November 3, 2020 Research Bulletin

Featured Funding Opportunities

December 2020

• Due 12/1: The American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowships
  
• Due 12/3: The American heart Association Postdoctoral Fellowships
  
• Due 12/4: The Parkinson’s Foundation: Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Awards
  
• Due 12/4: The Parkinson’s Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships for Basic Scientists
  
• Due 12/4: The Parkinson’s Foundation: Postdoctoral Fellowships for Clinical Neurologists
  
• Due 12/10: NSF: Collaborative Research in Computational Neuroscience
  
• Due 12/15: NSF: Integrative Strategies for Understanding Neural and Cognitive Systems
  
• Due 12/29: NIH: New Cohorts of Environmental Exposures and Cancer Risk
  
• Due 12/31: Thrive: Funding for Translational Research to Predict, Prevent, and/or Reduce Unintended Adverse Effects from Cancer Therapy

January 2021

• Due 1/5: The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation 2021 Physician Scientist Award
  
• Due 1/13: The American Epilepsy Society 2021 Grants Programs
  
• Due 1/19: Merck MISP Oncology Grant

Additional November Featured Funding Opportunities

Just Released Funding Opportunities

Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) funding opportunity and Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) pre-announcement for the Department of Defense (DoD) programs managed by the office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)

CDMRP understands that applicants are impacted by COVID-19.

Submission deadlines for pre-applications and full applications will incorporate the maximum time that is feasible. Thank you for your efforts during this challenging time.  

FY20 Funding Opportunity released:

• Prostate Cancer Research Program
  
• (PCRP)Physician Research Award (W81XWH-20-PCRP-PRA2)
  
  

FY21 Pre-announcement released:

• Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP)
  
• Breakthrough Award Levels 1 and 2
  
• Breakthrough Award Level 3
  
• Breakthrough Award Level 4
  
• Era of Hope Scholar Award
  
• Innovator Award
  
• Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award

NIH Funding Announcements

Limited Funding Opportunities

In the Fall, we can see an increase in the number of limited institutional grant opportunities in which we can nominate a single applicant from our institution. Due to the short turn-around time we will have a modified and shortened process for these types of grant opportunities.

For the limited institutional grant opportunities below, please submit a brief summary (one page or less) and biosketch by the date indicated.

Brain Research Foundation (BRF) is inviting full-time Assistant or Associate Professors working in the field of neuroscience.

BRF’s Seed Grant Program was initiated in 1981. The purpose of the Program is to provide start-up money for new research projects and innovative programs that have the potential of becoming competitive for an NIH grant or other external funding sources. Our goal is to have this initial effort succeed in opening future opportunities for research, collaboration and scientific advancement.   To be eligible, the PI must be a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor working in the field of neuroscience. Each total award is limited to $80,000 (direct costs) for a two-year grant period. The first grant payment of $40,000 will be made upon completion of the Seed Grant Acceptance Form (June 2021). The final payment of $40,000 will be made contingent upon receipt of a Preliminary Progress and Financial Report (June 2022). The support focus is for new research projects of the highest scientific merit. 

• Limited to one application per institution
  
• Materials due to OGC: November 4, 2020
  
• Letter of intent due January 5, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by November 4, 2020.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Implementing and Evaluating a Data-to-Care Rx Strategy” (U01) 

RFA-PS-21-004

The purpose of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support up to three project sites to develop and implement a strategy to use real-time prescription data, each using a different type of prescription data (e.g., from insurance claims, managed care or other healthcare organizations, pharmacy fulfillment, pharmacy benefits managers, AIDS Drug Assistance Program), to identify persons with HIV who fail to pick up prescribed antiretroviral (ARV) medications by approximately 30 or 60 days of the expected fill date, and to target these individuals for progressive adherence and retention interventions. This strategy is called Datato-Care Rx (D2C Rx). 

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 4, 2020
• Full Application deadline: January 5, 2021

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by November 4, 2020.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has released a funding opportunity titled “Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Training Program” 

HRSA-21-034

The purpose of this program, formerly called the MCH Pipeline Training Program, is to promote the development of a diverse and representative public health and health care workforce by recruiting undergraduate students from underserved or underrepresented backgrounds, including trainees from racially and ethnically underrepresented groups, into MCH public health and MCH-related health professions in order to improve levels of representation, reduce health disparities, and increase access to health care for vulnerable and underserved MCH populations, including those from such racially and ethnically diverse groups.

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 4, 2020
• Full Application deadline: January 7, 2021

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal to Garrett Steed by November 4, 2020.

