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The National Niemann-Pick Disease Foundation (NNPDF) invites applications for postdoctoral research fellowships examining the biology of Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease, a lethal neurodegenerative disease for which there are no effective therapies. M.D., Ph. D. and D.V.M. postdoctoral fellows are eligible to apply for funding to improve our understanding of the biology and pathogenesis of NPC disease.  Preference will be given to research projects developing new therapies for NPC and identifying biomarkers of disease activity for diagnosis and clinical trials. The fellowships provide support of $50,000 per annum for two years and may be renewable based on performance.  Applicants must be currently associated with a recognized laboratory

The Michael J. Fox Foundation will award one-year to 18-month grants for studies that explore the role of astrocytes in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathology and the potential for astrocyte-focused therapeutics. The goals of this funding program are to further understanding of astrocyte biology in Parkinson's and to rationalize the pursuit of astrocyte-specific targets and/or pathways for the treatment of the disease. Preference will be given to applications that focus on or include the following: Role of astrocytes in initiating and/or propagating Parkinson's disease pathology, including alpha-synuclein spread, dopaminergic neuron death, inflammation and senescence Consequences of dysfunction and/or mutations of common PD targets, including alpha-synuclein, LRRK2, GBA, PRKN and PINK1 Manipulation of astrocyte activity and/or astrocyte-specific pathways to assess the potential of targeted astrocyte therapies on disease biology and/or symptoms Parkinson's disease models with high construct validity to human PD, including patient-derived material (such as iPSCs or cerebral organoids) and/or well characterized animal models and primary cells; Examination of human brain samples to answer specific hypotheses is also acceptable Targets, pathways and mechanisms proposed for investigation should have reasonable links to PD.

To date, the pursuit of disease-modifying therapy development for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been primarily informed by the study of diseased individuals, often by comparing genomic and other molecular, cellular and physiologic features in AD cases and controls. This has proven extremely challenging given the disease's heterogeneity and its multifactorial etiology. There is a growing appreciation that the development of effective treatment and prevention for complex diseases such as AD can benefit from gaining a much deeper understanding of what it means to be well and which genomic, epigenomic, environmental, social, and behavioral factors promote wellness and protection against disease.

The PRP EIRA supports Parkinson's disease-focused research opportunities for individuals in the early stages of their careers, under the guidance of a designated Mentor. The Early Investigator is considered the Principal Investigator (PI) of the application and must exhibit strong potential for, and commitment to, pursuing a career as an investigator at the forefront of Parkinson's disease research; however, the PI is not required to have previous Parkinson's disease research experience. Applications must include at least one Mentor, appropriate to the proposed research project, who has experience in Parkinson's disease research and mentoring as demonstrated by a record of active funding, recent publications, and successful mentorship. The selected Mentor(s) should also demonstrate a clear commitment to the development of the PI toward independence as a Parkinson's disease researcher.

The PRP EIRA supports Parkinson's disease-focused research opportunities for individuals in the early stages of their careers, under the guidance of a designated Mentor. The Early Investigator is considered the Principal Investigator (PI) of the application and must exhibit strong potential for, and commitment to, pursuing a career as an investigator at the forefront of Parkinson's disease research; however, the PI is not required to have previous Parkinson's disease research experience. Applications must include at least one Mentor, appropriate to the proposed research project, who has experience in Parkinson's disease research and mentoring as demonstrated by a record of active funding, recent publications, and successful mentorship. The selected Mentor(s) should also demonstrate a clear commitment to the development of the PI toward independence as a Parkinson's disease researchers

Clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias have been hindered, in part, by the limited number of biomarkers available to (1) accurately diagnose these diseases, (2) enrich and stratify patient cohorts, (3) demonstrate target engagement for novel therapeutics, and (4) reliably monitor disease progression and response to treatment. While currently available biomarkers have helped to accelerate clinical trials, most are either expensive, invasive, or both, and provide information on a small number of disease targets. Thus, additional biomarkers are needed to provide a more complete picture of the disease.

