Program Overview:
CurePSP Student Fellowships support students and trainees conducting summer research projects focused on PSP or CBD. The goal of these programs is to encourage trainees to pursue research in this field in an effort to make PSP or CBD a long-term area of research interest and to further our understanding of these diseases.
Through the Student Fellowships program, CurePSP provides summer support to trainees, in the amount of $5,000 as detailed below. Proposals are carefully evaluated by CurePSP scientific staff and stakeholders in collaboration with our Executive Director and the Board of Directors.
The Urso Student Fellowship supports students conducting summer research projects focused on PSP, CBD, and related tauopathies. This program is supported by the Paul and Ruth Urso Memorial Research Fund. The goal of this fellowship program is to encourage students and trainees to pursue research in this field in the hope of making PSP or CBD a long-term area of research interest. Projects may be in basic, translational, clinical or epidemiological aspects of PSP and CBD.
Undergraduate, graduate, and medical students are eligible – as well as medical residents and clinical fellows. Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible for this program. The research must be performed under the supervision of a faculty mentor with expertise in the field. The maximum award is $5,000. Funds may be budgeted to cover the applicant’s stipend and research related expenses.
The Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowship supports undergraduate students conducting summer research projects focused on PSP or CBD. The goal of this fellowship program is to encourage undergraduate students to pursue research in this field in an effort to make PSP or CBD a long-term area of research interest and to further our understanding of these diseases. In addition, their important work will aid in increasing the awareness of these rare neurodegenerative diseases with the end goal of a cure. Fellowship projects should have a neuroscience focus and may be in basic, translational, or clinical aspects of PSP or CBD.
Undergraduate students are eligible. The research must be performed under the supervision of a faculty mentor with expertise in the field. The maximum award for this application cycle is $5,000. Funds may be budgeted to cover the applicant’s stipend and research related expenses.

Important Dates:
- October 2024: Application submission opens through ProposalCentral.
- January 31, 2025: Submissions due by 5pm ET.
- By March 2025: Award notifications sent out.
- May 1, 2025: Earliest possible start date. Awards are three-month summer terms, typically from May-August.

Projects:
The Student Fellowship programs focus on summer research projects related to PSP or CBD as outlined above. If other tauopathies or proteinopathies are used for investigation, a strong cross-disease link must be part of the project’s rationale. If you have questions about whether your proposal is a fit for our program, please contact Dr. Jennifer Brummet, CurePSP’s Associate Director of Scientific Affairs and Partnerships, brummet@curepsp.org.
Use of Funds:
Funds may be budgeted to cover the applicant’s stipend and research related expenses.
CurePSP Student Fellowships are not designed to cover the total cost of the research proposed. CurePSP will not provide funding that is redundant with that from other sources, but recognizes that summer projects will require funding from multiple sources to cover expenses. The student’s mentor/institution is expected to provide the required physical facilities and administrative services normally available in an institution.
CurePSP’s research grants do not provide money for facilities and administration costs (indirect costs), or funds for such items as: secretarial/administrative salaries, books and periodicals, membership dues, office and laboratory furniture, office equipment and supplies, rental of office or laboratory space, recruiting and relocation expenses, personal services, or construction, renovation, or maintenance of buildings or laboratories.
CurePSP agrees to pay all direct but no indirect costs for this project.
Flexibility: It is the intent of CurePSP to be flexible in response to the changing needs of a research program. The student and mentor may make minor alterations within the approved budget except where such expenditures conflict with the policies of CurePSP. Major changes e.g. change of milestones and deliverables) require written approval from Dr. Jennifer Brummet, CurePSP’s Associate Director of Scientific Affairs and Partnerships, by email (brummet@curepsp.org).
Formatting:
All proposal attachments should follow the below formatting and content requirements.
Font Type/Size: Use 11-point Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial as the minimum font size for the text of the application. 9-point Times New Roman, Calibri or 9-point Arial may be used for figures, legends, and tables.
Spacing: Single-spaced text is acceptable, and space between paragraphs is recommended.
Margins: The margins of your text should be at least 1 inch all around (“normal” setting in MS Word).
Application Instructions
Full Proposals: due by January 31, 2025, 5:00 PM ET
Please read these full instructions carefully and plan in advance to ensure all components will be complete at the time you submit your proposal, including required signatures.
Required components of the application include the following sections to be completed as online forms in PropsosalCentral or submitted as individual proposal attachments in PDF format. Additional instructions will be available on screen in ProposalCentral and within downloadable templates for proposal attachments. No applications, nor any parts of or updates to the application, will be accepted if submitted after the deadline or if sent directly to CurePSP by electronic or U.S. mail.
ProposalCentral:
Proposals must be submitted through ProposalCentral (https://ProposalCentral.altum.com)
- Applicants who do not yet have an account with ProposalCentral need to register as a new user and provide the requested professional profile information before proceeding.
- If you are already registered with ProposalCentral, access the site with your current username and password. You can click on “Forgot Your Username/Password” to reset your password.
- Once you are logged in, you can access the application by selecting the “Grant Opportunities” tab. You can filter the list to display only CurePSP grant opportunities.

