FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Pilot Projects in Cancer Research

A new Pilot Project Program is now available via the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Care Center to support projects in cancer-related research. A total of $1,000,000 will be available, sufficient for funding 5 to 10 grants at $50,000 to $100,000 per annum for two years to each successful applicant.

Priority will be given to translational research projects, though basic research that has obvious applications in the near-term will also be considered. Novelty and applicability are particularly important.

Funds for this new pilot project program are being provided by the Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust, NCI GI and Breast SPORE grants. Projects on gastrointestinal cancers and breast cancers as well as those incorporating nanotechnology or novel imaging technologies are particularly welcome. Please note that that there will be no other solicitations for pilot projects for the GI and Breast SPORE grants.

Grants must be submitted electronically through a simple web form, available at:
http://oncweb1-vm.onc.jhmi.edu/pilotprojects/

Applications that are longer than two pages will be discarded. No budget is required. All entries must be completed by June 1, 2009. Selections of grants for funding will be made by July 1, 2009. Funding will begin either July 1 or October 1, depending on fiscal year of GI and Breast SPOREs, respectively.


National Science Foundation Instrumentation for Materials Research-Major Instrumentation Projects (IMR-MIP)

INTERNAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Monday, June 1, 2009

The Instrumentation for Materials Research - Major Instrumentation Project (IMR-MIP) program in the Division of Materials Research provides support for the design and construction of major instruments costing more than $4 million but less than $20 million. The program also supports the development of detailed conceptual and engineering design for new tools for materials preparation or characterization at major user facilities. Such instruments may include, for example, neutron beam lines, synchrotron beam lines, and high field magnets, as well as development of detectors and preparation environments necessary to support materials research.

This program supports two types of awards: Conceptual and Engineering Design (CED) and Construction (CNST) awards. A CED award will enable the proposer to do the necessary engineering design of the instrument. A CNST proposal may only be submitted after a satisfactory engineering design of the instrument has been completed and has been approved by both the facility at which the instrument will be situated and by NSF. No operating funds for projects are covered by this program. Such costs must be supported either by the facility or the institution at which the instrument is located or through some other source. CED awards will be funded through continuing or standard grants for a total of up to about $2 million per award; up to one CNST award will be funded through a five-year cooperative agreement, for about $1 million to $4 million per year. For further information, refer to the complete program solicitation at: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09547/nsf09547.htm.

Johns Hopkins University is permitted to nominate one (1) application for this program, for either the CED or the CNST award. The deadline to submit materials for an internal review is Monday, June 1, 2009. Interested applicants should submit the following materials to Barbara Christen at bsc2@jhu.edu in the Office of the Assistant Provost for Research Administration. The subject line of your e-mail must read: "NSF 09-547 Instrumentation for Materials Research (IMR-MIP)." These materials should be submitted as one (1) PDF, arranged in the following sequence:

1. JHU Limited submission cover sheet (email bsc2@jhu.edu for a copy).

2. Proposal with a sufficiently detailed description of the project, no longer than four typed pages (double-spaced).

3. Candidates' cvs including current external and research support and publications.

4. A budget outlining how award funds will be utilized (two-page maximum).

Note: Each applicant is responsible for his or her own applications. You should expect to receive a confirmation of receipt of materials within 48 hours of your submission. If you do not receive such an acknowledgement, please call Dr. Christen at (410) 516-5256.

The selected candidate will be notified as soon as possible. The final application must be received by the agency no later than Monday, June 29, 2009.

Doris Duke Innovation in Clinical Research Award

Application Deadline: 5/20/09 (letter of intent)

The 2009 Innovation in Clinical Research Award competition invites Letters of Intent for clinical research with the potential to catalyze innovative breakthroughs in the treatment of sickle cell disease (SCD). Applicants must hold an advanced degree (MD, PhD, MD/PhD or the equivalent) and have a faculty appointment. Junior investigators must identify a mentor.