The NETP Program EIRA supports neurotoxin exposure and treatment-related Parkinson's disease research opportunities for investigators in the early stages of their careers, under the guidance of a designated Mentor(s). The Early Investigator is considered the Principal Investigator (PI) of the application and must exhibit strong potential for, and commitment to, pursuing a career as an investigator at the forefront of Parkinson's disease research; however, the PI is not required to have previous Parkinson's disease research experience. Applications must include at least one Mentor, appropriate to the proposed research project, who has experience in Parkinson's disease research and mentoring as demonstrated by a record of active funding, recent publications, and successful mentorship. The selected Mentor(s) should also demonstrate a clear commitment to the development of the PI toward independence as a neurotoxin exposure and treatment-related Parkinson's disease researcher.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Parkinson's Disease Biomarkers Program (PDBP), The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) Parkinson's Disease cohorts and biosample collections, the NINDS-sponsored National Brain and Tissue Resource for Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders at the Banner Sun Health Research Institute and the Harvard Biomarker Study Biospecimen Repository offer unique biospecimen resources and corresponding clinical data for Parkinson's Disease biomarker discovery, optimization and replication studies. This FOA allows an investigator to apply for access to non-renewable biosamples from one or more of these biosample collections.

Multimorbidity, having two or more chronic conditions, is a complex challenge for doctors. This challenge becomes even more complex when treating patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD), as the clinical presentation and prolonged course of ADRD influence the diagnosis and treatment of comorbid illness. Compared to patients with other long-term disorders, those with dementia may have extreme multimorbidity, averaging four additional chronic medical disorders. The most common chronic comorbid conditions for ADRD patients are hypertension and diabetes, but other significant comorbidities include, but are not limited to, heart disease, heart failure, obstructive lung disease, and incontinence, as well as acute conditions like infectious diseases and hip fracture.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications to continue the operations of the NIA Genome Center for Alzheimer's Disease (GCAD) to facilitate and support the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) activities. GCAD will serve as the focal point for all phases of ADSP quality control checking, data harmonization, and meta-analysis. The FOA is intended to support a major component of the full range of analysis for the ADSP. The spectrum of the Center's activities comprises a multidisciplinary attack on Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD), in keeping with NIA's programmatic needs. The Center will serve as a national resource for the specific purpose of identifying potential avenues for therapeutic approaches and prevention of the disease.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications to continue the operations of the NIA Genome Center for Alzheimer's Disease (GCAD) to facilitate and support the Alzheimer's Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP) activities. GCAD will serve as the focal point for all phases of ADSP quality control checking, data harmonization, and meta-analysis. The FOA is intended to support a major component of the full range of analysis for the ADSP. The spectrum of the Center's activities comprises a multidisciplinary attack on Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and AD Related Dementias (ADRD) in keeping with NIA's programmatic needs. The Center will serve as a national resource for the specific purpose of identifying potential avenues for therapeutic approaches and prevention of the disease.

There is a continual and important need to continue to train the next-generation of scientists with research expertise in neurodegenerative disorders, especially Huntington's disease.  The purpose of the Donald A. King Summer Research Fellowships program is two-fold:  first, to attract the brightest young scientists into the field of Huntington's disease research and secondly, to facilitate meaningful HD research to clarify the biological mechanisms underlying HD pathology. The objective of the Donald A. King Summer Research Fellowships is to sponsor HD investigations that can be conducted over a 10-week period, between June 1 and August 31, 2013.  Fellowship recipients, working under the supervision of senior HD scientists, will undertake a project that will be helpful in future HD research and also nurture a continuing interest in HD research. The student fellowships are designed to attract the brightest future scientists into a career in Huntington's disease research.  

The Cognitive Neuroscience program seeks highly innovative proposals aimed at advancing a rigorous understanding of human cognition, including how the human brain mediates action, affect, creativity, decision making, intentionality, perception, social processes, and thought.  Topics may bear on core functions such as attention, emotion, empathy, executive processes, language, learning, memory, music, sensory processing, sleep, representation of self and other, reasoning and rhythm. Topics may also include how human cognition develops and changes in the brain across the lifespan. The program is particularly interested in supporting the development of new techniques and technologies for recording, analyzing, and modeling complex brain activity and human brain mapping. Such projects should include a plan for sharing new software and other technologies with the research community at large.  Additionally, the program is interested in supporting projects addressing the growing amount of data collected across disparate lab environments, which may require new standardization, curation, and sharing solutions.  Studies of disease states (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, Autism, brain damaged patients, Parkinson's disease and Schizophrenia) may be components of projects supported by this program. However, the emphasis in such projects must be to advance basic scientific understanding of healthy neural mechanisms, and not on disease etiology, diagnosis, or treatment.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications for P30 Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers. NIA-designated Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) serve as major sources of discovery into the nature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias and into the development of more effective approaches to prevention, diagnosis, care, and therapy. They contribute significantly to the development of shared resources that support dementia-relevant research, and they collaborate and coordinate their research efforts with other NIH-funded programs and investigators.

