Monthly Archives: February 2020

Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program and Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program Pre-Announcements

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The Department of Defense (DoD) recently released pre-announcements for the Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program and Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program managed by the office of Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) https://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/cdmrp_presses.

Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program:

  • Virtual Cancer Center – Director Award
  • Career Development Award – Fellow Option
  • Career Development Award – Scholar Option
  • Idea Award
  • Impact Award
  • Behavioral Health Science Award
  • Translational Team Science Award

Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program:

  • Applied Research Award
  • Clinical Trial Award
  • Clinical Translational Research Award

Descriptions of each of the anticipated funding opportunities, eligibility, key mechanism elements, and funding can be found in the Program pre-announcements.  FY20 pre-announcements can be found in the CDMRP home page features at https://cdmrp.army.mil. Subsequent notifications will be sent when the program announcements/funding opportunities are released.

Defense Health Program Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

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The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) to support innovative, high-impact cancer research.  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).

The PRCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY20 funding opportunity.  This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.  The FY20 PRCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website.  Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. 

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas:  The PRCRP appropriation of $110,000,000 will provide funds for research into cancers not addressed in the breast, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian, kidney, lung, melanoma, and rare cancer research programs.  To be considered for funding, applications for the FY20 PRCRP must address at least one of the FY20 PRCRP Topic Areas as directed by Congress.  Research applications in the areas of breast, prostate, lung (excluding mesothelioma), kidney, melanoma, pancreatic, rare cancer, or ovarian cancer will not be accepted. The inclusion of the individual rare cancer research program shall not prohibit the PRCRP from funding the below mentioned cancers or cancer subtypes that may be rare by definition.

The FY2020 PRCRP Topic Areas are:

  • Bladder cancer
  • Blood cancers
  • Brain cancer
  • Colorectal cancer
  • Esophageal cancer
  • Head and neck cancer
  • Immunotherapy
  • Liver cancer
  • Mesothelioma
  • Metastatic cancer
  • Neuroblastoma
  • Pediatric, adolescent, and young adult cancers (PAYAC)
  • Pediatric brain tumors
  • Stomach cancer

The FY20 PRCRP Military Health Focus Areas are listed below:

It is central to the vision and mission of the PRCRP that applications address how the proposed research is related to military health, mission readiness, and the cancer health needs of both deployed and non-deployed military personnel, their dependents, Veterans, and other military beneficiaries (i.e., family members of retirees).  The FY20 PRCRP requires all applications to answer at least one of the following Military Health Focus Areas:

  • Environmental/exposure risk factors associated with cancer
  • Mission Readiness
    • Gaps in cancer prevention, early detection/diagnosis, prognosis, and/or treatment that may affect the general population but have a particularly profound impact on the health and well-being of military Service members, Veterans, and their beneficiaries
    • Gaps in quality of life and/or survivorship that may affect the general population but have a particularly profound impact on the health and well-being of military Service members, Veterans, and their beneficiaries

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 that will be 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. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  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 PRCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Additional information, including proposal and award mechanisms, can be found on the CDMRP site.

Defense Health Program Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

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The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program (PRORP) to support innovative, high-impact, clinically-relevant research to advance optimal treatment and rehabilitation from musculoskeletal injuries.  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).

The PRORP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY20 funding opportunities.  This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.  The FY20 PRORP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website.  Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. 

Applications submitted to the FY20 PRORP must address one or more of the following FY20 Focus Areas:

  1. Compartment Syndrome: Novel treatment strategies to improve current diagnoses for compartment syndrome. Alternatives to intracompartmental pressure measurements are encouraged.
  2. Limb Stabilization and Protection: Development and/or clinical assessment of rapid limb stabilization and novel wound protectants for severely wounded limbs to enable transport at the point of need.
  3. Orthotic Devices: Refinement of high-performance novel orthotic devices designed to enhance whole person performance and decrease pain in patients with limb salvage and impairment.
  4. Osseointegration: Identification of best practices to address infection, rejection, and/or failure of percutaneous osseointegrated prosthetic limbs.
  5. Retention Strategies: Development, optimization, and/or validation of battlefield-feasible diagnostic capabilities, decision support tools, interventions, and/or rehabilitation strategies that can facilitate retention on duty for common combat-related musculoskeletal injuries.  Biomarker studies are excluded.  The current standard of care must be noted.  The rehabilitation strategy and the standard of care must be specified, as applicable.
    1. Point of Injury: Battlefield-feasible strategies that can be utilized at or near the point of injury to allow an injured Service member to remain on duty and stay on mission without the need for immediate evacuation.
    2. Point of Duty: Strategies that can be utilized along the continuum of care to allow an injured Service member to return to duty without separation from Service.
  6. Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics: Development of advanced tissue regeneration therapeutics in nerve, muscle (to include volumetric muscle loss), and/or composite tissue for the restoration of traumatically injured extremities.  Isolated bone or cartilage tissue engineering studies are excluded.
  7. Translation of Early Findings: Translation of early research findings in the orthopaedic surgical care topic areas listed below to move the research toward clinical trials and clinical practice.
    1. Soft Tissue Trauma: Strategies to develop and/or identify musculoskeletal extremity soft tissue trauma treatments for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or shoulder instability only, to optimize return to duty, work, or reintegration.
    2. Fracture-Related Infection: Strategies to decrease the burden of fracture-related infections (may include prevention, early detection, or improved eradication).  Alternatives to systemic and/or local antibiotic delivery are encouraged. 

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 that will be 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. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  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 PRORP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Additional information, including the award mechanisms, can be found on the CDMRP site.

National Science Foundation: Salary & Wages Policy

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The NSF recently released the PAPPG 20-1, which applies to proposals submitted or due, or awards made, on or after June 1, 2020. Section IIC2g(i) includes the following language for Senior Personnel & Wages:

“NSF regards research as one of the normal functions of faculty members at institutions of higher education. Compensation for time normally spent on research within the term of appointment is deemed to be included within the faculty member’s regular organizational salary.”

“As a general policy, NSF limits the salary compensation requested in the proposal budget for senior personnel to no more than two months of their regular salary in any one year. (See Exhibit II-3 for the definitions of Senior Personnel.) It is the organization’s responsibility to define and consistently apply the term “year”, and to specify this definition in the budget justification. This limit includes salary compensation received from all NSF-funded grants. This effort must be documented in accordance with 2 CFR § 200, Subpart E, including 2 CFR § 200.430(i). If anticipated, any compensation for such personnel in excess of two months must be disclosed in the proposal budget, justified in the budget justification, and must be specifically approved by NSF in the award notice budget.16“

Please note that any proposals submitted or due, or awards made, prior to June 1, 2020 will still be subject to the policies and procedures established in the PAPPG 19-1.

Defense Health Program Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

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The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides $40 million (M) to the Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) to support innovative, high-impact spinal cord injury (SCI) research1.  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).

The SCIRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY20 funding opportunity. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government. The FY20 SCIRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. 

Applications submitted to the FY20 SCIRP must address one or more of the following focus areas:

  • Preserving and protecting spinal cord tissue at time of injury for improved neurologic outcomes
  • Identifying and validating biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and for evaluation of treatment efficacies (Transnational Research Award and Investigator-Initiated Research Award only)
  • Bowel, genitourinary, cardiopulmonary dysfunction, and neuropathic pain
  • Psychosocial issues relevant to people with SCI, their families, and/or their care partners
  • Rehabilitation and regeneration—maximizing the function of the residual neural circuitry, including harnessing neuroplasticity and recovery to improve function after SCI

https://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/2020/20scirppreann

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 that will be 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. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  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 SCIRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).