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Attention veterinarians, lab technicians, animal technicians, and all who work with laboratory animals: The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) now is accepting proposals for the 2014 Science-based Refinement Awards (formerly the Animal Welfare Enhancement Awards). The focus of these awards is to elicit scientific evidence to support the enhancement of the housing, handling and/or experimental situations for laboratory animals. Studies may, for example, examine: how physiological and behavioral stress responses to common husbandry (e.g., capture) and traditional treatment procedures (e.g., gavage, injection, blood collection) can be reduced or eliminated (e.g., by training the subjects to cooperate rather than resist); whether animals caged at different tier levels show different physiological and behavioral stress responses when being approached by personnel, and how these responses can be minimized or avoided; whether the presence of a compatible companion buffers physiological and behavioral stress responses to experimental situations (e.g., enforced restraint); whether animals kept in legally minimum-sized cages benefit from a moderate increase in space that is (a) empty versus (b) structured in species-appropriate ways (e.g., shelter, visual blind, perch, platform, PVC tube).

The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) supports research-related resources that create, develop, preserve and supply a variety of high-quality animal models, and related biological materials. ORIP also supports the development and implementation of tools and devices that directly benefit the welfare of research animals, improve handling of laboratory animals, and ease the management of animal facilities. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages small business concerns to submit Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications that propose innovative approaches and technologies to further develop, improve and facilitate the use of animal models and related biological materials, to meet new biomedical challenges related to improvements in the health of humans and the welfare of animal models.

This FOA encourages Research Project Grant (R01) applications from institutions and organizations proposing research aimed at characterizing animal stem cells and improving existing, and creating new, animal models for human disease conditions.The intent of this initiative is to facilitate the use of stem cell-based therapies for regenerative medicine. The initiative focuses on the following areas: 1) comparative analysis of animal and human stem cells to provide information for selection of the most predictive and informative model systems; 2) development of new technologies for stem cell characterization and transplantation; and 3) improvement of animal disease models for stem cell-based therapeutic applications.

This FOA encourages Research Project Grant (R01) applications from institutions and organizations proposing research aimed at characterizing animal stem cells and improving existing, and creating new, animal models for human disease conditions.The intent of this initiative is to facilitate the use of stem cell-based therapies for regenerative medicine. The initiative focuses on the following areas: 1) comparative analysis of animal and human stem cells to provide information for selection of the most predictive and informative model systems; 2) development of new technologies for stem cell characterization and transplantation; and 3) improvement of animal disease models for stem cell-based therapeutic applications.

The Enhancement of Animal Welfare Award is presented annually to a member of the Society in recognition of contributions made to the advancement of toxicological science through the development and application of methods that replace, refine, or reduce the need for experimental animals. This award recognizes outstanding/significant contributions made by members of the Society of Toxicology to the scientifically sound and responsible use of animals in research. The achievement recognized may be either a seminal piece of work or a long-term contribution to toxicological science and animal welfare.

The American Fund for Alternatives to Animal Research and the New England Anti-Vivisection Society are offering a $40,000, one-year postdoctoral fellowship grant (with possible renewal) to a woman interested in using alternatives to animal methods in the investigation of women's health or sex differences. The award is available to female postdoctoral scientists researching women's health or sex differences whose research involves the development, validation, or use of non-animal alternatives. Applicants must be interested in using or promoting non-animal alternatives in research.

