Group items tagged

DLS supports fundamental research that increases our understanding of cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, and biological processes related to children's and adolescents' development and learning.  Research supported by this program will add to our basic knowledge of how people learn and the underlying developmental processes that support learning, with the objective of leading to better educated children and adolescents who grow up to take productive roles as workers and as citizens. Among the many research topics supported by DLS are: developmental cognitive neuroscience; development of higher-order cognitive processes; transfer of knowledge from one domain or situation to another; use of molecular genetics to study continuities and discontinuities in development; development of peer relations and family interactions; multiple influences on development, including the impact of family, school, community, social institutions, and the media; adolescents' preparation for entry into the workforce; cross-cultural research on development and learning; and the role of cultural influences and demographic characteristics on development. Additional priorities include research that: incorporates multidisciplinary, multi-method, microgenetic, and longitudinal approaches; develops new methods, models, and theories for studying learning and development; and integrates different processes (e.g., learning, memory, emotion), levels of analysis (e.g., behavioral, social, neural), and time scales (e.g. infancy, middle childhood, adolescence).

The purpose of the NCI Mentored Clinical Scientist Career Development Award (K08) program is to prepare individuals for careers that have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the nation. This program represents the continuation of a long-standing NIH program that provides support and protected time to individuals with a clinical doctoral degree for an intensive, supervised research career development experience in the fields of biomedical and behavioral research, including translational research. The NCI-sponsored K08 award is specifically designed to promote career development of clinical scientists from backgrounds that have been shown to be nationally underrepresented in health-related science and for those who are committed to a career in basic biomedical, behavioral or translational cancer research, including research on cancer health disparities. The expectation is that through this sustained period of research career development and training, awardees will develop enhanced research capabilities for cancer research careers and be better prepared to compete for research project grants (e.g. R03, R21, or R01) funding. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary study to an existing trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, must apply to companion FOA (PAR-18-337).

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support research that advances compounds towards FDA approval by leveraging NIDA funds with the strengths and resources of outside organizations, such as for-profit and not-for-profit entities, including academic institutions, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, private and public foundations, and small businesses. Applications from single entities that possess considerable resources for medications development will also be considered, provided the entity demonstrates a significant resource commitment to the proposed project. A resource commitment from a single entity could, for example, consist of salary support for key personnel or production and formulation of clinical trial material. It is anticipated that in comparison with traditional grant-funded research, strategic alliances will increase the pace at which medications to treat Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) move through the drug development process. Both the project period and budget of the grant are consistent with the objective of accelerating the pace of medications development compared to traditional research project grant funding. Project aims can range from the development of a new molecular entity to the expansion of an existing medication's clinical indication(s). Each project should have a defined entry and exit point in the medications development pathway, with the objective of advancement in the FDA approval process. It is hoped that support for these collaborations will accelerate the rate of medications development for SUDs.

The Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) invites applications from neuroscience investigators 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, or at the Development stage, to advance a development candidate through Investigational New Drug (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.

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, or at the Development stage, to advance a development candidate through Investigational New Drug (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.

The purpose of this announcement is to support and facilitate multidisciplinary approaches to the development of new and/or improved contraceptive methods for both men and women.  This FOA expands the scope of the former program by calling for Centers to inform contraceptive development and improve contraceptive use by integrating the biomedical research and development with behavioral and social science research, e.g., demography and other population sciences, psychology, economics, and sociology.  These Centers also will serve as a national resource for development of early stage investigators electing to pursue careers in contraceptive research.

The purpose of this announcement is to support and facilitate multidisciplinary approaches to the development of new and/or improved contraceptive methods for both men and women.  This FOA expands the scope of the former program by calling for Centers to inform contraceptive development and improve contraceptive use by integrating the biomedical research and development with behavioral and social science research, e.g., demography and other population sciences, psychology, economics, and sociology.  These Centers also will serve as a national resource for development of early stage investigators electing to pursue careers in contraceptive research.

