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Foundation Highlighted Funding Opportunities | December 2023

American Academy of Sleep Medicine: Early-career Bridge Grants / Physician Scientist Training Grant (multiple opportunities)

Grant Amount: Up to $100,000 for both opportunities
Deadline: January 8, 2024

Additional Information -
The AASM Foundation is committed to developing the careers of sleep and circadian investigators by increasing support for sleep researchers, and to meet this goal, it has established research career development grants to assist sleep researchers at various stages of their careers. The foundation has posted calls for proposals for the following:

Bridge to Success for Early Career Investigators
This is a career development grant designed to provide ‘bridge’ funding to promising early-career sleep and circadian scientists who have applied for a career development grant such as a K-award from the National Institutes of Health, a career development award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or an equivalent career development award from another federal or non-federal funding agency, but whose application was not within the funding range.  

Through this grant program, the foundation aims to assist investigators at a critical juncture where bridge funding can determine whether a promising sleep and circadian scientist stays in the sleep field or moves to a different career track. The funding provides support during the period needed to revise and resubmit a promising application in response to reviewer critiques. Grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded.

To be eligible, applicants must be sleep scientists (MD, DO, DDS, DMD, DNP, DNSc, PharmD, PhD, or equivalent) who have applied for a multi-year career development grant from the NIH, VA or another granting body in the field of sleep or circadian science within the past two years that was scored in the peer-review process but fell below (or is likely to fall below) the funding agency’s pay line. Individuals must identify a research mentor with the skills, knowledge, and resources to mentor the applicant in sleep and circadian research.

Physician Scientist Training Grant
The Physician Scientist Training Grant is an AASM Foundation career development grant that aims to increase the number of physician-scientists committed to pursuing a research career in basic, translational, clinical, or population sleep and circadian science. The grant program is designed to provide outstanding early-career physician-scientists the opportunity of a protected research training experience for a mentored research project in sleep or circadian science. It provides funding for mentored research projects to protect the time of early-career physician-scientists to conduct mentored research, help establish a track record of funding, become competitive for larger grants and/or prepare for a larger study, and ultimately enable their transition to an independent and successful sleep and circadian research career. 

The grant program is open to mentored projects that address one or more important unanswered scientific questions related to sleep and circadian science, sleep disorders, and/or sleep health. Grants of up to $100,000 over two years will be awarded. Individuals must identify a research mentor with the skills, knowledge, and resources to mentor the applicant in sleep and circadian research.

Eligible applicants include physicians (MD or DO) within 10 years of their post-doctoral or clinical training or within 10 years of beginning their first faculty appointment.

Please contact Sara Salmon if you are interested in applying to this opportunity. 

 

Arthritis National Research Foundation: Early-career Arthritis and Psoriatic Arthritis Research Grants

Grant Amount: Up to $250,000 over two years
Deadline: January 19, 2024

Additional Information -
The Arthritis National Research Foundation (ANRF) is pleased to announce the release of the 2024 grant application. This grant aims to provide financial support to early-career researchers studying arthritis and autoimmune disease. 

ANRF invites researchers and innovators from diverse fields to submit their grant applications for this funding opportunity. A variety of arthritis grants for scientists and researchers working on arthritis and related autoimmune diseases are awarded each year. ANRF awards 10 – 20 grants annually at $125,000 per year for two years. Grants funded include, but are not limited to a focus on:

Osteoarthritis
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Juvenile Arthritis
Lupus
Psoriatic Arthritis
Gout
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Pediatric Rheumatology
Scleroderma
Fibromyalgia
Uveitis (shown in relationship to autoimmune forms of arthritis)

ANRF qualifies ‘early-career’ as researchers who have not yet received an R01 grant from the NIH, or K08, DOD or NSF grant plus other support totaling more than $300,000 per year.

Please contact Sara Salmon if you are interested in applying to this opportunity. 
 

Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program

Grant Amount: $60,000 over three years
Deadline: January 18, 2024

Additional Information -
The Postdoctoral Diversity Enrichment Program (PDEP) provides $60,000 over three years to support the career development activities for underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellows in a degree-granting institution in the United States or Canada whose training and professional development are guided by mentors committed to helping them advance to stellar careers in biomedical or medical research.

Funds will be provided to support the following enrichment activities:
1. Activities for the postdoctoral fellow to enhance research productivity, e.g. workshops, courses, travel, collaborations, and training in new techniques
2. Activities for the postdoctoral mentor to increase the mentoring of PDEP fellows in university-based programs:

  • Career guidance of the underrepresented minority postdoctoral fellow
  • Research guidance that increases the productivity of the PDEP fellow
  • Attendance at one annual meeting of mentors hosted and/or sponsored by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF)

3. Participation in a peer network system of underrepresented minority postdoctoral scholars

For full eligibility requirements, see the grant guidelines for this program. 

Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying to this opportunity. 

McKnight Foundation: Scholar Awards to Support Early Career Neuroscientists

Grant Amount: $225,000 over three years
Deadline: January 15, 2024

Additional Information -
The McKnight Scholar Awards are given to exceptional young scientists who are in the early stages of establishing an independent laboratory and research career. The intent of the program is to foster the commitment by these scientists to research careers that will have an important impact on the study of the brain. The program seeks to support scientists committed to mentoring neuroscientists from underrepresented groups at all levels of training. Applicants for the McKnight Scholar Award must demonstrate their ability to solve significant problems in neuroscience, which may include the translation of basic research to clinical practice. They should demonstrate a commitment to an equitable and inclusive lab environment.

