Emerging Global Leader Award (K43) PAR-15-292

NIH has announced a call for applications for their Emerging Global Leader Award. The purpose of this program is to provide research support and protected time to a research scientist from a low- or middle-income country (LMIC) with a junior faculty position at an LMIC academic or research institution. This intensive, mentored research career development experience is expected to lead to an independently funded research career.  This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) invites applications from LMIC scientists from any health related discipline that propose career development activities and a research project that is relevant to the health priorities of their country

Eligibility:
Applicant must be an LMIC citizen 
Applicants must currently hold a full-time academic junior faculty position or research scientist appointment
Applicants who are or have been the PD/PI of a multi-year independent research grant from an external research funding organization are not eligible.
Applicant must identify a primary mentor at his/her LMIC institution and a primary mentor at a collaborating U.S. institution who, together, will supervise the proposed career development and research

Dates:
Application Deadline: December 16, 2015
Earliest project start date: July 2016

Award details:
Project length: 3-5 years
Salary: NIH will contribute up to 75,000 USD per year towards the salary of the awardee (based on the salary at the LMIC institution)
Program-related expenses: NIH will contribute up to 30,000 USD per year toward research development costs (these include, but are not limited to, supplies, equipment, technical personnel, tuition or registration fees for activities related to the proposed career development plan, fees for statistical and computational services, and travel to research sites, research meetings, or training)

Read the full announcement.

If you have any questions, or are interested in applying to this grant, please contact Paul at the Office of Research Services.

NIH-NSF Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program: A Joint Program for Multidisciplinary Research (NOT-TW-15-005)

NIH-NSF has recently announced a call for application for the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program.

The purpose of the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program is to support multidisciplinary teams in the development of predictive models that integrate ecology and evolution with the goal of discovering principles governing the transmission dynamics of infectious disease agents to humans and other hosts. Proposed projects should include research and associated expertise in diverse disciplines including, for example, modelers, bioinformaticians, genomics researchers, social scientists, economists, epidemiologists, entomologists, parasitologists, microbiologists, bacteriologists, virologists, pathologists or veterinarians, as relevant to understanding the disease transmission system proposed. The EEID program scope includes socio-ecology, pathogen evolution and translational research in the overall context of the ecology of disease transmission.

The FIC mission prioritizes collaborative projects with scientists in LMICs focused on significant health threats in their countries. The NIGMS mission prioritizes basic biomedical research that increases understanding of life processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. The NIAID conducts and supports basic and applied research to better understand, treat, and ultimately prevent infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. Other NIH components have participated in the past and may do so again in the current cycle

Application Deadline: November 18, 2015
Duration of project: Maximum 5 years
Project Budget: up to 350,000USD Direct Costs per year

Read the full Request for Applications

If you are interested in applying to this opportunity, please contact Paul Adams at the Office of Research Services

Gates Foundation Grand Challenge: Develop malaria diagnostics to accelerate toward eradication

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Grand Challenges Explorations

http://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenges

DATE OPEN: 9 SEP 2015    DEADLINE: 11 NOV 2015

Develop malaria diagnostics to accelerate toward eradication

As we drive toward malaria eradication, we seek new ideas for malaria diagnostics to enable the eradication of malaria. Specifically:

• More sensitive diagnostics. In the control phase, microscopy and commercial rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) seem to be sufficient to carry out the goals of malaria control programs to reduce morbidity and mortality. However, to move from “Control” to “Elimination”, we need more sensitive tests to identify individuals in the community with lower parasite densities who are not diagnosed with current RDTs but contribute significantly to malaria transmission.

• Non-invasive RDTs. As we move toward elimination, we anticipate that it will be difficult to “actively” test the population using finger prick, especially in very low prevalence regions. Therefore, we seek RDTs performed on non-invasive samples such as saliva. To fit the need, these tests must be simple, fully integrated, as sensitive as RDTs performed on blood, and importantly, remain very low cost.