This BAA employs the Sense-Assess-Augment paradigm to accelerate research and development of technologies capable of detecting/assessing human performance. This BAA focuses on identifying, developing, characterizing, and accelerating sensing technologies that can be utilized to assess the physiological, cognitive, and psychological states of human operators. It is also anticipated that these technologies will be implemented into fieldable systems. Research will have an emphasis on developing technologies capable of detecting & sensing physiological, biomarker, and behavioral metrics which are or can be correlated with human state/performance. An emphasis will also be placed upon the development, integration, miniaturization, initial operational test and evaluation, and verification and validation of human-centric multi-sensor suite designs. Research focusing on the manufacturing of nano-biomaterial sensors are of particular interest. Research may also focus on developing and implementing empirically-based models, frameworks, and novel evaluation capabilities, to identify assessment linkages to performance. Initial testing & evaluation and verification and validation of the developed technologies is vital to ensure appropriate and proper performance in laboratory and operational-type settings. Relevant USAF application domains include Air, Special Operations, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance, Remotely Piloted Aircraft, and Cyber Operations, as well as training applications as afforded by Live, Virtual, and Constructive (LVC) environments.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages Research Project Grant (R01) applications from institutions/organizations that propose to study the developing brain or brain areas that play significant roles in mediating emotional and motivated behavior and in substance use and dependence. All stages of brain development are of interest, but a new emphasis of the current reissue of this initiative is to support basic neuroscience research on fundamental mechanisms of brain development during prepuberty and the adolescent period in relation to the problems of substance abuse and co-morbidity with psychiatric disorders. Topics of interest pertaining to brain development of this initiative include, but are not limited to, the euphoric properties of abused substances, actions of psychotherapeutic agents, and their consequences on memory, cognitive and emotional processes. An additional major goal of this initiative is to understand how exposure to substances of abuse affects the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying nervous system development and neural circuit functions implicated in substance use and addiction.

he US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences (ARI) announces the ARI FY13-18 Broad Agency Announcement for Basic, Applied, and Advanced Scientific Research. This Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), which sets forth research areas of interest to the United States Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, is issued under the provisions of paragraph 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), which provides for the competitive selection of proposals. Proposals submitted in response to this BAA and selected for award are considered to be the result of full and open competition and in full compliance with the provisions of Public Law 98-369 (The Competition in Contracting Act of 1984)and subsequent amendments. The US Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences is the Army's lead agency for the conduct of research, development, and analyses for the improvement of Army readiness and performance via research advances and applications of the behavioral and social sciences that address personnel, organization, training, and leader development issues. Programs funded under this BAA include basic research, applied research, and advanced technology development that can improve human performance and Army readiness. The funding opportunity is divided into two sections- (1) Basic Research and (2) Applied Research and Advanced Technology Development. The four major topic areas of research interest include the following: (1) Training; (2) Leader Development; (3) Team and Inter-Organizational Performance in Complex Environments; and (4) Solider/Personnel Issues.

This cooperative agreement will establish and maintain an interdisciplinary, multicenter research forum for scientific collaboration and infrastructure building, which will provide national leadership in research designed to improve the behavioral, mental, social, and/or cognitive health and wellbeing of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. As authorized by Section 399BB of the Autism CARES Act, the research network will determine the evidence-based practices for interventions to improve the behavioral health of individuals with ASD and other developmental disabilities, develop guidelines for those interventions, and disseminate information related to such research and guidelines. The AIR-B Network will be one of two HRSA-supported research networks that will provide national leadership in research to advance the evidence base on effective interventions for children and adolescents with ASD and other developmental disabilities, with AIR-B having a focus on addressing behavioral health and wellbeing. As directed by the FY 2015 Congressional Appropriations for HRSA's Autism CARES Act programs, HRSA is broadening the scope of this funding opportunity to reflect an additional emphasis on addressing disparities in effective interventions and treatment and access to care experienced by underserved minority and rural communities. In particular, applicants should consider diverse ethnic/racial, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, and geographic (e.g., rural/urban, tribal) populations for whom there is little evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions, or for whom access to effective treatments is limited. Applicants should include plans to conduct multi-site research protocols on innovative treatment models, including the use of telehealth networks, to improve behavioral health interventions and treatment for ASD in underserved minority and rural communities. It is expected that the AIR-B Netwo