Each year, up to ten scholars are selected to receive three years’ support. Currently, awards are $75,000 per year. Funds may be used in any way that will facilitate development of the Scholar’s research program, but not for indirect costs.

Intellectual Property rights resulting from the research—including patents, copyrights, processes, or formulae—will be the rights of the sponsoring institution to the extent required by such policies. The information derived from the research will be published in a form that is available to the interested public and made available to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying to this opportunity. 
 

Simons Foundation: Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain Transition to Independence award (early-career diverse and/or historically underrepresented)

Grant Amount: See below
Deadline: January 10, 2024

Additional Information -
Founded in 1994, the Simons Foundation aims to advance the frontiers of mathematics and basic sciences.

The foundation invites applications for the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB) Transition to Independence (TTI) award. The SCGB TTI program engages talented early-career scientists from diverse and/or historically underrepresented backgrounds to pursue systems and computational neuroscience. It facilitates their transition into independent faculty positions at research institutions within or outside the United States. The program invites applications from scientists doing work consistent with SCGB’s scientific mission, specifically investigating large-scale circuits at single-cell resolution to understand neural dynamics and coding.

The program is aimed at PhD and/or MD-holding scientists from diverse and/or historically underrepresented groups in science who are currently in a non-independent, mentored training position at an institution within or outside the U.S. and who will be actively seeking and applying to tenure-track faculty positions between September 2024 and May 2025. Fellows are expected to apply for, secure, and transition to a tenure-track faculty position at a research institution within or outside the U.S. by the end of the 2025–26 academic year.

Fellows will be provided with up to five years of support, including up to two years of postdoctoral fellowship support during their job search, with an annual salary of $85,000, fringe benefits, an annual resource and professional development allowance of $10,000, and indirect costs followed by a commitment of $600,000 over three years, including indirect costs activated upon assumption of a tenure-track research professorship. Additionally, fellows will form a learning community and engage in professional development activities throughout their transition to research independence. 

Please note that this will be the last RFA for the SCGB TTI program.

The program is open to individuals who self-identify as members of diverse groups: race, ethnicity, disadvantaged social and/or economic background, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability status. Applicants must hold a PhD and/or MD, or equivalent degree to be eligible. U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status is not required.

Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying to this opportunity. 
 

Whitehall Foundation: Neurobiology Basic Research Grants

Grant Amount: Up to $30,000 and $300,000 (see below)
Deadline: Letter of Inquiry due January 15, 2024

Additional Information -
The Whitehall Foundation, through its program of grants and grants-in-aid, assists scholarly research in the life sciences. It is the Foundation's policy to assist those dynamic areas of basic biological research that are not heavily supported by Federal Agencies or other foundations with specialized missions. In order to respond to the changing environment, the Whitehall Foundation periodically reassesses the need for financial support by the various fields of biological research.

The foundation has two funding mechanisms:
Research Grants - Research grants are available to established scientists of all ages working at accredited institutions in the United States. Applications will be judged on the scientific merit and the innovative aspects of the proposal as well as on the competence of the applicant. Research grants of up to three years will be provided. A renewal grant with a maximum of two years is possible, but it will be awarded on a competitive basis. Research grants will not be awarded to investigators who have already received, or expect to receive, substantial support from other sources, even if it is for an unrelated purpose.
Amount: Up to $100,000 per year for the two- and three-year grants

Grants-in-Aid - The Grants-in-Aid program is designed for researchers at the assistant professor level who experience difficulty in competing for research funds because they have not yet become firmly established. Grants-in-Aid can also be made to senior scientists. All applications will be judged on the scientific merit and innovative aspects of the proposal, as well as on past performance and evidence of the applicant’s continued productivity.
Amount: Up to $30,000 for one year

The applicant must meet all of the following eligibility requirements in order to participate in the application process:

  • Appropriate title - must be an Assistant Professor (or higher). If the institution does not use this title, a letter from the department chair confirming the applicant's eligibility is required.
  • Status - must hold Principal Investigator status.
  • Independent - must be considered an 'independent investigator' with their own dedicated lab space or with lab space independent of another investigator.
  • The Foundation does not fund investigators who have substantial (approximately $200,000 per year) extramural funding. The Foundation uses the following formula to determine the PIs total extramural funding: Total direct per year plus total indirect per year less any PI salary taken from these grants. If this amount is greater than approximately $200,000 the PI would not be eligible for Whitehall Foundation funding. Startup funds and internal funding are not included in the calculation.

The Foundation is currently interested in basic research in neurobiology, defined as follows: Invertebrate and vertebrate (excluding clinical) neurobiology, specifically investigations of neural mechanisms involved in sensory, motor, and other complex functions of the whole organism as these relate to behavior. The overall goal should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior.

The Foundation does not support research focused primarily on disease(s) unless it will also provide insights into normal functioning.

Please contact Lynn Wong if you are interested in applying to this opportunity.