In recognition of the importance of cross-disciplinary collaboration, the Foundation encourages and gives high priority to applications from co-Principal Investigators. Investigators who may come from the same or different institutions and who have not previously worked in SCD research but have expertise, innovative approaches and/or novel findings that shed new light on problems of SCD are encouraged to apply, as are women and underrepresented minorities in medicine. For applicants who apply for or are awarded an NIH Challenge Grant in Health and Science Research in sickle cell disease, the Foundation will consider allowing the NIH grant to supply years 3 and 4 of a project. Doris Duke expects to make up to four awards for this program in 2009 and will commit $450,000 over three years plus 8% indirect costs. Proposals are due July 8, 2009, and grants will be awarded for project to begin November 1, 2009. For more details and application instructions, click here: www.ddcf.org/mrp-icra.


The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations, Round 3

Deadline: 5/28/09

To encourage bold and unconventional research on new global health solutions, as Round 3 of a five-year, $100 million initiative, the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative focuses on research areas where creative, unorthodox thinking is most urgently needed. The topic areas for which proposals will be accepted in this round are:

Creating Low-Cost Diagnostics for Priority Global Health Conditions;

Creating New Tools to Accelerate the Eradication of Malaria;

Creating New Vaccines for Diarrhea, HIV, Malaria, Pneumonia and Tuberculosis; and

Creating New Ways to Induce Mucosal Immunity.

The initiative is open to any applicant from any discipline, from student to tenured professor, and from any organization -universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies.

Applications are two pages, and preliminary data about the proposed research are not required. The foundation and an independent group of reviewers will select the most innovative proposals, and grants will be awarded within approximately three months from the proposal submission deadline. Initial grants will be for $100,000. Successful projects may receive a follow-on grant of $1 million or more. For more details and application instructions, click here: http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations

Burroughs Wellcome Fund Preterm Birth Initiative

Application Deadline: 6/1/09 (letters of intent)

This program is designed to address scientific issues related to preterm birth by bringing together a diverse interdisciplinary group with expertise in genetics/genomics, immunology, microbiology, proteomics, and the more traditional areas of parturition research such as maternal fetal medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics. This is a new initiative of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, which has suspended all other programs for the 2009-10 funding year. Planning grants may be used for, but not limited to, travel for meetings between members of research groups, sample acquisition for later proposed studies, collection of pilot data, and resources to support protocol generation. Personnel costs, analysis costs, consumable supplies, animal studies, and human subject recruitment also may be supported by the planning grant. Up to $600,000 over four years is available for research grants. (The amount to be awarded for planning grants is not specified). The application deadline for a full research grant for those who are invited to apply is December 1, 2010. Funding is expected to begin in 2011. For more details or to apply, click here: http://www.bwfund.org/pages/363/PTBI-/


Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Rachleff Innovation Award

Pre-Proposal Deadline: 6/1/09

The purpose of this program is to provide funding for early-career researchers who have innovative new ideas aimed at the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer, but lack sufficient preliminary data to obtain traditional funding. Basic and clinical research projects will be considered. Assistant professors within three years of obtaining their position or senior clinical fellows who are pursuing independent research are eligible. Applicants with a background in multiple disciplines are especially encouraged to apply.

Applications will be evaluated on the basis of the investigator's capacity to conduct bold, exceptionally creative research; novelty and potential for breakthrough; innovation of proposed research; likelihood that it will lead to significant advances; and investigator's lack of resources to pursue research. The Foundation plans to interview finalists in the Fall, and notify awardees in December and is committing $450,000 over three years. Funding will begin January 1, 2010.

For more details and to apply, click here: http://www.damonrunyon.org/for_scientists/more/innovation_award_overview#program

The Brain Tumor Funders' Collaborative (BTFC) 2009 Call for Grant Proposals

BTFC seeks to fund research that contributes towards progress against adult and pediatric glioma. BTFC will invest in the development of new tools and approaches that will lead to the non-invasive (or minimally-invasive) determination of tumor responsiveness to experimental interventions in clinical trials and the treatment of brain tumors in patients. Details and application instructions are posted at http://www.braintumorfunders.org.

To facilitate the design, development, feasibility testing, and validation of non- (or minimally-) invasive response markers the BTFC will support up to ten 1 year grants with budgets up to, but not exceeding $100,000 direct costs. BTFC policies do not permit indirect cost recoveries. Following review of each funded project's progress, the BTFC could provide additional support as warranted to the projects demonstrating the greatest likelihood of continued success and accomplishment of the overarching goal of bringing new tools into widespread use. The application deadline is June 15, 2009.

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