The PRP IIRA supports highly rigorous, multidisciplinary, high-impact research projects that have the potential to make an important contribution to Parkinson's disease research and/or patient care. This award mechanism supports the full spectrum of research from basic science through clinical research that specifically focuses on scientific and clinical Parkinson's disease issues, which, if successfully addressed, have the potential to make a major impact in understanding, preventing, diagnosing, or treating Parkinson's disease or enhancing the well-being of individuals experiencing the impact of the disease.

The PRP IIRA supports highly rigorous, multidisciplinary, high-impact research projects that have the potential to make an important contribution to Parkinson's disease research and/or patient care. This award mechanism supports the full spectrum of research from basic science through clinical research that specifically focuses on scientific and clinical Parkinson's disease issues, which, if successfully addressed, have the potential to make a major impact in understanding, preventing, diagnosing, or treating Parkinson's disease or enhancing the well-being of individuals experiencing the impact of the disease.

Scientists and patient advocacy groups often use a series of photos, commissioned by NEI some thirty years ago, when they wish to depict the visual experience of patients suffering from blinding diseases. At the time they were created, these images reflected the field's understanding of visual perception for such patients. But the field has advanced considerably since then, and these static images are considered overly simplistic, inaccurate, and generally unsatisfactory. At the same time, technology has evolved to where it is possible to use video and virtual reality to more authentically demonstrate (or even simulate) the experience of have a blinding disease. As part of the efforts of the NEI 50th Anniversary Planning Committee, the institute seeks the support of experts in blinding diseases, visual psychophysics, and video/virtual reality production to create a scientifically accurate and clinically authentic blindness simulation "experience" that can be used for education, public advocacy, and research purposes and a series of short videos that can be posted online for education and public outreach.

The purpose of this FOA is to stimulate development of translation-enabling models for evaluating survival and integration of regenerated photoreceptors (PRCs) and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in model systems that are closer to human visual anatomy, function and/or disease than current models. The development of these models, tools, devices, novel therapies and/or other resources is expected to provide a resource to vision researchers developing cell-replacement therapies for visual system diseases and disorders. This FOA seeks to develop models that emulate critical aspects of a human blinding disease that might be amenable to regenerative therapy. The model system might involve specific defects generated by transgenic gene insertion and/or deletion, gene editing, chemical/physical means, and/or other approaches to emulate characteristics of human disease or create defects amenable to cell-replacement therapy. Model systems using non-human primates or other cone-dominant species that are more representative of the anatomy and physiology of the human retina are highly encouraged. Other biological models are acceptable provided they meet the overall objectives of the FOA.

This limited competition FOA invites a renewal application for the next 5-year cycle of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).  ADNI's purpose is to develop a multisite, longitudinal, prospective, naturalistic study of normal cognitive aging, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and early Alzheimer's disease as a public domain research resource to facilitate the scientific evaluation of neuroimaging and other biomarkers for the onset and progression of MCI and Alzheimer's disease.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) supports the development of PET radioligands that identify proteinopathies or pathological processes associated with the human biology of Alzheimer's disease related dementias (ADRDs). Activities supported under this FOA include, but are not limited to the in vitro screening of existing ligands against human ADRD brain tissue, medicinal chemistry support for development of new compounds and improvement of existing ligand specificity and selectivity, initial screening of ligands in appropriate animal models, and radioligand formulation and first-in-human testing. The Center without Walls should encompass research that will move promising ligands through in vitro and in vivo optimization to first-in-human studies. Applications must include an administrative core, a medicinal chemistry core, a clinical core, a scientific governance structure, and a minimum of two research projects with milestone plans that address workflows for screening of existing and newly derived ligands against human ADRD tissue and appropriate animal models. Synergy must be evident among Center research projects and cores, such that successful completion of the aims could not be accomplished without the Center structure. This FOA is in response to the Alzheimer's Disease Related Dementias (ADRD) challenges outlined in the 2016 update to the National Plan to Address Alzheimer's Disease.