- Locate the CurePSP Student Fellowships program, and click on Apply Now to begin an application.
- To return to an in-progress application, log in as an Applicant and navigate to the Proposals tab to access your in-progress proposal.
If you have difficulty registering, logging in, or starting your application, please contact ProposalCentral customer support by phone at (800)875-2562 or by email at pcsupport@altum.com.
Contacts:
For technical issues, please contact ProposalCentral customer support by phone at (800)875-2562 or by email at pcsupport@altum.com.
For questions about eligibility, your application, or the review process, please contact Jennifer Brummet at brummet@curepsp.org
Step-By-Step Instructions:
1. Title Page:
a. Please enter a project title (75 characters max).
b. Fellowship Type: Please select whether you are applying to the Urso Student Fellowship, Jim Atwood Neuroscience Student Fellowship, or both. Please check the program eligibility to determine which program is a fit. Undergraduate students studying PSP or CBD may be eligible to be considered for both programs. Other candidates should only select one program for consideration.
c. Enter the total amount requested. Budget totals should reflect an approximately three-month summer project, not to exceed $5,000.
2. Instructions and templates: The application instructions can be downloaded from this page. Additionally, you can download a template for the research plan.
3. Enable Other Users to Access this Proposal: You can give other users viewing, editing, or administrative access to your grant application (for example, a collaborator, or university administrator).
a. An electronic signature is required for submission of your proposal. Please ensure your signatory has Edit access on this screen.
4. Student: Enter information on the student applicant. Review and confirm the information is correct or edit your professional profile.
5. Mentor: Please enter the name of the mentor/PI involved with the proposal.
6. Institutional Support: Please enter contact information for your signing official, department head, and financial officer. This includes the authorized signing official that will provide the e-signature required for submission (see #14 below).
7. Abstracts: Please enter a lay abstract.
a. Lay Abstract: 2,000 characters. The abstract should be written for a general audience. Technical terms should be minimized or explained, and Greek characters and other symbols should be avoided or spelled out. If funded, this abstract will be published on the CurePSP website. 

