new investigator research grants provide important early career development support to child health researchers. it is intended this program will enhance the grant recipient’s ability to compete with more senior investigators for research grants from other funders. through this grants program we are seeking to fund research carried out by new investigators across canada who successfully lead, participate in, and translate outstanding child health research that will respond to children’s health challenges and needs. the new investigator research grant program is a jointly sponsored program of sickkids foundation and the canadian institutes of health research ("cihr") - institute of human development, child and youth health (ihdcyh). grant recipients may obtain up to three years' support for research in biomedical, clinical, health systems and services, and population and public health sectors.

the enabling change program is a shared-cost transfer payment program providing funding to not-for-profit organizations, industry organizations, and professional associations to educate their stakeholders about accessibility, drive cultural awareness about the value and benefits of accessibility, and support regulatory compliance.

the program benefits from collaboration with leaders across many sectors who produce customized resources and directly communicate about accessibility and inclusion with their networks. the program also promotes opportunities to increase accessibility for ontarians with disabilities act, 2005 (aoda) compliance and accessibility in daily living.

typical projects include public outreach programs and initiatives and the development of customized educational tools and resources that meet the criteria for set priorities each year. all projects funded through the program include people with disabilities in the planning and execution of the project.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• to define and integrate models of resilience and wellness into diabetes prevention and treatment approaches among first nations, inuit and métis peoples.
• to support indigenous-led and community-driven efforts to reverse the upward trajectory of diabetes in indigenous communities.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are:

• promote the career development of mid-career investigators from canadian academic institutions in vaccine research for infectious diseases;
• create new knowledge in vaccine research for emerging threats through a mutually beneficial exchange of expertise between canadian mid-career investigators and cepi, and support the mobilization of the knowledge created to relevant knowledge users and other stakeholders; and
• position mid-career canadian investigators as international leaders in vaccine research for infectious diseases.

the specific objective of this funding opportunity is:

• to establish a number of ambitious, innovative, multi-disciplinary and multi-national collaborative research projects that aim at identifying and measuring physiological effects and related biomarkers that can be linked to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as enhancing the understanding of causal underlying cellular, molecular, metabolic, inflammatory or other systemic processes.

for more information, please consult the jpnd call for proposals.

the overall goal of this funding opportunity is to understand the current landscape of stbbi research in canada, and to build capacity and spur innovation in this field, with a specific focus on stbbi of public health relevance which have not previously received dedicated strategic investment by cihr.

with this goal in mind, the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

• enable stbbi researchers to generate preliminary observations, data or knowledge necessary to pursue longer-term funding in stbbi research;
• support original, high quality stbbi projects and provide researchers the opportunity to pursue high risk health research questions which have the potential to generate novel, innovative and high impact results; and
• stimulate new partnerships between stbbi researchers and experts in canada, and promote cross-disciplinary research collaborations.

the department of defense appropriations act 2021 provides $40 million (m) to the department of defense amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research program (alsrp) to support innovative and high-impact research into the development of effective treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  as directed by the office of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, the defense health agency j9, research and development directorate manages the defense health program (dhp) research, development, test, and evaluation (rdt&e) appropriation.  the managing agent for the anticipated program announcements/funding opportunities is the congressionally directed medical research programs (cdmrp) at the u.s. army medical research and development command (usamrdc). cdmrp is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated fy21 funding opportunities.

fy21 alsrp program announcements and general application instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the grants.gov website. 

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/alsrp

therapeutic development award – preproposal due april 9, 2021

independent investigators at all academic levels

• supports secondary preclinical validation and ind-enabling studies of therapeutics for als.
• preliminary data are required, including efficacy of a lead molecule/class of compounds in at least one als-relevant model system.
• biomarker development and/or characterization, in parallel to the main therapeutic effort, is a critical component of the tda.
• maximum funding of $1.0 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
• maximum period of performance is 3 years

therapeutic idea award – preproposal due april 9, 2021

independent investigators at all academic levels  

• supports hypothesis-driven preclinical therapeutic development.
• projects focusing primarily on investigating als pathophysiology are outside the scope of this award mechanism.
• preliminary data are not required.
• early career investigators are encouraged to apply.
• biomarker option: applications that include development of biomarkers in parallel to the main therapeutic effort, and that meet criteria outlined in the funding opportunity announcement, will qualify for a higher level of funding.
• maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
• maximum funding of $600,000 for direct costs plus indirect costs if applying for the therapeutic biomarker option
• maximum period of performance is 2 years

clinical development award – preproposal due april 9, 2021

independent investigators at all academic levels

• supports correlative clinical research and leveraging of human-based als resources.
• types of efforts that will be supported include:

o  using human subject-based resources to better define subtypes, predict therapeutic response, or assess prognosis;

o  correlating clinical trial-related biosamples, imaging, or epidemiological data with clinical outcomes;

o  adding a biomarker companion or observational aim to an anticipated/ongoing clinical trial;

o  observational studies to optimize components of current als clinical care such as respiratory care strategies, use of approved devices, or specific symptom management strategies and assistive technologies.

• early career investigators and/or early career physician scientists are encouraged to apply.
• maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
• maximum period of performance is 2 years

new! therapeutic/biomarker pilot trial award – preproposal due april 9th

independent investigators at or above the level of assistant professor (or equivalent)

• supports exploratory clinical trials to demonstrate feasibility or inform the design of more advanced trials for the treatment or management of als.
• must support a clinical trial and may not be used for preclinical research studies.
• preliminary data are required.
• biomarkers must be incorporated into the trial design.  biomarkers may measure target engagement, drug pharmacodynamics, and/or be predictive/cohort-selective.
• maximum funding of $2,000,000 for direct costs plus indirect costs.
• maximum period of performance is 4 years.

a pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic biomedical research application portal (ebrap) at https://ebrap.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  all applications must conform to the final program announcements and general application instructions available for electronic downloading from the grants.gov website.  the application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on grants.gov.  a listing of all cdmrp and other usamrdc extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the grants.gov website by performing a basic search using cfda number 12.420. 

for email notification when program announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “email subscriptions” on the ebrap homepage at https://ebrap.org.  for more information about the alsrp or other cdmrp-administered programs, please visit the cdmrp website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

point of contact:

cdmrp help desk

301-682-5507 
help@ebrap.org

crohn’s and colitis canada is delighted to announce the launch of its 2021 grants-in-aid of research (gia) competition. the gia program supports research projects directly related to ibd that are aligned with crohn’s and colitis canada’s promise and strategic directions. funding is limited to a maximum of $125,000 per year, for up to three years, contingent upon available funds.