The Shared Instrumentation for Animal Research (SIFAR) Grant Program encourages applications from groups of NIH-funded investigators to purchase or upgrade scientific instruments necessary to carry out animal experiments in all areas of biomedical research supported by the NIH. Applicants may request clusters of commercially available instruments configured as specialized integrated systems or as series of instruments to support a thematic well-defined area of research using animals or related materials. Priority will be given to uniquely configured systems to support innovative and potentially transformative investigations. This FOA supports requests for state-of-the art commercially available technologies needed for NIH-funded research using any vertebrate and invertebrate animal species. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) does not support requests for single instruments. At least one item of the requested instrumentation must cost at least $50,000, after all applicable discounts. No instrument in a cluster can cost less than $20,000, after all applicable discounts. There is no maximum price requirement; however, the maximum award is $750,000.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support large animal Testing Centers to evaluate in vivo genome editing technologies developed by other investigators in the Somatic Cell Genome Editing Program (SCGE). Testing Centers will use either pigs or non-human primates, including wild-type animals, as well as reporter animals developed by RFA-RM-18-013. The Testing Centers will work collaboratively with investigators funded under RM-18-016 and RFA-RM-18-017 to assess efficacy and safety of in vivo genome editing and delivery technologies. Centers will breed, archive and maintain cohorts of well characterized and genotyped large animals, establish methods and protocols for the evaluation of the delivery systems and editing tools, conduct testing and provide results to the Dissemination and Coordination Center of the SCGE. Such activities will accelerate the translation of genome editing technologies into treatments for human diseases.

The mission of Morris Animal Foundation is to advance the science of animal health. Toward this aim, the foundation is dedicated to funding hypothesis-driven and humane animal health research projects of high scientific merit and potential impact. To advance this mission, the foundation has issued a Request for Proposals from established investigators for research on topics relevant to the health and welfare of wildlife/exotics. The awards are for experienced researchers with a record of research publication. While there is no budget limit, the average award is $50,000 per year for two years.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to create novel large animal reporter models for testing in vivo genome editing technologies. The deliverables from the initiative will be a set of large animal models (pigs and non-human primates), containing one or more reporter genes expressed in all cell types, that will allow facile and quantitative evaluation of genome editing in any cell type of interest. Within the Consortium, these models will be used to test new delivery systems and genome editing tools developed by accompanying components in planned Large Animal Testing Centers.  The large animal models will allow investigators to optimize scale up of delivery systems and editing tools, which will be necessary for clinical trials in humans.

The Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) encourages grant applications aimed at developing, characterizing or improving animal models of human diseases; improving access to information about or generated from the use of animal models of human disease; or improving diagnosis and control of diseases of laboratory animals. The animal models and related materials developed must have broad application to multiple NIH Institutes or Centers (ICs) to align with the ORIPs trans-NIH mission. Applications must describe the need and potential impact of the proposed resources on broad research areas supported by multiple NIH ICs. Applications to develop models that relate strictly to a specific disease or a select area of research will not be considered acceptable. Projects that predominantly address the research interests of one NIH IC but are only peripherally related to the research interests of other Institutes and Centers will also not be acceptable for this FOA.

This interagency Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) issued by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) is to invite the submission of grant applications that utilize agriculturally important domestic animal species to improve human health through the advancement of basic and translational research deemed highly relevant to both agricultural and biomedical research. This initiative is designed to facilitate and encourage comparative medicine research studies through the careful selection and refinement of farm animal models that mimic human developmental, physiological and etiological processes to better understand disease origins and improve assisted reproduction efficiencies. The anticipated outcomes include both the elucidation of fundamental information relevant for the improvement of human health and an increase in food animal production and improvement in animal health and product quality. It is envisioned that each application will address mission-relevant areas of both agencies.

This FOA encourages applications from biomedical research institutions that propose to renovate, repair, or improve individual animal resources. The major objective of this program is to upgrade animal facilities to support the conduct of biomedical and/or behavioral research. Support can be requested to alter and renovate (A&R) the animal facilities, as well as to improve the animal care equipment in the facility. It is expected that all award funds will be expended expeditiously and that applicants will consider the use of sustainable design technologies and design approaches.

This FOA encourages Resource-Related Research Project (R24) grant applications aimed at developing, characterizing or improving animal models of human diseases or improving diagnosis and control of diseases of laboratory animals. The animal models and related materials to be developed must address the research interests of two or more of the categorical NIH Institutes and Centers. In addition, projects that predominantly address the research interests of one NIH Institute or Center, but that are peripherally related to the research interests of other Institutes and Centers will not be considered appropriate for this FOA. An example of an inappropriate request is one exclusively involving an animal model of cancer.