NEW ~ National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “PrEP Choice: Increasing the Use of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in an Era of Choices (U01)” 

RFA-PS-21-003

The purpose of this RFA is to: a) implement evidence-based provider and patient education and support tools in clinical settings to increase PrEP screening, counseling, initiation, adherence, and persistence by MSM and b) to understand reasons for selection of a PrEP formulation and switching patterns associated with the use of daily, 2-1-1, and injectable PrEP. The recipient should implement PrEP best practices as outlined in the most current CDC PrEP clinical guidelines. The recipient should also collect data to describe realworld PrEP use among MSM in an era of multiple PrEP options.

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 6, 2020
• Optional letters of intent: November 30, 2020
• Full Application deadline:  January 5, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by November 6, 2020.

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) “Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training (BHWET) Program for Professionals”

HRSA-21-089

The purpose of the BHWET Program for Professionals is to develop and expand experiential training opportunities, such as field placements and internships, to improve the distribution and supply of the behavioral health workforce. The BHWET Program for Professionals emphasizes relationships with community-based partners (e.g., hospitals, crisis centers, state and local health departments, emergency departments, faith-based organizations, first responders, and judicial systems) to increase access to quality behavioral health services for populations across the lifespan in high need and high demand areas. A special focus is placed on demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the specific concerns for children, adolescents, and transitional-aged youth who are at risk for behavioral health disorders. Additionally, the BHWET Program for Professionals emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration by utilizing team-based care in integrated behavioral health and primary care settings and recruiting a workforce that reflects participation in the institutions’ programs of individuals and groups from different racial, ethnic, cultural, geographic, religious, linguistic, and class backgrounds, and different genders and sexual orientations, interested in serving high need and high demand areas.

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 16, 2020
• Full Application deadline: January 21, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal to Garrett Steed by November 16, 2020. 

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) “A Multidisciplinary Approach to Study Vaccine-elicited Immunity and Efficacy against Malaria (U01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)”

RFA-AI-20-064

This initiative will support research to advance understanding of the underlying immune mechanisms that contribute to malaria vaccine-elicited protection or vaccine hypo-responsiveness in endemic regions by capitalizing on recent research advances in systems vaccinology and systems immunology as well as emerging opportunities in data science and informatics. Multidisciplinary science and collaboration among investigators from the malaria vaccine research field and other relevant scientific areas are highly encouraged. The goal is to identify host signatures and mechanistic factors that influence malaria vaccine performance in endemic regions to guide and improve future vaccine design and evaluation. NIAID has identified 3 topic areas of interest: 1) Baseline immune status, 2) vaccine-elicited immunity and correlates of vaccine outcomes, and 3) mechanistic studies. Investigators may respond to one or more of these topic areas.

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 16, 2020
• Full Application deadline: February 8, 2021, optional letters of intent due 30 days prior.  
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their NIH biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by November 16, 2020.

National Institute on Aging (NIA) “MD-PhD Training Program in Alzheimer’s Disease and Its Related Dementias and the Behavioral and Social Sciences (T32)” 

RFA-AG-21-027

Note: This opportunity is listed as a re-issue of a previous RFA (AG-20-032), but there don’t appear to have been any awards made on the previous RFA according to NIH RePORTER and NIH is only soliciting new applications for this opportunity.

NIA's MD-PhD Training Program in Alzheimer's Disease and Its Related Dementias and the Behavioral and Social Sciences is designed to help strengthen the pipeline of physician-scientist leaders dedicated to using social and behavioral science approaches to addressing the nation's challenges posed by Alzheimer's disease and its related dementias (AD/ADRD). This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible domestic institutions to develop and implement effective approaches to integrated dual-degree training leading to the award of both an MD and a research doctorate degree (PhD or equivalent). This FOA invites applications from institutions with externally funded grants in the social/behavioral sciences that are relevant to the research topics proposed under this FOA. Fields of graduate training that are responsive to this FOA are economics, health economics, health services research, public policy, healthcare policy, social work, demography, sociology, social epidemiology, and psychology. Integrated medical and graduate research training programs may be built around single disciplines or may be multidisciplinary, may be flexible in structure, and should be consistent with individual institutional strengths. Proposed training programs should be flexible and adaptable in providing each trainee with the appropriate background in the social/behavioral sciences relevant to AD/ADRD research and clinical practice, yet be rigorous enough to enable graduates to function independently in both basic social/behavioral science research and clinical investigation.