Successful proposals will:

• Clearly describe how the idea, if successful, would help solve one of the challenges described in the call;
• Be directly relevant to the developing world (e.g. low-cost, useful across multiple geographical and cultural settings, self-sustaining);
• Have a clear and testable hypothesis and include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated;
• Yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.

Application Instructions

STEP ONE

To get started, download and read the Rules and Guidelines document (PDF). It contains detailed information on all aspects of Grand Challenges Explorations. You may need to download Adobe Reader to view PDF documents.

Please also read the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Any information submitted by you or on your behalf with respect to the Grand Challenges Explorations Initiative (including your proposal, reports, and any related documentation and communications) will be subject to and handled in accordance with the provisions in these documents.

Changes to the Rules and Guidelines will be posted on the Frequently Asked Questions page of this website. Please read the current FAQs before submitting any questions or concerns.

STEP TWO

Each Grand Challenges Explorations application round consists of requests for proposals targeting multiple specific challenges. Read the list of GCE challenges on the Grant Opportunities page and then follow the links to read the detailed descriptions of each challenge.

STEP THREE

Please download the Application Form for specific instructions on the format and content of your application. Please note that some users may see a screen asking them to log in when opening the Application Form. This is an issue with some versions of Microsoft Office. Click Cancel and the Application Form will open for you.

All proposals must be written in English.

Read the Tips for Applicants for additional guidance as you write the proposal.

STEP FOUR

You can create an account using our online Explorations Application Tool.  This tool will enable you to register for an Explorations challenge as well as create, edit, or submit your proposal.  After you have created an account and registered for a challenge, you can start the online application process. All applications must be submitted through this online system.

 If you are interested in applying for this opportunitiy and need some help or advice, please contact Paul (paul.ada@mahidol.ac.th) or Glad (gladgeorge.rot@mahidol.ac.th) at the Office of Research Services. 

Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development Program (IPCAVD) (U19) (PAR-15-330)

NIAID recently announced a request for applications for an Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine program (PAR-15-330)

Purpose:

The goal of the Integrated Preclinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development Program (IPCAVD) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to facilitate the translation of sufficiently advanced, innovative and promising vaccine candidates into early clinical testing. The IPCAVD program is designed to enable a multi-disciplinary team of investigators to complete all steps necessary from down-selection of a vaccine candidate through CGMP manufacture/testing/product release and into clinical trials.

The award will provide support for:

(1) All stages of vaccine platform research and development through facilitation of Non-Human Primate (NHP) proof-of concept studies and down-selection of the final lead candidate

(2) All product development stages including processes development, CGMP manufacturing and formulation; and

(3) Support  for all IND-enabling studies and regulatory submissions. 

The IPCAVD will not support clinical trials. However, investigators are expected to begin clinical studies under other funding mechanisms no later than year five of this award.  Applications consisting of preclinical research alone without a direct pathway to clinical testing will not be supported.

Dates:

Letter of  Intent Due Date: 8 February 2016

Application Due Date: 9 March 2016

Earliest Project Start Date: December 2016

Award Budget:

Application budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project. As a guideline, the approximate range of funding in direct costs is expected to be $1.5 to $2.5 million per year.

The maximum project period is 5 years.

To read the full RFA, click on the following link: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-15-330.html

If you are interested in applying to this grant, please contact Paul (paul.ada@mahidol.ac.th) or Glad (gladgeorge.rot@mahidol.edu) at the Office of Research Services.

Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award (K43, PAR-15-292)

NIH has announced a call for applications for the Fogarty Emerging Global Leader Award (K43, PAR-15-292) grant, open for young researchers who are citizens of a Low or Middle Income Country (LMIC).

The grant provides research support and time to a research scientist from  a LMIC who holds and academic junior faculty position, or research scientist appointment at an LMIC academic or research institution. Applications are invited from any health-related discipline who propose both critically needed career development activities and a research project that is highly relevant to the health priorities of their country.