This FOA encourages Resource-Related Research Project Grant (R24) applications from institutions and organizations proposing research aimed at characterizing animal stem cells and improving existing and creating new animal models for human disease conditions. The intent of this initiative is to facilitate the use of stem cell-based therapies for regenerative medicine. The initiative focuses on the following areas: 1) comparative analysis of animal and human stem cells to provide information for selection of the most predictive and informative model systems; 2) development of new technologies for stem cell characterization and transplantation; and 3) improvement of animal disease models for stem cell-based therapeutic applications.

The purpose of IFER's Fellowship Program is to provide financial incentives to graduate students in science that encourage them at the earliest stages of their career to integrate innovation and discovery with ethics and respect for animals. Fellowships are awarded to those candidates whose program of study shows the greatest potential to replace the use of animals in science. Graduate Fellowships to develop alternatives to the use of animals in research, testing and education are open to students enrolled in Master's and Ph.D. programs in the sciences, and human or veterinary medicine. Fellowships will also be considered for graduate students in other fields, such as education, psychology, humanities, journalism, and the law, for projects that show promise to increase public awareness or to promote changes in the legal system or public policy regarding the use of animals in research, testing, and education.

Drug development tools (DDTs) are methods, materials, or measures that can potentially facilitate drug development. To support DDT development efforts, FDA established qualification programs for animal models for use under the Animal Rule, biomarkers, and clinical outcome assessments. Examples of DDTs may include but are not limited to: a biomarker used for clinical trial enrichment, a clinical outcome assessment (COA) used to evaluate clinical benefit, or an animal model used for efficacy testing of medical countermeasures under the regulations commonly referred to as the Animal Rule.

The goal of this FOA is to test whether or not the ages of laboratory animals is an important consideration in experimental outcomes in the study of disease pathology, degenerative condition, response to therapy, intervention or environmental exposure. The majority of studies of human conditions and diseases in laboratory animals are done using young animals. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications proposing research that will promote the development and use of alternative test methods and strategies that address the "3Rs" of toxicity testing: 1) reduce, 2) refine, and/or 3) replace vertebrate animal testing. For the purposes of this RFA, alternative test methods refer to those that incorporate the "3Rs" principles. Pertinent research includes approaches such as analog/read-across techniques, mathematical models, and tiered testing approaches that integrate evidence from multiple sources to help accomplish these goals. In addition to the development of new alternative test methods and strategies, translational science approaches that use available data to develop and/or advance actionable approaches for risk assessment of chemicals are also critical. In this context, approaches that facilitate the use of existing animal data sources to reduce, refine, or replace the need for new vertebrate animal tests are as welcome as those that provide new data streams. The research activities to be funded under this announcement are intended to advance the science underpinning the use of non-vertebrate test methods, and to develop actionable alternative approaches to: 1) developmental toxicity tests in humans; 2) reproductive toxicity tests in humans; and/or 3) ecotoxicity tests.

 The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support Large Animal Testing Centers to evaluate in vivo genome editing technologies developed by other investigators in the Somatic Cell Genome Editing Program (SCGE). Each Testing Center will use wild-type pigs or non-human primates, as well as reporter animals developed under RFA-RM-18-013. The Testing Centers will work collaboratively with investigators funded under RFA-RM-18-016 and RFA-RM-18-017 to assess efficacy and safety of in vivo genome editing and delivery technologies. Testing Centers will breed, archive and maintain cohorts of well characterized and genotyped large animals, establish methods and protocols for the evaluation of the delivery systems and editing tools, conduct testing and provide results to the SCGE Dissemination and Coordination Center. Such activities will accelerate the translation of genome editing technologies into treatments for human diseases.  

The Botstiber Institute for Wildlife Fertility Control (BIWFC) seeks grant proposals for research aimed at advancing the science of fertility control methods for humane management of wildlife. Acceptable research projects will support the Institute's mission and comply with its ethics policy on treatment of animals and may include research focused on: Success rates of wildlife fertility control methods as applied in the field including logistical feasibility The impact of wildlife fertility control on animal social dynamics and physical health Public attitudes toward fertility control as a wildlife population management tool Research and development of new approaches Cost effectiveness of fertility control Development of animal identification and fertility control delivery systems Grants will not exceed $50,000. Grants are limited to one year, although the Institute may consider renewal funding. Grant proposal due date: May 15, 2017