Prader-Willi Syndrome Research
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with Unit
Memorial Deadline: Tuesday 13th, November 2018
External Deadline: Friday 16th, November 2018
Description
The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting research to advance the understanding and treatment of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), announces the availability of funds to support innovative research relevant to PWS. FPWR is particularly interested in supporting projects that will lead to new treatments to alleviate the symptoms associated with PWS.
Priority will be given to the following areas of research, although alternative areas of high scientific merit will also be considered:
• Genotype to phenotype: understanding PWS genetics / how loss of PWS-critical region genes leads to the phenotype
• Neurobiology of hunger / feeding behavior in PWS
• Neurobiology of cognitive deficits, maladaptive behavior and mental illness in PWS
• Clinical care research: evaluation of existing drugs and interventions to improve health and quality of life in PWS
• Therapeutics development for PWS- Genetic therapies; novel pharmaceuticals; drug repurposing for PWS
A more complete list of research priorities may be found here.
Funds Available: Applicants may request up to $100,000 USD in direct costs for the initial year of support, with the possibility of a second year of funding upon competitive renewal. For the Special Priority Areas (Brain Imaging, Genetic Therapy), applicants may request up to $150,000 per year in direct costs for the initial year of support, with the possibility of a second year of funding upon competitive renewal. Indirect costs of up to 8% are allowed.
Eligibility: Principal Investigators must have a primary faculty appointment at the level of Instructor or higher. This grant program will be useful for junior faculty in the early stages of their careers, established investigators in other areas of research who wish to enter the field of PWS research, or investigators in the PWS field who are seeking funding to support pilot studies in a new area of PWS research. FPWR seeks to support innovative, high-risk/high reward research.
Application Review and Award: Letters of intent (LOI) will be reviewed for innovation and potential impact, merit and relevance to the mission of FPWR. Selected LOIs will be invited to submit a full grant proposal.
Full grant proposals meeting the technical requirements will be reviewed on the basis of merit by scientific reviewers with expertise in the research area. An advocate reviewer will evaluate the relevance of the proposed research to the PWS community. Final funding decisions will be based on scientific merit, relevance and the suitability of the research with respect to the programmatic goals of FPWR.
Application Guidelines: All LOIs and applications are to be submitted on-line through ProposalCentral (https://proposalcentral.altum.com/). The LOI is limited to a 2-page description. Full grant proposals are limited to a 5-page research plan. Guidelines, review considerations, a list of currently funded projects, can all be found through the links below.
FPWR-LOI-Instructions
Scientific and advocate review considerations
Previously funded projects
The deadline for submission of a letter of intent is September 17, 2018, 5 pm EST
The deadline for submission of full proposals is November 16, 2018, 5 pm EST (invitation only)
Questions may be directed to Jessica Bohonowych at: jessica.bohonowych@fpwr.org
FPWR also welcomes highly integrated, multi-disciplinary research teams to address ambitious and challenging research questions that are important for the mission of FPWR and are beyond the scope of one or two investigators. If your project fits into this category, please contact Theresa Strong (theresa.strong@fpwr.org) or Nathalie Kayadjanian (nathalie.kayadjanian@fpwr.org).