• Learn about ARPA-H's first program called Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO).
• Apply for NINDS's new $10,000 prize to recognize rigor champions in neuroscience.
• Browse a list of funding opportunities from DOD, NIH, and NSF.

ARPA-H to Fund Research on New Osteoarthritis Treatments

What if we could make our joints heal themselves? The Biden Administration launched the Novel Innovations for Tissue Regeneration in Osteoarthritis (NITRO) program, the first under the newly established Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) agency. NITRO aims to develop new ways of helping the human body repair its own joints, with the goal of revolutionizing treatment for osteoarthritis (OA).

NITRO will explore technologies focused in three areas - injectable bone regeneration, injectable cartilage regeneration, and replacement joints built from human cells. The goal of NITRO is to eradicate OA through targeted, regenerative therapeutics that aim to revolutionize care, prevent pain, lessen the economic burden, and eliminate the need for repeat joint surgery.

The NITRO BAA calls for proposals to advance regenerative and reconstructive strategies for treating OA, using pioneering approaches to enable revolutionary advances in patient care. Multiple awards under this BAA are anticipated and resources available will depend on the quality of the proposals received and the availability of funds. The BAA provides full program details. A Proposers' Day for interested research teams, or performers, is scheduled for June 15, 2023.

NIH NINDS Launches New Prize to Recognize Rigor Champions in Neuroscience

The NINDS Rigor Champion Prize is a new initiative from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to recognize and reward individuals or small teams who have promoted or enhanced research rigor and transparency practices in neuroscience. The prize is open to anyone in the academic community, regardless of their career stage or role. The goals of the prize are to: (1) identify and celebrate rigor champions, (2) raise awareness of the importance of research rigor and transparency, and (3) encourage others to adopt these practices.

Individuals and small teams (up to 5 individuals) are invited to submit short essays detailing how they have championed activities related to enhancing attention to rigor and transparency relevant to the field of neuroscience. Specifically, participants will be asked to describe the significance and impact of these activities and to what extent they have championed the activity. NINDS intends to award up to five monetary prizes of $10,000 each. Additional information about the planned Challenge competition is linked below. The Challenge is currently open for submissions through August 15th, 2023.

DOD FY 2023 Department of Defense Melanoma Research Program (MRP)

The FY23 Defense Appropriations Act has allocated funding for the Melanoma Research Program (MRP) to support innovative, high-impact research on melanoma, including basic, translational, and clinical research. This program is designed to accelerate the development of new treatments and cures for melanoma. You can find a list of award mechanisms and submission requirements by clicking "Learn More" below.

Pre-Application Deadline: July 10 or August 31, 2023, depending on the mechanism

Full Application Deadline: September 22, 2023 for all mechanisms

NIH NHLBI TOPMed Announces Fellowship Program to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Genomic Data Science Research Workforce

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is now accepting applications for the 2023 TOPMed Fellowship program. This program is designed to support the career advancement of early-career scientists from diverse backgrounds who are interested in conducting research in the areas of genetics and genomics relevant to heart, lung, blood, and sleep diseases and disorders.

The fellowship program provides up to $50,000 over two years. Fellows are expected to use this funding to conduct research using TOPMed data, which is a large collection of genetic and genomic data from over 100,000 individuals.

To be eligible for the fellowship program, applicants must:

• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
• Be enrolled in a doctoral program in a relevant field of study
• Have a strong academic record
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion in biomedical research

Deadline: July 31, 2023

NIH Mechanistic Investigations into ADRD Multiple Etiology Dementias (R01)

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) supports investigations with a minimum of two Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementias (ADRD) co-pathologies (e.g., tau, alpha-synuclein, TDP-43, TMEM106B, vascular), with or without risk factors and co-morbidities, in the same model system to identify interactions and cellular and molecular mechanisms to determine how, whether, and when these interactive multi-pathology mechanisms drive worsening pathophysiology and clinical phenotypic outcomes, such as cognitive, behavioral, or functional impairment.

Deadline: October 4, 2023

NIH Measuring Financial Hardship Among People and Families Living with AD/ADRD (R01)

The purpose of this initiative is to develop measures of financial hardship associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) that are responsive to the dyadic and family-level financial management arrangements that are common as AD/ADRD progresses. In order to accurately measure financial hardship among people and families living with AD/ADRD, validated screeners are needed to capture unique hardships associated with AD/ADRD that are not measured in screeners developed for people with cancer or in screeners developed for healthy households. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) invites research to support the development of measures of financial hardship for persons living with AD/ADRD and their partners, families, or caregivers to facilitate research on financial health – a key social determinant of health – and health- related quality of life among older adults with AD/ADRD.

Deadline: October 23, 2023

Advancing Psychedelics Research for Treating Addiction (R01)

This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) will support research to improve our understanding of psychedelic drug mechanisms in the context of substance use disorders (SUDs). This NOFO will also support the design and synthesis of chemical biology tools and probes to aid basic research on psychedelics and their translational pharmacology. This NOFO requires a Plan for Enhancing Diverse Perspectives (PEDP), which will be assessed as part of the scientific and technical peer review evaluation. Applications that fail to include a PEDP will be considered incomplete and will be withdrawn.

Deadline: November 2, 2023

NSF DCL: GEO Opportunity for Graduate Students Supplemental Funding to Link Geosciences and Human Health (GeoHealth INTERN)

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting supplemental funding requests for the GeoHealth INTERN program. This program provides graduate students with the opportunity to augment their research assistantships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) fellowships with research internship activities and training opportunities at a public health or medical facility.

The GeoHealth INTERN program is designed to foster collaboration between geoscientists and public health/medical professionals to address high-priority challenges in human health caused by our changing natural environment. These challenges include, but are not limited to, air quality, wildfire aerosols and particulates, nano/microplastics, forever chemicals, extreme temperatures, fluvial and groundwater quality, heavy metal transport in natural waters, harmful algal blooms, ocean-borne disease, and downstream impacts from mining and other natural resource extractive industries.

NSF will consider supplemental funding requests for up to $55,000 for up to six months of graduate student support. To be eligible for funding, students must be enrolled in a full-time graduate program in a geoscience discipline at an accredited U.S. university or college. Students must also have a strong academic record and a demonstrated interest in pursuing a career in geohealth research.

Deadline: Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time.

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