@mail.NIH.gov

Letter of Intent: September 18, 2019

Application: October 18, 2019

Maximum total project period: 5 years

Information: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-HL-20-030.html

W81XWH-19-CTRR-CRA

DoD Complex Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Research - Clinical Research Award

Description: The FY19 PH/TBIRP CTRR-CRA is intended to support clinical research focused on understanding the clinical sequelae and mechanisms of recovery associated with mTBI and TBI- related cognitive, sensory, and motor performances. The overarching goals of this award are to address TBI-related impairments and deficits, including multi-modal and cognitive dysfunction, to (1) develop and validate rehabilitation outcome measures; (2) systematically analyze standard of care cognitive interventions to identify optimal treatment ingredients; and (3) improve clinician-driven assessment strategies to guide RTD decision-making. The FY19 PH/TBIRP CTRR-CRA seeks research to develop and validate novel outcome measures that will characterize and track functional cognitive, sensory, and motor performance deficit in Service members and relevant populations with cognitive dysfunction following TBI; and to identify key treatment approaches to optimize cognitive rehabilitation following TBI, as consistent with the mission of the JPC-8/CRMRP.

Supported research should investigate effectiveness of rehabilitation in remediating postconcussive sequelae across the spectrum of known post-concussive vulnerabilities in the areas DoD FY19 PH/TBIRP CTRR – Clinical Research Award 4 of post-traumatic dizziness, vestibular dysfunction, imbalance or dynamic instability; visual and oculomotor dysfunction; cognitive deficits (e.g., degraded processing speed, memory, or executive functioning); central auditory processing; and autonomic dysregulation. Solutions should integrate objective clinical findings in the following domains: cognitive performance, sensory function, and motor performance.

The CRA mechanism supports applied and translational clinical research to advance the development of knowledge and materiel products for rehabilitation and restoration of function following TBI. Clinical trials are not supported by this mechanism. Studies involving animal research do not meet the intent of this award mechanism.

Pre-app due: 10 September 2019

Full app due: 2 December 2019 Period of Performance: 3 years Max Funding: $2M

For more information, https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-

opportunity.html?oppId=318673

 W81XWH-19-DMRDP-AIMM - Accelerating Innovation in Military Medicine Research Award

Description: The AIMM initiative was created to accelerate transformational biomedical research for our Armed Forces and Nation. The mission of the AIMM initiative is to encourage, identify, and enable innovative research that leads to crosscutting solutions to military health threats. The FY19 appropriation is $3M. To meet the intent of the award mechanism, applications submitted to the FY19 AIMM must address at least one of the Focus Areas listed below. Applications that will accelerate research toward innovations applicable to multi-domain operations and multi-domain operations in dense urban environments are encouraged but not required.

The FY19 AIMM Focus Areas are as follows:

• Algorithms/tools for decision support in a deployed or operational environment to: diagnose military-relevant disease, illness, or injury; prescribe mitigation and treatment strategies; and/or determine risk of Warfighter return to duty.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)/deep learning for integrating heterogeneous data streams and analyzing data from wearables to support making informed healthcare decisions. Wearable sensor systems may pertain to, but are not limited to, the following or combinations of the following: infectious disease diagnosis; physiologic status monitoring; informing real-time casualty location and triage; and/or environmental monitoring.

• AI/deep learning for analyzing and interrogating large medical data sets to: identify patterns/predictors of disease, illness, or injury; and/or identify treatment outcomes.

Pre-app due: 26 July 2019

Full app due: 30 October 2019

Period of Performance: 18 months

Max Funding: $350,000

W81XWH-19-HRRP-FRA – DoD Hearing Restoration Focused Program Award

Description: The HRRP was initiated in 2017 to support innovative and impactful research that pursues the treatment of auditory system injuries and the restoration of hearing. The HRRP will fund innovative research that has the potential to maximize operational performance, medical readiness, and quality of life for Service members, Veterans, and others living with significant auditory system injuries. Tinnitus or vestibular-related research is excluded. All applications to the FY19 HRRP FRA must address research in one or more of the following Focus Areas:

• Develop or validate techniques/methods to assess, diagnose, or treat auditory dysfunction as related to synaptopathy, hidden hearing loss, and central auditory processing disorders. Examples include, but are not limited to:

o Diagnostic tests that help differentiate sensory, neural, synaptic, and central processing disorders

o Diagnostic tools for use in forward or remote deployed settings to assess hidden hearing loss and to inform whether the individual’s hearing capability is sufficient to perform the duties of the job or work assignment

o Treatments for the various types of damage that result in the auditory dysfunction leading to decreased ability to adequately perform the duties of the job or work assignment

• Accelerate translation of biological regeneration/repair mechanisms into therapies that restore auditory function. Examples include, but are not limited to:

o Treatments to enhance synaptic plasticity

o Hair cell regeneration/repair/recovery

o Neural regeneration/repair/recovery

• Develop reliable in-vitro human models for evaluating hearing restoration therapies

Funding Level 1 supports exploratory, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development.

