NephCure Research Scientific Grant Program 2009
updated: 09/19/2008

Application Due Date: December 17, 2008

The NephCure Foundation announces that it has embarked on a mission to advance and support basic science research initiatives to understand the cause, or to identify treatments, and/or the cure for FSGS and other diseases that result in the Nephrotic Syndrome.

1. Research Focus/Goals of NephCure Grant Program

a. The NephCure Board of Directors in consultation with its Scientific Advisory Board has identified the following goals for this grant program:

i. Establishment of a cooperative network and/or biobank that would allow collection of human material and information useful for the study of FSGS and other diseases that result in nephrotic syndrome. This work should consider the diversity of gender, races, and ethnic groups that encounter these diseases;

ii. Basic science relevant to FSGS and other diseases that result in nephrotic syndrome. The organization encourages submission of work with translational relevance;

iii. Preliminary clinical studies for the purpose of developing preliminary results that might justify larger more sophisticated clinical studies.

b. Applications should be investigator initiated in response to this request for proposals.

c. Applications should not overlap in scientific content or in budget with grants from other organizations.  However, Nephcure will support applications that propose cooperation with the NIH and/or other organizations.

2. Eligibility: Three categories of proposals are requested; these include:

a. Post-doctoral fellowship (definition: applicants must not hold a faculty appointment and must be within 10 years of their first doctoral level degree.  These grants are intended to support advanced training of scientists in a well mentored environment.)

b. Young Investigator—career development award (definition: applicants must be independent investigators holding a faculty level appointment and must be within the first four years of their first academic appointment at the same time the grant commences (July 1, 2009).  These applicants are those seeking seed money for projects that are anticipated will ultimately be supported by the NIH or other well established funding agencies.)

c. Established Investigator (definition: applicants are established investigators who seek seed funding for projects that clearly represent a new investigative direction for that investigator. Typically these projects are those that provide the established investigator with the opportunity to apply his/her scientific expertise to the investigation of glomerular disease.)

Additional criteria:

a. Principal investigators must hold an MD or PhD or an equivalent advanced degree

b. Applications from any country or nationality will be considered

3. Mechanism:

a. Funds Available

i. Post Doctoral Fellowship grant: maximum award $65,000 per year for two years to cover salary and benefits only. Fellow will utilize existing lab supplies and equipment in mentor’s laboratory. Not renewable.

ii. Young Investigator Career Development awards: $100,000 per year for three years to provide portion of investigator’s salary, technician’s salary, and supplies. Not renewable.

iii. Established Investigator grant: $100,000 per year for two years to provide portion of investigator’s salary, technician’s salary, and supplies. Possibly renewable.

b. Allowable costs: Please note that these differ by grant type.

i. Post-Doctoral Fellowship

1.Fellow's salary and fringe benefits only

ii. Young Investigator Career Development Awards

1. PI, co-investigators, and technician salary and fringe benefits
2. Supplies
2. Travel to one meeting per year (maximum allow for travel, $1,200)

iii. Established Investigator Grant

1. PI, co-investigators, and technician salary and fringe benefits
2. Supplies
2. Travel to one meeting per year (maximum allow for travel, $1,200)

c. No other expenses allowable on any grant

i. No equipment expenses allowed (defined as computers or other equipment with a value greater than $1,000)

d. Indirect Costs: no institutional overhead will be funded

e. Application Cycle Dates:

i. Application Due Date (December 17, 2008): application must be received by 5 PM EST on this date; no extensions will be granted. Notification of receipt will be provided to applicant within 2 weeks.

ii. Study Section Review Date (February 2009)

iii. Secondary Review Date (March 2009)

iv. Response Date (April 2009): decision letter, and administrative details provided to applicant

v. Funding Start Date (July 2009): formal notice of award provided no later than 1 month prior to start

f. Application Format: NIH format: Except where noted, applicants should use the NIH Form 398 application and complete all items on indicated forms following 398 form instructions. (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html)

Please use the following checklist:

i. Cover sheet (this is a NephCure-specific form--download)

ii. Abstract (398 Form Page 2)

iii. Budget (398 Form Page 4 and 5—a modular budget should not be used)

iv. Biographical sketch (398 Format)

v. Resources (398 Format)

vi. Research plan -- The following format should be employed for all grant types:

1. Specific Aims
2. Background and Significance
3. Preliminary Data
4. Research Design
5. Literature Cited

(Page limits: For post-doctoral fellowship, sections 1-4: 3 page limit; for young investigator and established investigators, sections 1-4: 10 page limit. These page limits include figures and tables. Literature cited is not included in these limits.)

vii. Human studies (provide evidence of local IRB approval; may be provided just prior to issuance of notice of award)

viii. Vertebrate Animals (provide evidence of local IRB approval; may be provided just prior to issuance of notice of award)

ix. Sharing plan: Please provide a statement that you will impose no restrictions in sharing data or reagents generated by this project following initial publication of sponsored work.

x. Letters of support:

1. For Post-doctoral fellowship application

a. From mentor detailing commitment, providing evidence of mentor’s training experience, and describing training plan
ii. Letter of reference (1)

2. For Young Investigator Career Development applications:

a. From Chairman/Division Chief indicating independence, space allocation, and departmental financial support

b. From post-doctoral mentor or another reference familiar with the applicant's work and talent

c. From Collaborators, if indicated

3. For Established Investigator applications:

a. For collaborations, unique reagents, etc.

xi. No appendix of any type permitted

g. Formatting requirements: Please Note: Applicants must use an 11 pt Arial font and 1 inch margins; this will be strictly enforced; must be written in English language. Applicants that fail to comply with this format will be returned to the applicant without review.

h. Grant submission: All applications should be compiled into a single pdf format document that can be read using the Adobe Reader or Acrobat application.  Applications should be placed on a single CD or DVD.  A cover letter providing the title and application type (post-doctoral fellowship, career development grant, etc.) and a single paper copy of the application should accompany the application CD/DVD. Applications should be mailed or shipped by overnight express carrier to arrive by the application deadline to:

The Nephcure Foundation
15 Waterloo Ave, Ste 200 ~ Berwyn, PA 19312

Phone: 1 (866) NephCure (866-637-4287)

4. Terms of Support

a. Funds are provided to investigator's institution for use by the applicant; it is the applicant institution’s obligation to ensure proper use of funds and timely submission of progress reports. For the post-doctoral fellowship, and at the discretion of the applicant institution, awards can be made in the mentor's name for use by the fellow.

b. Disbursal of grant funds will be made in quarter-annual payments at the end of each fiscal quarter.  Final quarter payments will be made only after receipt of an annual progress report which is due on August 1 following each year of the project.

c. No indirect cost support will be provided to participating institutions

d. Principal investigators must comply with human institutional review board requirements and demonstrate current approval of these committees.  Similarly, investigators must comply with local animal use committee requirements.

e. Reporting requirements: Principal investigators must provide an annual report by August 1 describing briefly progress made during the previous year.  This report should include a short summary written in language understandable by the non-scientist and that is suitable for publication on the Nephcure website.

f. It is expected that discoveries made using Nephcure grant funds will be published expeditiously in peer reviewed organs.  Nephcure will make no claim to intellectual property created using these funds.  Nephcure requires that awardees share reagents, databases, and other intellectual property created with these funds with other qualified investigators.

g. Nephcure Foundation does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religious, or ethnic group.

h. Members of the Nephcure Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) may apply for Nephcure funds; however, SAB members will not participate in peer review sessions when applications are received from these individuals.

The NephCure Foundation does not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group based on the race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin.

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