Dates:

• Application Due Date: 16 December 2015
• Earliest start date: July 2016

Duration: Project should be minimum 3 years, maximum 5 years

Budget:

• A salary of up to 75,000 USD (for a minimum of 75% effort or 30h/week)
• Research and development costs: Up to 30,000 USD per year toward the research development costs of the recipient (supplies, equipment, technical personnel, tuition/registrations)

For the full Request For Applications, and more details, go to the RFA homepage: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-15-292.html

If you are interested in applying to this grant, or have any questions, please contact Paul or Glad at the Office of Research Services.

FY15 DOD PRMRP Program Announcements and SOCOM Broad Agency Announcement

The US Department of Defense has announced the funding opportunities for the Fiscal Year 2015, which include the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP), consisting of the following awards:

Mechanism	Deadline
Clinical Trial Award	Pre-application: June 18, 2015 Application: October 22, 2015
Discovery Award	Pre-application: June 25, 2015 Application: July 9, 2015
Focused Program Award	Pre-application: June 18, 2015 Application: October 28, 2015
Investigator-initiated Research Award	Pre-application: June 11, 2015 Application: October 15, 2015
Technology/Therapeutic Development Award	Pre-application: June 11, 2015 Application, October 15, 2015

For full details about the different award mechanisms can be found at the DOD homepage, http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/prmrp.shtml

Submission is a two-step process requiring both (1) pre-application submission through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) (https://eBRAP.org/) and (2) application submission through Grants.gov (http://www.grants.gov/). If you are interested in applying to this funding opportunity, please contact Paul Adams (paul.ada@mahidol.ac.th) or Glad Rotaru (gladgeorge.rot@mahidol.edu) at the Office of Research Services.

TDR Call for applications: Research on innovative approaches for safety monitoring of preventive chemotherapy interventions for the control of Neglected Tropical Diseases

Research teams are invited to submit letters of interest for research on piloting innovative approaches for safety monitoring in the context of preventive chemotherapy and mass drug administration implemented for the control of neglected tropical diseases. Under this call, one or two research teams are expected to be selected for funding for a maximum amount of US$ 100 000 each. 

Background and rationale 

Preventive chemotherapy programmes for the control of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are being expanded in many countries. These programmes often target very large but vulnerable populations (e.g. children) and use non-medical staff (e.g. teachers or community health workers) for drug distribution at the community level. Adequate safety monitoring should be ensured where such programmes are carried out, and guidance has been issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) to help programme managers establish a safety surveillance system (1, 2). However, many low and middle income countries lack a robust system and tools at the community level for collecting in an efficient and reliable manner information on safety for these mass treatment interventions. New tools, in particular m-health tools, have been proposed as a way of improving reporting of safety information, but little evidence has been gathered on the field. Implementation research is needed to determine effective and sustainable methods for monitoring the safety in MDA, as part of a broader system of pharmacovigilance in health programmes. This call fits within TDR’s focus to help low- and middle-income countries develop innovative tools and strategies targeting neglected tropical diseases. 

Objectives 

The overall objective of the call is to support one or two research teams from Africa, Asia or Latin America and the Caribbean to pilot innovative approaches to improve safety monitoring in the context of preventive chemotherapy and mass drug administration (MDA) put in place for the control of NTDs. The expected outcome is data that would aid evidence-based decisions for recommendations on methodologies to be implemented for safety monitoring in preventive chemotherapy and MDA programmes. 

 Application 

Applications should be submitted online. A 6-10 page letter of interest should provide a brief outline of the technical and operational feasibility for the proposed project (see below). A one-page summary CV of the principal investigator and a supporting letter from the institution’s director should also be attached. 

Deadline for submission: 10 April 2015

For full details about this grant and the application procedures, please click on the following link: http://www.who.int/tdr/grants/en/

If you are interested in applying to this opportunity, or have any questions, please contact Paul (paul.ada@mahidol.ac.th) or Glad (gladgeorge.rot@mahidol.edu) at the Office of Research Services