Funding from Foundations/Private Sources

JHU's Corporate and Foundation Relations maintains a Web site listing upcoming grant competitions that are sponsored by foundations and other private sources: http://jhuresearch.jhu.edu/OCFR.htm. They are in addition to the limited-submission RFPs periodically announced by the Research Projects Administration office. The opportunities are listed in order of deadline and links to each funder's application information are provided. Contact Joan Wisner-Carlson (jwisner2@jhu.edu) with any questions.

Funding for Prostate Cancer Research

DEADLINE: Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Funding is available to support multidisciplinary research in prostate cancer through the Patrick C. Walsh Prostate Cancer Research Fund as well as the NCI funded Prostate Cancer SPORE grant. Awards of a maximum of $75,000 per year for up to two years are available to fund career development and developmental research programs (pilot projects).

New Ideas Encouraged!

For more information, visit the website @: http://prostatecancerprogram.onc.jhmi.edu/

NIH-NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grant Program for 2011

PROPOSED PROJECT SUMMARY NEEDED BY: Wednesday, January 19, 2011

The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a call for applications from NIH-supported investigators for the purpose of purchasing or upgrading available instruments that are priced greater than $100k. The most amount of funding that can be requested from the Shared Instrument Grant Program is $600k (under the NIH S10 mechanism). Instruments which could be supported from this funding initiative include (but are not limited to) "confocal and electron microscopes, biomedical imagers, mass spectrometers, DNA sequencers, biosensors, cell sorters, X-ray diffraction systems, and NMR spectrometers."

Please note: These awards are for one year only and do not carry cost sharing. Potential projects should have three or more qualified research scientists who are NIH funded investigators (of active research grants - P01, R01, U01, R35, R37, DP1 or DP2). Proposals should indicate the investigators will specifically use the requested instruments. NOTE: Multiple project directors or principal investigators are not allowed under the NIH S10 mechanism.

Although Johns Hopkins is not limited in the number of proposals it can submit, there can be no duplication in the type of equipment proposed for each project. To avoid any duplication, interested candidates should submit a brief project summary (one page maximum) with a budget summary and the names of all co-investigators to Mike Alexander via e-mail at: malexander@jhu.edu no later than Wednesday, January 19, 2011. Please note: The School of Medicine is also conducting a review of project summaries received in their Research Administration Office. Interested applicants from the School of Medicine should also send their project summaries and information to Gayle Walters at: gmwalters@jhmi.edu. Each summary will be carefully reviewed. If there are proposed projects with the same type equipment or similar equipment recently awarded through the SIG Program, the Vice Provost for Research and the Vice Dean for Research in the School of Medicine will determine the submission outcome.

More detailed information about this program can be found at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-081.html. If you have any questions, please contact Mike Alexander or Gayle Walters.

Two Dana Foundation Award Programs

INTERNAL SUBMISSION DATE: January 24, 2011

The Dana Foundation is seeking nominees for two of its award programs: Neuroimmunology of Brain Infections and Cancers, and Brain and Immuno-Imaging. Awardees of each program will receive grants totaling up to $200,000 over three years.

The Dana Foundation Neuroimmunology Program supports new clinical approaches and ideas to brain infections and cancers and to understanding immune functions in the brain. Specifically, the Foundation invites studies in three areas:

1. immune-based therapies for primary brain tumors, and for metastases to the brain of other cancers;
   
2. immune responses to infections in the brain, including but not limited to viral encephalitis, meningitis, cerebral malaria, and prion diseases; and
   
3. how immune functions are carried out and modified in the brain.
   This program focuses on clinical studies in humans. Animal studies directly relevant to methods used in humans or to human disease also will be considered. Research that can be support through clinical income should not be submitted.
   

More information on this program can be found at http://www.dana.org/grants/
detail.aspx?id=4522.

The Dana Foundation Program in Brain and Immuno-Imaging supports pilot studies by young investigators aimed at improving human brain and brain-immune functioning in health and disease. Research projects should be promising - but high-risk - and have direct clinical application. If successful, the projects should be competitive for significant support from other funders.

Previously funded studies in this program area have focused primarily on

1. understanding normal brain functioning: how it is altered by disease or injury, and how it recovers or repairs,
   
2. assessing and improving diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, and
   
3. refining and advancing imaging technologies to address specific clinical questions.
   

In addition to these three general areas, the Foundation encourages studies that seek to understand developmental processes of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, surrogate measures of early disease existence, and measures of disease progression.
Studies may use either:

• Conventional imaging - anatomical imaging of white or gray matter and measures of physiological functioning. These proposed studies should focus on patient-oriented clinical research. Exceptions for considering research in animal models or in human tissues will be made only in cases where the research has direct clinical relevance, but cannot yet be safely and effectively conducted in humans.
  
• Cellular/molecular imaging - biochemical actions of specific brain cells, or their interactions with immune cells with direct clinical relevance to human health and disease. These studies may involve human tissues or animal models. Applications can involve the study of cells within neural circuits, using a combination of imaging and single cell electrical recording, if the techniques have already been developed.
  

More information on this program can be found at http://www.dana.org/grants/
detail.aspx?id=1264.

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has been invited to submit one preliminary application for each of these programs. Therefore, each department is invited to nominate one potential applicant for the Neuroimmunology Program and one potential applicant for the Brain and Immune Imaging Innovations Program.

Department Chairs must email nominations to kjustice@jhmi.edu by January 24, 2011. Nominations must include an abstract (between ½ and 1 page in length), NIH-style biosketch, and list of publications.

The Foundation deadline for preliminary applications for both programs is Noon on February 22, 2011.

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award for 2011

INTERNAL SUBMISSION DATE: Friday, January 28, 2011

The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports young physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient's bedside in search of breakthrough treatments. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee.

The School of Medicine has been invited to submit three nominations for the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award. Interested candidates should email a complete PDF file of materials for internal review to Karen Falter at kjustice@jhmi.edu no later than 4:00 p.m. on January 28, 2011. This deadline ensures that the internal selection can be completed in a timely fashion and the final nominations can be submitted to the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation by the March 1, 2011 deadline.

Required materials for internal review:

1. Internal Information Sheet (contact kjustice@jhmi.edu for a copy)
2. Proposal and project descriptions (five pages maximum, double-spaced)
3. Abstract (one page, double-spaced)
3. Applicant's CV
4. Budget (two pages maximum)

For more information: http://www.damonrunyon.org/for_scientists/more/clinical_
investigator_ award_overview


Young Investigator Grant for Probiotics Research

The Global Probiotics Council purpose awards two annual grants of $50,000 each to contribute to the advancement of probiotics and gastrointestinal microbiota research in the United States, and to attract promising, young researchers to this field of study.

Young investigators who are senior fellows with a committed faculty appointment or an early faculty member within five consecutive years of their first appointment who are interested in understanding the health benefits of probiotics and the relationship between probiotics, gastrointestinal microbiota, and the body are encouraged to apply. The deadline is February 15, 2011. Complete application instructions and details are available at http://www.probioticsresearch.com.

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