• Limited to one application per institution
• Materials due to OGC: November 16, 2020
• Non-binding letters of intent due January 3, 2021
• Full Application deadline: February 3, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by November 16 , 2020.

Junior Faculty Funding Opportunities

CCTSI KL2 Funding Opportunity

The CCTSI KL2 Mentored Research Scholar award program has funding for new scholars beginning in 2021.  We are strongly encouraging applicants from diverse backgrounds and those often underrepresented in clinical translational research.

Pre-application Due Date: November 5, 2020
If invited, Full Application Due Date:  January 7, 2021
Decision Date:  February 1, 2021 (approximate)
Start Date:  February 15, 2021 (approximate)

For more information, please contact KL2 Director: Maggie Wierman, MD or Galit Mankin.

CCTSI K to R Transition Program

The CCTSI K to R (KTR) Transition program is now accepting applications for review.

The K to R program is a pre-submission mock grant review process for faculty who are submitting their first R-level application. This CCTSI program provides the opportunity for anyone to submit their R-type grant proposals for internal review prior to submission to the NIH or other funding agency.

Letter of Intent Due Date: Friday, December 18, 2020
Application Due Date: Friday, January 1, 2021
In-Person Grant Review: Friday, January 15, 2021 (1-4pm)
NIH Deadline: February 5, 2021

For more information, please contact KTR Program Director: Maggie Wierman, MD or Galit Mankin for uploading/format issues.

Special Announcements

Advanced Imaging Lab (Children’s Hospital)

The Advanced Imaging Lab (AIL) engages basic science and clinical faculty to provide a platform for cutting edge non-invasive translational imaging research. Our specialty (although not limited to) is MRI methods and postprocessing algorithm development for translational cardiovascular imaging. Research activities have focused on noninvasive cardiovascular MRI techniques, especially those investigating blood flow and vascular remodeling. The lab and faculty are actively engaged with mentoring graduate students, medical fellows, and junior faculty.

Housed in Children’s Hospital Colorado, the focus is on pediatric imaging; however, research activities span the lifetime of the patient. AIL faculty and staff include experts in MRI pulse sequence programming, cardiac and vascular MRI, image reconstruction, and postprocessing. Additional services include the operation of an imaging core, which supports clinical and research image acquisition and postprocessing.

The University of Colorado Quantitative Image Analysis (QIA) (CU Anschutz)

The University of Colorado Quantitative Image Analysis (QIA) Laboratory (formerly called BIRL) is a core lab devoted to the development and analysis of imaging-based biomarkers. The laboratory provides comprehensive services for pre-clinical and clinical imaging studies, including protocol development, quality control, analysis, visualization, data reporting, and regulatory compliance. Areas of ongoing collaboration span many specialties including oncology, psychiatry, neurology, endocrinology, exercise and aging. Clients range from large pharmaceutical companies engaged in Phase III clinical trials to local researchers doing pilot and NIH funded research studies. QIA can also act as the central reading center for your multi-center imaging studies.

Typical services include: lesion tracking, segmentation and volumetrics of organs, pathology, brain volume and brain atrophy, fMRI statistics, dynamic, imaging measures, CT and MRI adipose tissue quantification, bone densitometry, mapping of diffusion processes from Diffusion Tensor Imaging, PET SUV measures (2D or 3D) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy analysis. Protocol design to enable accurate and reproducible measures is provided.

Staff at QIA work with University of Colorado Hospital, Childrens Hospital Colorado, The Brain Imaging Center, C-TRIC PET/CT staff and the new CU Research Imaging Center to assure that the protocol design is appropriate for the desired measure.

New Research Pricing Methodology for UCHealth

Effective November 1, 2020, UCHealth adopted a CMS x 250% research charge master (CM) methodology - this systemwide rate will be for all industry sponsored studies.

Federally funded studies, as well as investigator initiated trials (IITs), will remain at the CMS rate. If the methodology does not cover the cost for a procedure, UCHealth reserves the right to adjust the price to cover cost.

Researchers will not be able to request exceptions to this new methodology – it will be effective across the board for all new and active trials at UCHealth.

With this change, CU Anschutz will no longer exempt F&A for the 95 CPT codes that was in effect temporarily as UCHealth finalized the new methodology.

Effective November 1, 2020, for UCHealth, CU Anschutz will charge F&A on total direct costs for all industry sponsored research as we do for all industry clinical trials regardless of site.

If you have any questions please contact UCH-Research Administration or the Office of Grants and Contracts.

This bulletin is distributed on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month for the CU Anschutz Research Community.   

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