Funding Opportunities: Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Medical Research Programs

Image: Department of Defence

The Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) Defense Appropriations Act provides $278.7 million to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP).  The vision of the PRMRP is to improve the health and well-being of all military Service members, Veterans, and beneficiaries. The PRMRP challenges the scientific and clinical communities to address one of the FY16 congressionally directed topic areas with original ideas that foster new directions in basic science and translational research; novel product development leading to improved therapeutic or diagnostic tools; synergistic, multidisciplinary research programs; or clinical trials that address an immediate clinical need.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development and Acquisition (DHA RDA) 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).

FY16 PRMRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions are posted on Grants.gov <http://www.grants.gov/>.

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Congressionally Directed Topic Areas:  

The FY16 PRMRP will solicit research applications for the following 39 topics areas:

 *         Acute Lung Injury
*         Antimicrobial Resistance
*         Chronic Migraine and Post-Traumatic Headache
*         Congenital Heart Disease
*         Constrictive Bronchiolitis
*         Diabetes
*         Dystonia
*         Emerging Infectious Diseases
*         Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis
*         Fragile X Syndrome
*         Hepatitis B
*         Hereditary Angioedema
*         Hydrocephalus
*         Inflammatory Bowel Disease
*         Influenza
*         Integrative Medicine
*         Interstitial Cystitis
*         Lupus
*         Malaria
*         Metals Toxicology
*         Mitochondrial Disease
*         Nanomaterials for Bone Regeneration
*         Nonopioid Pain Management
*         Pancreatitis
*         Pathogen-Inactivated Dried Plasma
*         Polycystic Kidney Disease
*         Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis
*         Psychotropic Medications
*         Pulmonary Fibrosis
*         Respiratory Health
*         Rett Syndrome
*         Rheumatoid Arthritis
*         Scleroderma
*         Sleep Disorders
*         Tinnitus
*         Tuberculosis
*         Vaccine Development for Infectious Disease
*         Vascular Malformations
*         Women's Heart Disease

Military Relevance:  Relevance to the healthcare needs of the military Service members, Veterans, and beneficiaries is a key feature of each FY16 PRMRP award mechanism.

Clinical Trial Award
*       Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent)
*       Supports the rapid implementation of clinical trials of novel interventions with the potential to have a significant impact on patient care in the topic area(s) of interest.
*       Proposed projects may range from small proof-of-concept trials through large-scale, definitive trials.
*       Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption applications, if needed, should be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration before the PRMRP Grants.gov application submission deadline.
*       Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only
*       Funding limit not defined; requested funding must be appropriate for the scope of work proposed
*       Maximum period of performance is 5 years

Discovery Award*       All Investigators
*       Supports the exploration of a highly innovative new concept or untested theory.
*       Not intended to support the logical progression of an already established line of questioning.
*       Clinical trials will not be funded.
*       Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators, and their organization(s)
*       Maximum of $200,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
*       Maximum period of performance is 18 months

Focused Program Award
*       Full Professor level or above (or equivalent)
*       Supports a synergistic, multidisciplinary research program of at least four distinct but complementary projects addressing an overarching goal in one of the topic areas listed directly above. Projects should work together to answer critical questions, resolve differing hypotheses, and translate laboratory findings to clinical applications. Projects may range from exploratory/ hypothesis-developing through small-scale clinical trials that together will address the overarching goal/question. Research team of highly qualified, multidisciplinary project leaders should be led by a PI with demonstrated success in directing large, focused projects.
*       Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
*       Maximum of $10 million for total costs (includes direct and indirect costs)
*       Maximum period of performance is 5 years

Investigator-Initiated Research Award*       Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent)
*       Supports research that will make an original and important contribution to the field of research or patient care in the topic area(s) of interest.
*       Partnering PI Option available.
*       Clinical trials will not be funded.
*       Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
*       Maximum of $1.2 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
*       Maximum of $1.5 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs) for applications including a Partnering PI Option
*       Maximum period of performance is 3 years

Technology/ Therapeutic Development Award

*       Assistant Professor level or above (or equivalent)
*       Supports the development of diagnostics or therapies that have the
potential to make a strong impact on patient care in the topic area(s) of
interest.
*       Product-oriented (e.g., device, drug, clinical guidelines).
*       Clinical trials will not be funded.
*       Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by
invitation only
*       Maximum of $3.0 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
*       Maximum period of performance is 3 years

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org
< 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 

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<http://www.grants.gov/>website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov <http://www.grants.gov/>.  A listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov <http://www.grants.gov/>website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

 Applications must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov <http://www.grants.gov/>.  Requests for email notification of the Program Announcements' release may be sent to help@ebrap.org <mailto:help@ebrap.org>.  For more information about the PRMRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil <http://cdmrp.army.mil>).

For questions about the scheme and application process, please contact the MRO Research Grants & Contracts team (adm-researchgrants.contracts@monash.edu).