Funding Level 2 supports the advancement of more mature research toward clinical translation.

Pre-app due: 16 July 2019

Full app due: 14 November 2019

Period of Performance: 2 years (Level 1), 3 years (Level 2)

Max Funding: The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY19 HRRP FRA Funding Level 1 will not exceed $250,000. The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY19 HRRP FRA Funding Level 2 will not exceed $1,000,000 or $1,250,000 for applications with a pilot clinical trial option.

For more information, https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=315955

Announcement: Funding

Title:  ARMY RESEARCH OFFICE BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT FOR FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH

Type/Mechanism: Grant
Funding Opportunity Number: W911NF-17-S-0002-04

Application Open:  1 April, 2017 – 31 March 2022

Notes:  (See below for additional info)

Description: ARO is focused exclusively on extramural basic research, and is responsible for the vast majority of ARL’s extramural research programs and funding. Competencies are structured to create discovery, innovation, and transition of technologies leading to Power Projection Superiority, Information Supremacy, Lethality and Protection Superiority, and Soldier Performance Augmentation for Strategic Land Power Dominance. Proposals are expected to be for cutting-edge innovative research that could produce discoveries that would have a significant impact on enabling new and improved Army operational capabilities and related technologies. Specific research areas and topics of interest should be viewed as suggestive, rather than limiting. ARO is always interested in considering new innovative research concepts of relevance to the Army. Additional information about ARO areas of interest can be found on the ARL website:

http://www.arl.army.mil/www/default.cfm?page=29.

Research areas of interest include

·        Life Sciences (Neurophysiology of Cognition/Multisensory Synthesis)

·        Intelligent Systems for Improved Decision Making (sensing, perception, situation awareness)

·        Biomathematics (modeling sensory processing, disease processes)

·        International Opportunities: Human Dimension, Big Data

This Funding Opportunity Announcement is a BAA. It is continuously open for a 5-year period, from 01 April 2017 closing 31 March 2022. Proposals will be considered until and including the closing date of this announcement.

There are no specific funding restrictions associated with this BAA. The proposed duration for which support is requested should be consistent with the nature and complexity of the proposed activity.

For more information, https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=292877

Announcement: Grant
Title:  NIDCD Clinical Research Center Grant (P50/Clinical Trial Optional)
Award Organization: NICD
Type/Mechanism: Grant
Funding Opportunity Number: PAR-19-137
Award Amount: $1.5M/year 
Pre-proposals Due:  7 Jan, 2019
Full App Due: February 6, 2019; June 6, 2019; October 4, 2019; February 6, 2020; June 8, 2020; October 6, 2020; February 8, 2021; June 6, 2021; October 6, 2021


Notes: 
Description: The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) invites applications for Clinical Research Center Grants designed to advance the diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and amelioration of human communication disorders.  For this announcement, Clinical Research is defined as research involving individuals with communication disorders or data/tissues from individuals with a communication disorder. Examples of such research include but are not limited to, studies of the prevention, pathogenesis, pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment, management or epidemiology of a disease or disorder of hearing, balance, smell, taste, voice, speech, or language.

Applications may propose a clinical trial but are not required (optional).  

Proposed research must meet 4 essential criteria:

1.  Must be clinical as defined above.
2.  Must have a well-defined central unifying theme consisting of three or more research projects with 1 or more supporting cores as appropriate; one core must be an administrative core.
3.  Each project must be unambiguously related to the central unifying theme. Synergistic and substantial interactions among the projects should be evident.
4.  Must provide multidisciplinary approaches to the central theme, defined as having research projects representing different disciplines, approaches and expertise. 

Additional Information: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-19-137.html

PA-19-053: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

PA-19-054: NIH Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Program (Clinical Trial Required) 

Description: The NIH Exploratory/Developmental Grant supports exploratory and developmental research projects by providing support for the early and conceptual stages of these projects. This program is intended to encourage new exploratory and developmental research projects. For example, such projects could assess the feasibility of a novel area of investigation or a new experimental system that has the potential to enhance health-related research. Another example could include the unique and innovative use of an existing methodology to explore a new scientific area. These studies may involve considerable risk but may lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel techniques, agents, methodologies, models, or applications that could have a major impact on a field of biomedical, behavioral, or clinical research.

These studies should break new ground or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications. Applications for Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant awards should include projects distinct from those supported through the traditional R01 activity code. 

Open Date (Earliest Submission Date): January 16, 2019
Application Due Date(s): February 16, 2019
Expiration Date: January 8, 2022

Information: PA-19-053, PA-19-054