NHTSA is responsible for reducing vehicle-related fatalities and injuries on our nation's highways through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity. States are responsible for laws regulating individual conduct and behavior within their jurisdictions. This includes the regulation of impaired driving. The DOT has a long history of development and evaluation of prosecutor training for the prosecution of impaired driving cases. Beginning in 1991, the DOT committed to developing a comprehensive prosecutorial impaired driving program and other highway safety issues to support States and provide prosecutor training. Previous efforts have created five (5) training courses that State prosecutors may use and developed the delivery of the training to States. These training courses include courtroom preparation for law enforcement as law enforcement and prosecutors work closely to reduce drug impaired driving through enforcement and adjudication. NHTSA's support for prosecutor training development has continued and this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides the opportunity to further develop and evaluate training that will increase the knowledge and skills of State and local prosecutors involved in impaired driving cases.

The goal of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to provide a global outline of areas for innovative, targeted basic behavioral and social science research and intervention development research to reduce the number of new HIV infections and improve the overall health of those living with HIV and encourage research grant applications in these areas. This FOA encourages research designed to (a) conduct basic behavioral and social science research that is needed to advance the development of HIV prevention and care interventions, (b) translate and operationalize the findings from these basic studies to develop interventions and assess their feasibility and (c) conduct tests of the efficacy of HIV prevention and care interventions. The R21 mechanism is specifically intended to encourage new exploratory and developmental research projects. These studies should break new ground or extend previous discoveries toward new directions or applications. These studies may involve considerable risk but may lead to a breakthrough in a particular area, or to the development of novel methodologies, tools, technologies, or interventions that could have a major impact on health research and practice. Unlike applications under the R01 mechanism, preliminary data are not required for R21 applications. Preliminary data may nonetheless be included if available.

This initiative is funded through the NIH Common Fund, which supports cross-cutting programs that are expected to have exceptionally high impact. All Common Fund initiatives invite investigators to develop bold, innovative, and often risky approaches to address problems that may seem intractable or to seize new opportunities that offer the potential for rapid progress. This Phased Innovation Awards Cooperative Agreement Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits applications to support a collaborative research infrastructure involving an interdisciplinary team of basic and clinical scientists to develop the foundation for an experimental medicine approach to behavior change. Research supported by this FOA is meant to support activities focused on behavior change targets in the domain of interpersonal and social processes through four main target validation steps: 1. Identify a set of putative targets within the interpersonal and social processes domain that are implicated in medical regimen adherence and at least one other health behavior; 2. Leverage existing or develop new experimental or intervention approaches to engage identified targets; 3. Identify or develop appropriate assays (measures) to permit verification of target engagement; 4. Test the degree to which engaging identified targets produces a desired change in medical regimen adherence and at least one other health behavior. While testing target engagement in specific clinical samples is permitted, the targets identified and the behavior change outcomes measured should be selected based on their hypothesized relevance to at least two clinical endpoints or disease conditions. Funds from the NIH will be made available through the UH2/UH3 Phased Innovation Awards Cooperative Agreement mechanism.The initial UH2 phase will support steps 1-3 above. UH2 projects that have met their objectives and agreed upon milestones will be administratively considered by NIH and prioritized for transition to the UH3 va

The purpose of the NIH Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) is to provide support and protected time (three to five years) for an intensive, supervised career development experience in the biomedical, behavioral, or clinical sciences leading to research independence. Although all of the participating NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs) use this support mechanism to support career development experiences that lead to research independence, some ICs use the K01 award for individuals who propose to train in a new field or for individuals who have had a hiatus in their research career because of illness or pressing family circumstances. Other ICs offer separate K01 FOAs intended to increase research workforce diversity. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary clinical trial. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is designed specifically for applicants proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial, a clinical trial feasibility study, or a separate ancillary clinical trial, as part of their research and career development. Applicants not planning an independent clinical trial, or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, must apply to companion FOA (XXXX).

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages applications for institutional research career development (K12) programs that propose to support intensive supervised research training and career development experiences for clinician scientists (Scholars) leading to research independence in the area of substance use and substance use disorder research. This FOA allows appointment of scholars proposing to serve as the lead investigator of an independent clinical trial; or proposing a separate ancillary study to an existing trial; or proposing to gain research experience in a clinical trial led by another investigator, as part of their research and career development. For this FOA, clinician scientists may include (but are not limited to) physicians, clinical psychologists, epidemiologists, doctoral level social workers, pharmacists, and behavioral scientists. Scholars are expected to be supported for 3­5 years on consecutive 12­month appointments. Candidates selected for support as scholars must hold a doctorate and commit a minimum of 9 person­months (equivalent to 75% of full-time professional effort) to conducting clinical research and career development activities associated with the proposed program.

