OARS funding Neuroscience

Translational Bioinformatics Approaches to Advance Drug Repositioning and Combination Therapy Development for Alzheimer's Disease (R01 Clinical Trial Optional)

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is designed to support teams of investigators that seek to cross boundaries of interdisciplinary collaboration to elucidate the contributions of dynamic circuit activity to a specific behavioral or neural system. Applications are encouraged to propose adventurous and challenging goals that can only be tackled by a synergistic team-based approach and have the potential to be transformative and/or to enable significant advances. These studies at the exploratory stage are intended for the development of experimental capabilities and/or theoretical frameworks in preparation for a future competition for larger-scale or extended efforts, including the BRAIN TargetedBCP R01 or the multi-component, Team-Research BRAIN Circuit Programs (U19).

The goal of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to encourage applications for studies that will enhance knowledge of mechanisms associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (ADRD). The findings are expected to advance mechanistic understanding of both biobehavioral and neurobiological pathways leading to NPS. Findings may also provide insight into novel therapeutic targets that can be advanced into interventions to treat and prevent the development of NPS in AD and/or ADRD

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) enables data-driven drug repositioning and combination therapy for Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD) by developing computational methods and data resources and/or integrating computational approaches with proof-of-concept efficacy studies in cell-based models, animal models, and/or humans.

The NFRP Exploration - Hypothesis Development Award supports the initial exploration of innovative, high-risk, high-gain, and potentially groundbreaking concepts in NF research. Studies supported by this award mechanism are expected to lay the groundwork for future avenues of scientific investigation. The proposed research project should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale and study design. The presentation of preliminary and/or published data is encouraged, but not required.

This NOFO fulfills activities described in the Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act PL115-406. This announcement will fund Public Health Centers of Excellence (PHCOE) to support nationwide implementation of the 25 actions in the Healthy Brain Initiative's State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map (RM) [https://www.cdc.gov/aging/healthybrain/roadmap.htm] across the United States. Each PHCOE will choose one topic-specific area for their focus from the following list: Dementia Risk Reduction, Early Detection of Dementia, and Dementia Caregiving. The activities for each PHCOE will align directly with the actions identified in the RM for each topic area. Recipients will focus on identifying, translating and disseminating promising research findings and evidence-informed best practices, including those that address social determinants of health, for nationwide systematic public health uptake by state, local, tribal and other public health programs. PHCOEs will collaborate with CDC, other national partners and state, local and tribal health entities to ensure maximum impact and reach.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation has issued a request for proposals to investigate environmental factors that increase Risk for Parkinson's disease. While some evidence links environmental factors with increased risk of PD, according to the foundation much remains unknown regarding the specific environmental risks, their role in disease, and the quantification of their contributions. A better understanding of environmental risk factors for PD could lead to efforts to reduce or prevent such exposures.

Supports areas of basic neurobiological research that are not heavily supported by federal agencies and researchers who are haven't received substantial support from other sources

Since 1998, ADDF has provided more than $29 million in funding for early stage clinical drug trials for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. To help propel novel drugs into the clinic, ADDF also has provided over $6.5 million in support of final preclinical studies required by regulatory agencies for the initiation of clinical research studies. The goal of the foundation's PACT program is to increase the number of innovative treatments tested in humans for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. To that end, the program will fund clinical trials through Phase 2a of novel drug candidates, including small molecules and biologics (antibodies, oligonucleotides, peptides, gene therapies, cell therapies); proof-of-concept biomarker-based trials in patients for repurposed/repositioned drugs; and regulatory studies for investigational new drug (IND)/clinical trial application preclinical packages that are required before testing novel drugs in human subjects. Proposed molecular targets will be evaluated based on the strength of available evidence linking the target to the disease and demonstrating that modulating its biological activity will improve symptoms or modify disease progression. Current target areas of interest include but are not limited to neuroprotection, inflammation, vascular function, mitochondria and metabolic function, proteostasis, ApoE, epigenetics, and synaptic activity and neurotransmitters.

The program aims to support hit-to-lead optimization through investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies. To that end, grants of $600,000 over two years will be awarded in support of proposals with the potential to advance discovery into meaningful therapeutics to treat, prevent, or slow Alzheimer's disease or related dementias. Funding priorities identified by ADDF include drug targets related to proteostatis (autophagy, lysosomal biogenesis, proteasomal degradation, post-translational modifications associated with proteostasis, protein folding/misfolding, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and extracellular clearance) and neurovascular health (blood brain barrier function and integrity, cerebral hypoperfusion, nutrient supply to the brain, and endothelial interaction with pericytes and astrocytes).

Through the program, grants of up to $3 million over three years will be awarded to established investigators across scientific disciplines and geographies who are positioned to make major advances in understanding the heterogeneity of systemic lupus erythematous (SLE) using highly collaborative, synergistic, and innovative approaches.

The goal of the Pilot Award is to provide early support for exploratory ideas, particularly those with novel hypotheses. Appropriate projects for this mechanism include those considered higher risk but with the potential for transformative results. To get a better understanding of SFARI's different RFAs and whether the Pilot Award may be the best mechanism to support your project, please read our blog post "SFARI RFA reboot: Why, what and how". In particular, we encourage applications that propose research to link genetic or other ASD risk factors to molecular, cellular, circuit or behavioral mechanisms of ASD. Please read more about SFARI's scientific perspectives here. We also strongly advise applicants to familiarize themselves with the current projects and other resources that SFARI supports and to think about how their proposals might complement existing efforts.

