Find the competition space posting available here.
We are pleased to announce the launch of Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center Developmental Project Program.
Internal Submission Deadline: Friday, December 2, 2022
- Cycle: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2025
- Discipline/Subject Area: Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, neurology, psychiatry, behavioral and social science, research in aging, biomedical science, clinical physiology and pathophysiology, health services research
- Funding Available: $50,000
- Description:
Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center Developmental Project Program
The Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Center (MADC) in the Department of Neurology, University of Michigan, announces the availability of developmental project research funds ($50,000 in direct costs over 2 years) to investigators at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, and Wayne State University to test new ideas about the causes and treatment of dementing disorders. The MADC invites members of the scientific community from these partner institutions to submit applications for developmental project funding.
Application deadline is Friday, December 2, 2022.
The MADC is committed to funding at least three developmental projects. The MADC, U-M Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, and possibly other U-M Aging Centers will consider joint funding for a promising application addressing research issues shared by the centers.
As we seek to understand and cure Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), the MADC considers among its highest priorities to support innovative, high impact research. The MADC Developmental Project Program is partially supported by the NIH/NIA-funded Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (MADRC) grant (P30 AG072931), which links the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University in a regional dementia initiative. The MADRC’s central theme focuses on identifying, understanding, and modulating the numerous non-β-amyloid factors that contribute to brain dysfunction and neurodegeneration.
The proposed research must be relevant to ADRD and/or non-β-amyloid related dementias. Developmental projects should emphasize one or more of the following:
- Center’s thematic focus on non-β-amyloid factors contributing to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in dementia
- Leveraging of resources available through the MADRC and its Cores, and/or co-enrollment of participants in the MADRC’s longitudinal cohort
- Utilization of databases available through the MADRC: the Michigan Brain Bank via the Neuropathology Core, longitudinal cohort data via the Clinical, Data Cores and the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC), the Alzheimer’s Diseases Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease (NCRAD), or Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI)
- Mechanisms of neurodegenerative dementias
- Novel methods of detecting or treating cognitive changes in age-related diseases
- Emphasis on studying cognition and challenges to diagnosing and treating age-related dementia in underrepresented minorities
- Frailty and cognitive changes due to aging in older adults
- Health disparities in underrepresented populations and ADRD
- Impact of COVID-19 on older adults with ADRD
- Caregiver burden and stress in ADRD
Applications received from junior investigators (postdoctoral/medical fellows), assistant professors, or more established investigators new to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia research, and investigators who have not previously received research funding through the MADC, will be looked upon most favorably. Emphasis will also be given to projects that link researchers from multiple fields and across the Universities.
Applications should be no more than three pages in length and describe research commensurate with a two-year award. Reviewers will rank proposals based on their potential significance and impact, investigator and investigative team, research plan, likelihood of leading to future NIH or private foundation funding, relevance to AD and related dementias, and relevance to the MADRC’s thematic focus on non-β-amyloid factors.
For those projects involving human subjects, an NIH Inclusion Enrollment Report must be included. In addition to NIH reporting requirements for study enrollment, awardees will be required, on a monthly basis, to electronically submit participant enrollment data into the secure NIA Clinical Research Operations & Management System (CROMS) for all human subjects enrolled in their trial/study.
Three-page proposals should include a specific aims section. In addition, an abstract, budget and budget justification, biosketch in current NIH format, and Other Support / Supplemental document are required. You will need to indicate if you are applying to other U-M NIH/NIA-sponsored P30 Aging Center pilot/project announcements. A checklist with further details and document templates are provided in the Competition Space.
The award can be used for the direct support of salary and/or research supplies. Indirect support will be provided; amount will be determined based on the awardee’s institutional indirect cost rate and the award amount that is NIH/NIA-funded. Please note that expenses which do not comply with Uniform Guidance (previously A-21) rules are unallowable (e.g., Hosting, Postage, Telephone, General Supplies, Computers, Admin Salaries). No tuition support is available. Equipment in excess of $5,000 needs special justification and is generally not encouraged.
Submission: Applications should be submitted through the University of Michigan Medical School Office of Research Competition Space portal. If applying from MSU or WSU, select “Other” for “Primary Organization”.
Applicants will be notified in March 2023 if their project was selected for funding. The MADRC is then required to submit the selected full developmental project applications in its annual NIA progress report to request NIA funding approval for the projects. If approval is received, the anticipated developmental project funding period will be for a two-year period, July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025.
Awardees will be required to provide mid-year progress reports (February 2024 and February 2025) and a final end-of-year report (Feb 2026). Awardees will be expected to present their study findings at the annual MADRC Research Symposium in May/June 2026. At the end of the funding period or soon after, the MADC is looking to see one or more publications as a result of the developmental project, and/or continued funding in the form of a new R01 or equivalent grant.
Note: If selected as an awardee, prior to initiation of the project, any project involving animal or human samples must provide proof of IACUC or IRB approval. If this approval is not obtained within 60 days of the funding date for the project, funding will be withdrawn.
We encourage investigators to contact MADC staff for guidance with the application process. MADC faculty and staff will also be available to assist you with grant development.
For questions, please contact Arijit Bhaumik: arijit@med.umich.edu and Yvonne Sturt: ysturt@med.umich.edu