The primary purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support and facilitate multidisciplinary approaches towards the development of new and/or improved contraceptive methods for both men and women through the formation of a Contraceptive Research Development Center. This FOA also allows the inclusion of translational studies to facilitate the pre-clinical to clinical transition and increase the likelihood of clinical success. Additionally, it allows for behavioral and social science research projects to study contraceptive use and non-use of marketed products or products in clinical development. The Center will serve as a national resource for development of early stage investigators electing to pursue careers in contraceptive research.

The purpose of this Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative is to encourage applications that will develop and validate tools and resources to facilitate the detailed analysis of brain microconnectivity. Novel and augmented techniques are sought that will ultimately be broadly accessible to the neuroscience community for the interrogation of microconnectivity in healthy and diseased brains of model organisms and humans. Development of technologies that will significantly drive down the cost of connectomics would enable routine mapping of the microconnectivity on the same individuals that have been analyzed physiologically, or to compare normal and pathological tissues in substantial numbers of multiple individuals to assess variability.  Advancements in both electron microscopy (EM) and super resolution light microscopic approaches are sought. Applications that propose to develop approaches that break through existing technical barriers to substantially improve current capabilities are highly encouraged. Proof-of-principle demonstrations and/or reference datasets enabling future development are welcome, as are improved approaches for automated segmentation and analysis strategies of neuronal structures in EM images.

The purpose of this initiative is to: accelerate innovative drug and device discovery; develop pharmacologic and neuromodulatory tools for basic and clinical research on mental disorders, substance use disorders (SUDs) or alcohol addiction; develop and validate tools (pharmacologic or neurostimulation) in support of experimental therapeutic studies of innovative new candidates for mental disorders; and support early stage human studies to rapidly assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacodynamics of promising drug candidates/devices and new indications for novel Investigational New Drug (IND)-ready agents or Pre-Market Approval (PMA)-ready devices for the treatment of mental disorders, SUDs or alcohol addiction. This FOA encourages applications to advance the discovery, preclinical development, and proof of concept (PoC) testing of new, rationally based candidate agents and neurostimulation approaches to treat mental disorders or SUDs or alcohol addiction, and to develop novel ligands and circuit-engagement devices as tools to further characterize existing or to validate new drug/device targets. Partnerships between academia and industry are strongly encouraged.

Funding from this award will support the first year of a sub-study involving 5 of the 21 ABCD sites to include measures of delinquency and victimization in their investigations. The sub-study will address key questions on the interactions between substance use, brain development, delinquency, and victimization. The ABCD Study is the largest longitudinal study of brain development and child health in the US, following approximately 10,000 children (ages 9-10) across 21 sites into their early adulthood years. The ABCD Study, which is funded by NIDA, seeks to explore the standards of normal brain development across a young person's life trajectory, as well as numerous facets of adolescent brain, cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development.

The Practitioner-Researcher Partnership in Cognitive Behavioral Mentoring Program will support the development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative mentoring approaches for youth at high risk for delinquency/juvenile and criminal justice involvement or victimization and trauma. These mentoring approaches must incorporate practices that are informed by research on cognitive behavioral interventions and techniques. The program will fund a partnership between a practitioner/service provider and an evaluator/researcher. Practitioner/service provider applicants should develop and implement cognitive behavioral-informed practices within existing mentoring programs. These new or enhanced approaches should be piloted, manualized, and implemented with a diverse target population (defined as populations that differ demographically and/or in implementation setting). Researcher applicants should design a rigorous evaluation that examines the program design, implementation fidelity and process, and program impact. OJJDP expects the practitioner and researcher to work closely throughout the application and program development, implementation, and evaluation. OJJDP expects to make separate awards to support program development and service delivery (Category 1) and evaluation activities (Category 2). Authorizing Legislation: This program is authorized pursuant to the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2016 Pub. L. No. 114-113, 129 Stat. 2242, 2309.