The NCNR is soliciting applications from eligible organizations to establish collaborations with NIST that will advance the research of NCNR users and NIST scientists by: (i) operating neutron instrumentation at the NCNR; (ii) developing new neutron instrumentation and measurement capabilities at the NCNR; (iii) conducting collaborative research with NIST scientists and visiting researchers at the NCNR; (iv) broadly disseminating the results from neutron research and the development of new neutron measurement technologies to the scientific community; and (v) undertaking education and outreach activities that promote the use of neutrons by academic and industrial scientists and that contribute to the development of the next generation of neutron scientists.

Reissue of PAR-18-541. The Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) encourages applications from small businesses seeking support to advance their small molecule drug discovery and development projects into the clinic. Participants in the BPN are responsible for conducting all studies that involve disease- or target-specific assays, models, and other research tools and receive funding for all activities to be conducted in their own laboratories. In addition, applicants will collaborate with NIH-funded consultants and can augment their project with NIH contract research organizations (CROs) that specialize in medicinal chemistry, pharmacokinetics, toxicology, formulations development, chemical synthesis including under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), and Phase I clinical testing. Projects can enter either at the Discovery stage, to optimize promising hit compounds through medicinal chemistry to the Development stage, to advance a single development candidate through Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling toxicology studies and phase I clinical testing. Alternatively, projects can enter at the Development stage and progress in a shorter period to IND enabling toxicology studies and phase I clinical testing. Projects that enter at the Discovery stage and meet their milestones may continue on through Development. BPN awardee institutions retain their assignment of IP rights and gain assignment of IP rights from the BPN contractors (and thereby control the patent prosecution and licensing negotiations) for drug candidates developed in this program.

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is a parasomnia that presents with abnormal dream mentation, abnormal behaviors, and increased electromyographic tone on polysomnography during REM sleep. Older individuals with RBD frequently develop neurodegenerative diseases, particularly α-synucleinopathies: Parkinson's disease (PD), Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), and Multi-System Atrophy (MSA). Individuals with idiopathic RBD (iRBD) develop an overt synucleinopathy at high rates: 40-50% in 5 years and 80-92% in long-term follow up. iRBD provides a unique opportunity to understand the clinical development and evolution of α-synucleinopathies, as well as a potential path for developing disease prevention therapies. While it is not possible at this time to identify whether a person will develop PD, LBD, or MSA, iRBD is a preclinical/prodromal phase of neurodegenerative, particularly α-synucleinopathy, illness. The current iRBD research community includes investigators and centers across North America and the world. There have been attempts to carry out multi-center iRBD research, but interpretation of findings has been complicated by small numbers of iRBD subjects at individual centers; differences in assessment protocols, including collection methods for cognitive and biomarker data; and variability in diagnostic procedures at different centers. This FOA seeks to develop and support a consortium of investigators who will establish a common iRBD research protocol to collect and share harmonized clinical, cognitive, and biomarker data, establishing a centralized repository of biosamples from individuals with iRBD as they progress from prodromal α-synucleinopathy to PD, LBD, or MSA.

With a rapidly growing aged U.S. population, maintenance of cognitive function has become increasingly critical for the health, welfare, and well-being of the country's citizens. According to a recent survey conducted by the AARP, virtually all adults age 40+ believe maintaining or improving brain health is important; three-quarters of adults age 40+ are concerned about their brain health declining in the future.  Although chronological age itself remains the strongest predictor of age-related cognitive decline and many forms of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's disease-related dementias (AD/ADRD), it has become clear that there are protective factors against these outcomes that are poorly understood. These factors have often been described as imparting resilience or resistance to age-related changes in brain structure or neuropathology, building cognitive and/or brain reserve that would oppose such age-related changes or frank pathology, or augmenting other types of cognitive and brain function that would be beneficial. Some of these protective factors might suggest important intervention strategies.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications to establish a network to identify, evaluate, track, and conduct research across multiple sites on older adults with superior cognitive performance for their age ("cognitive super agers"). The activity would support aggregation of sufficient numbers of these individuals to advance the fields understanding of factors that promote sustained cognitive health and those that are not of primary importance. Uniform identification and uniform data collection will allow the study of the behavioral, neurological, health, genetic, environmental, and lifestyle profiles that lead to sustained cognitive and brain function in advanced age. Where extant data exists, harmonization protocols would need to be developed in order to make use of all currently available data. Provision of protocols to obtain brain tissue at autopsy would be an important component.

JSMF is internationally recognized for supporting research on cognition and behavior; most recently, through the Understanding Human Cognition (UHC) Scholar Awards. JSMF suspended the Scholar Awards in 2019 and undertook an exploration of the new priorities for the foundation's support for the fields of cognitive science, cognitive psychology and developmental science with the intent of identifying a funding initiative that would be forward looking and responsive to contemporary questions, while building on JSMF's history. JSMF is announcing new grant guidelines for the Understanding Human Cognition program.

The Jointly Sponsored NIH Predoctoral Training Program in the Neurosciences (JSPTPN) is an institutional program that supports broad and fundamental research training in the neurosciences. In addition to a broad education in the neurosciences, a key component will be a curriculum that provides a strong foundation in experimental design, statistical methodology and quantitative reasoning. JSPTPN programs are intended to be 2 years in duration and students may only be appointed to this training grant during the first 2 years of their graduate research training. The primary objective is to prepare students to be outstanding scientists equipped to pursue careers in neuroscience.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to promote the development and initial clinical validation of objective biological measures to be used for prognosing, and monitoring recovery of adolescents who either clinically present with or are at risk for developing prolonged/persistent concussive symptoms following exposure to repetitive head impacts and/or concussion.  Resultant biological measures should be incorporated into risk stratification algorithms to inform clinical care and patient stratification for future clinical trials.  A critical feature of this FOA includes the broad sharing of clinical, neuroimaging, physiological, and biospecimen data to further advance research in the area of persistent concussive symptoms in early and middle adolescent (EMA; ages 11-17 years old) populations.