8. Budget Period Detail: Enter a proposed project/budget start and end date. Funds may be used to cover the applicant’s stipend and research-related expenses. CurePSP will not pay indirect costs. Enter costs for relevant budget categories.
a. Total Amount Requested: Budget totals should reflect an approximately three-month summer project, not to exceed $5,000.
9. Budget Summary and Justification: Max 3,000 characters. Justify all items of proposed budget.
10. Current and Pending Support: CurePSP will not provide funding that is redundant with that from other sources, but recognizes that this summer project will require funding from multiple sources to cover expenses. Indicate overlap with proposed project.
a. Current Support: List all current awards; give the source of funds, grant number, title of project, period of time covered by the grant, the amount of direct cost support for current year and total grant period, and percent effort. Outline the goals of the project in a brief two or three sentence paragraph. If necessary, an explanatory letter should be included in the appendix to clarify the differences between the present application to the CurePSP and currently funded projects.
b. Pending Support: List all pending applications to other funding sources for research support.
11. PI Data Sheet: Please enter your personal demographics. Applicant information is pre-loaded from the applicant’s Professional Profile and can be updated directly on this page. These fields will not be visible to reviewers or used as part of the review process. These fields will be visible to CurePSP staff and will be used to help CurePSP understand our granting programs through analysis of aggregated data.
12. Attachments: Please upload the below components of your proposal as attachments.
a. Curriculum Vitae: Upload a Curriculum vitae for the student applicant and the mentor.
i. Student: Max 2 pages. We acknowledge that the applicant is in her or his early-stages of career, so we accept any type of curriculum vitae (max. 2 pages). We simply want to get to know the student better. The (student) letter of motivation is more important for the review process than the CV.
ii. Mentor: Max 4 pages (including publication lists). Please include a personal statement describing why you are well-suited for your role as mentor in the project described in this application. The relevant factors may include aspects of your training; your previous experimental work on this specific topic or related topics; your technical expertise; your collaborators or scientific environment; and your past performance in this or related fields (you may mention specific contributions to science). Also, you may identify up to four peer reviewed publications that specifically highlight your experience and qualifications for this project. If you wish to explain impediments to your past productivity, you may include a description of factors such as family care responsibilities, illness, disability, and active duty military service.
b. Research Plan: Max 2 pages. A template is available. There is no need to discuss PSP or CBD fundamentals. Proposals should be realistic in terms of work to be accomplished in the period of time for which support is requested. You can insert figures here.

i. Specific Aims: List the objectives and goal of the research proposed and describe the specific aims briefly in order of priority.
ii. Background and Significance: Briefly summarize related work done by others and specifically state how the successful completion of the work proposed the in specific aims of the application will advance scientific knowledge or aspects of clinical practice.
iii. Research Design and Methods: Describe your proposed methods and procedures.
c. Milestones/Deliverables: Max 1 pages. Create a comprehensive list of milestones and deliverables including a timeline when those are due. It is recommended to visualize the timeline using e.g. a Gantt chart. You can insert figures here.
d. Letter of Motivation: Max 1 page. Letter describing the applicant's interest in pursuing PSP research and how this award will help to attain those goals.
e. References: No page limit. References: Each literature citation should include the author names, title, book or journal, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication.
f. Appendix: Optional; no page limit. Upload assurances and certifications, support letters No figures or references should be included in the appendix.
i. All activities involving human subjects or vertebrate animals must be approved by an appropriate institutional committee before the application will be funded by the CurePSP. Furthermore, compliance with current US Department of Health and Human Services guidelines for financial conflict of interest, recombinant DNA, research misconduct, and vertebrate animals is required. The assurances and certifications are made and verified by the signature of the institutional official signing the application. Assurances and certificates may be included into the Appendix.
13. Validate Application: Click the 'Validate' button below to check for any missing REQUIRED information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please correct any missing information before proceeding to the next step - SUBMISSION. Validating the proposal DOES NOT submit the application to the funder. You must proceed to the submission page and click the Submit button there to complete the process.
14. Signature Page: Enter the name of a signing official for your institution/organization on the Institutional Support page. They will receive a prompt to complete an e-signature for this proposal. This signature is required on the Signature Page for submission.
a. Download application: Optional. After you complete the signature and validation, you can download a PDF of your application for your records. Note: It may generate a cover page with many blank fields. This page does not need to be filled in prior to submission.
15. Submit: To submit your Proposal, please click the 'Submit' button below. You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation email from pcsupport@altum.com will be sent to the applicant. Please add pcsupport@altum.com to your safe senders list to ensure receipt of your submission.
Overview of Required Application Materials:
Please see below for an overview of all required proposal components listed above. All materials need to be submitted through ProposalCentral in one of two ways as detailed below: 1) entered directly into ProposalCentral’s web forms, or 2) uploaded as an attachment.

Evaluation:
Applications are reviewed by CurePSP scientific staff and stakeholders, and funding decisions are made by the Executive Director and Board of Directors.
Proposals are reviewed for:
• Scientific merit: Strengths and weaknesses of the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses of the proposed aims.
• Fit for CurePSP’s Student Fellowship program: This program prioritizes supporting students working on summer projects related to PSP or CBD.
• Budget and timeline: Is the budget appropriate for the proposed project? Is the project feasible for the proposed award period?