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Standard Award Program in Alzheimer's Disease Research (LOI)

BrightFocus Foundation

OVERVIEW

BrightFocus accepts investigator-initiated proposals related to developing treatments, preventions, and cures for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer's disease. Funding is provided by donors to the specific disease program. BrightFocus currently supports three programs entitled, “National Glaucoma Research,” “Macular Degeneration Research,” and “Alzheimer's Disease Research.”

BrightFocus has a broad mandate for funding proposals relevant to any of these fields. For a list of current and previous awards, view the research we fund section.

BrightFocus Foundation awards grants for basic, translational, and clinically oriented research on the causes of, or treatments for, age-related and degenerative diseases. Grants are awarded on the basis of the scientific merit of the proposed research and the relevance of the research to understanding aspects of the disease that lead to improved treatments, prevention strategies, and diagnoses of the program disease.

APPLICATION

BrightFocus supports U.S. domestic and international research proposals related to developing treatments, preventions, and cures for glaucoma, macular degeneration, and Alzheimer's disease.

The scientific plan should be well focused and able to stand alone. It is understood that more senior investigators will have other funding in related areas of research, but the application to BrightFocus should not be used to simply subsidize these other efforts or to compensate for grant cutbacks. Therefore, the applicant is advised to focus on a specific project that can be addressed in terms of a hypothesis and two or three specific aims. The proposed project should be distinct from other investigations and grant awards. Please keep this in mind when preparing the research plan section of this application.

Specific aims for drug discovery projects in the Alzheimer’s Disease Research (ADR) program will require very specific milestones and deliverables that must be benchmarked at 6-month intervals. A drug discovery project can include one that seeks to: optimize a lead candidate for a particular target in cell-based assays and chemical library screens, validate and optimize hits in secondary screens and in vivo studies, and conduct preclinical assessments of the target in a relevant model. In summary, if you are discovering or testing a new compound or drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease, this is a drug discovery project. Please identify any go/no-go decision points and, if appropriate, propose alternative avenues to be explored in case of a no-go decision. If a specific compound is being evaluated, the structure should be disclosed, and for hit-to-lead or lead-optimization studies, sufficient detail should be provided to enable a reviewer skilled in the art of drug discovery to assess the feasibility and likelihood of success. In addition, the ADR Scientific Review Committee strongly

recommends the inclusion of pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics (PK) information about the drug(s)/lead candidate(s), if available, including target engagement, drug half-life (t1/2), peak serum concentration (Cmax), time of maximum concentration observed (Tmax), brain/plasma balance, etc. This type of grant may be subject to additional reporting requirements, and progress will need to be considered satisfactory for continued funding.

For all projects, particularly those using human subjects or samples, you must address reproducibility and rigor including power calculations, disease staging, gender and age stratification, exclusion criteria etc… The inclusion of sex as a mechanistic (not statistical) biological variable should be addressed.

Funds awarded are to be used solely for research. BrightFocus does not fund institutional overhead, capital equipment, or construction of buildings. Salary and benefits may be requested for the PI and Co-PI(s). The Principal Investigator salary request must be the lesser of 35% of the total grant request, or 35% of the individual’s salary. Co-PI salaries are capped at the lesser of 25% of the total grant request, or 25% of the individual’s salary. Salary caps are imposed on the Principal Investigators and Co-Principal Investigators only

BUDGET

The budget may not contain administrative overhead or indirect costs, and should be prepared in US dollars. BrightFocus budgets are divided into the following categories:

Personnel: The Principal investigator, CO-PI, key investigators, and any support personnel (usually postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, or technicians) actively involved in research may request salary and benefits. Such requests should be justified and include indications of the percentage of time the personnel will devote to the proposed project (percent effort).

Supplies: The amount of money requested for supplies should be divided into major research supply categories (e.g., cell biology reagents, test fees, etc.) If animals are to be involved, the justification should state how many are to be used, their unit purchase price, and their unit care cost.

Equipment: Any major item of equipment valued over US$1,000, should be included in the budget. BrightFocus will not fund the purchase of large capital equipment. Requested equipment must be directly related to and enabling of the proposed research.

Contractual Services: The Budget should specify any costs for major support services required under the proposed research, such as preparation or laboratory testing of biological materials, or rental for surgical facilities. The justification should indicate the period of contractual service.

Travel: Travel must be relevant to the accomplishment of the project or dissemination of results of the supported research. The purpose of the travel and destination should be clearly indicated, justified, and may not include premium ticketing packages (i.e., first class or other luxury travel).

Other: Itemize any other expenses by category. This category is often used by investigators seeking funding to defray costs of publication or registration at conferences where the results of the proposed research are to be presented. Since Molecular Neurodegeneration is the official journal of BrightFocus Foundation, it is recommended that one option for a budget line item request would be to attend the biennial International Conference on Molecular Neurodegeneration.

Please note that tuition reimbursement for undergraduate and graduate students is an allowable budget item, but tuition remission is not an allowable budget item. If a procedure or technique is directly proposed to be undertaken in your proposal, line items such as rental of surgical rooms, etc., may be requested in this section.

NOTE ON BUDGET CUTS: When awards are offered, most budgets are approved as requested. However, in some cases BrightFocus may elect to make awards for only a portion of the requested budget. These decisions are made on the recommendations of peer reviewers and may manifest as an elimination of specific budget items, proposal aims, or percentage cuts off of the total award value.

NOTE ON OPEN ACCESS PUBLICATIONS: BrightFocus does not require publication in specific journals or attendance at specific conferences. However, as a publicly supported charity BrightFocus recognizes contribution of open-access model journals to the scientific community. BrightFocus grant applicants may request reasonable funds to allow publication in such journals.

STATUS NOTIFICATION

Applicants will be notified of the Board of Directors' decision concerning their application by mid-April. BrightFocus staff are not authorized to provide information on priority scores, ranking, or likelihood of funding of applications prior to written notification of applicants. Please do not write or telephone BrightFocus to request such information.

The first check is dated July 1st and is mailed once all contracts are agreed upon and signed. Funding is contingent upon receipt of signed contracts and, if required, demonstration of approval by the institution to initiate research involving human or vertebrate animals.

Specialties

Neurosciences

Ophthalmology

Eligibility Requirements

Must be allowed by institution to apply for and manage a grant award and mentor students.

The standard award provides significant funding for researchers who have already generated some amount of preliminary data, but are often required to demonstrate additional, significant progress before they can apply to governmental or industrial funding agencies.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: BrightFocus Foundation

Address: 22512 Gateway Center Drive Clarksburg, MD 20871 Phone: 1.800.437.2423 Fax: 301.258.9454 Email: researchgrants@brightfocus.org

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