NephCure Research Scientific Grant Program 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. Basic science relevant to these diseases. The organization encourages submission of work with translational relevance;

ii. 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;

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: Four 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 strong mentored environment.)

b. Young Investigator—career development award (definition: applicants must be independent investigators holding a faculty appointment and must be within the first four years of their first academic appointment.  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. Bridge support grants (definition: these grants are intended to provide a maximum of one year funding for applicants that have received outstanding priority scores on R01 applications (new or competing renewal) in the area of interest to Nephcure that were not funded but that might be anticipated to be funded on subsequent revision.)

c. Established Investigator (definition: applicants are established investigators who seek seed funding for projects that clearly represent a new investigative direction for that investigator.)

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.

iv. Bridge grant: $100,000, one year only, to provide portion of investigator’s salary, technician’s salary, and supplies; not renewable.

b. Allowable costs

i. Salary

1. PI, co-investigators, and technicians, student (stipend only)
2. Fringe benefits

ii. Project costs

1. Project costs
2. Travel to one meeting per year (maximum allowed for travel, $1200)
3. No other expenses allowable

iii. No other expenses allowable

c. Indirect Costs: no institutional overhead will be funded

d. Application Cycle Dates:

i. Application Due Date (December 12, 2007): application must be received by 5 PM EST on this date; no exceptions. Notification of receipt will be provided to applicant within 2 weeks.

ii. Study Section Review Date (February 2008)

iii. Secondary Review Date (March 2008)

iv. Response Date (April 2008): written critique, decision letter, and administrative details provided to applicant

v. Funding Start Date (July 1, 2008): formal notice of award provided no later than 1 month prior to star

e. Application Format: NIH format: Except where noted, applicants should use the NIH Form 398 application (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html)

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: (For post-doctoral fellowship, sections 1-4: 3 page limit; for young investigator and established investigators, sections 1-4: 10 page limit; 11 pt font Arial; 1 inch margins, strictly enforced; must be written in English language)

1. Specific Aims

2. Background and Significance

3. Preliminary Data

4. Research Design

5. Literature Cited

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

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

8. 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.

9. Letters of support:

a. For Post-doctoral fellowship application

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

b. For Young Investigator Career Development applications:

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

ii. From post-doctoral mentor

iii. From Collaborators, if indicated

c. For Established Investigator applications:

i. For collaborations, unique reagents, etc.

10. No appendix of any type permitted

f. Bridging Grant only: Provide an introductory cover letter describing your response to the NIH critique and a plan for satisfying this critique using Nephcure funds, 3 page limit.  Also provide the NIH summary statement in its entirety and a complete copy of the original application.

g. 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 investigators institution; it is the applicant institution’s obligation to ensure proper use of funds and timely submission of progress reports.

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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