Foundation Funding

Additional Information:

According to Autism Science Foundation, past research has established that individuals with autism exhibit a wide range of abilities and disabilities and that those with challenging or problematic behavior, minimal verbal ability, and/or intellectual disability are demonstrably underrepresented in research. Their exclusion prevents generalizability of research discoveries and impedes our understanding of the supports and interventions they require to live fulfilling lives. 

This RFA specifically calls for 1) pilot studies to identify or characterize the underlying biological mechanisms of profound autism* (including model systems); 2) examination of the preliminary efficacy of a behavioral or pharmacological treatment for core or co-morbid symptoms of profound autism or severe, intense, and dangerous behaviors; and 3) projects which address challenges in recruitment, retention or data collection in individuals with profound autism. While the Lancet definition does not specify the presence of severe, intense and dangerous behaviors, this RFA also includes research on severe and challenging behaviors including self-injury, aggression, PICA, wandering and irritability, which are prevalent in those with profound autism but not part of the Lancet definition. Preference will be given to those studies that include a control arm, or a group of those with non-profound autism.

The foundation will award multiple pilot grants of $35,000 over one year, determined by available financial resources. Investigators must include a letter of support from an advocacy organization involved in profound autism. 

To be eligible, applicants must hold an MD, PhD, EdD, or ScD, and hold a faculty or postdoctoral position at a university or institution, or an organization with 501(c)(3) status. U.S. citizens enrolled in or employed at universities inside or outside of the United States are eligible to apply.

*Profound autism, as defined by The Lancet Commission on the Future of Care and Clinical Research in Autism, describes autistic people who are at least 8 years old, minimally verbal or nonverbal, have IQ below 50, are not able to advocate for themselves, and will likely require 24?hour access to an adult who can care for them for the rest of their lives.

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu. 

Learn More about Autism Science Foundation – Profound Autism Pilot Grants

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Melanoma Research Alliance Dermatology Career Development Award 2024 - 2025

Additional Information:

The AASM Foundation is committed to improving patient-centered diagnosis and care for all people with sleep disorders. To ensure that there is a continued advancement in effective diagnosis and care of people with sleep disorders, the AASM Foundation provides research funding through the Strategic Research Grant. This grant is investigator-initiated and supports high-impact research projects aimed at addressing gaps in knowledge that impact the ability to provide optimal, patient-centered, cost-effective diagnosis and care for people with sleep disorders.

The Strategic Research Grant requests applications and is open to specific topics:

1. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) Research Gaps:  Open to projects that address known research gaps in the diagnosis and/or management of OSA.
2. AASM Strategic Plan Goals:  Open to projects related to the following American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Strategic Plan Focus Areas: Sleep Medicine Awareness, Practice Success, and Technology 3 2025 Strategic Research Grant Implementation.
3. Central Disorders of Hypersomnolence Research:  Open to projects that address research gaps in the treatment of central disorders of hypersomnolence that were identified in the 2021 systematic review titled, Treatment of central disorders of hypersomnolence: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE assessment and basic, translational, clinical and population research gaps identified by patient advocacy groups.
4. Dissemination and Implementation Research:  Open to dissemination and implementation sleep research projects.
5. Sleep Health Disparities Research--Open to sleep health disparities research projects among disadvantaged populations in the United States: racial/ethnic minorities, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underserved rural populations, and sexual and gender minority populations.

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu

Learn More about American Academy of Sleep Medicine Foundation—Strategic Research Grants

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu.

Learn More about Melanoma Research Alliance Young Investigator Award 2024 - 2025

Additional Information:

The Meat Foundation is a non-profit research, education, and scholarship foundation with a mission to advance scientific understanding, cultivate future leaders, and support continuous improvement in the meat industry. The Foundation invites full proposals in beef food safety in the following priorities:

• POST_FS1 - Evaluate critical contamination points for beef products, from arriving at a slaughter establishment to shipping, utilizing quantitative data, and identify key locations for targeted interventions.
• POST_FS2 - Explore innovative pathogen control measures and parameters for fresh beef. Controls evaluated should address pathogens such as Salmonella and STEC growth and survival.
• POST_FS3 - Explore innovative pathogen control measures and parameters for further processed beef items. Controls evaluated should address pathogens such as L. monocytogenes, S. aureus, and C. perfringens growth and survival. Research should focus on potential controls outside of those well documented in existing safe harbors (such as Appendices A and B) and scientific literature and may or may not include a focus on clean label products.
• POST_FS4 - In collaboration with industry, develop best practices for the dry and semi-dry fermented products as well as dry cured items. Best practices should consider current regulatory requirements. The outcome of this project should be an updated version of the Interim Good Manufacturing Practices for Fermented Dry and Semi-Dry Sausage Products.
• POST_FS5 – Explore how Salmonella populations change (level and type) over the course of beef processing and storage.
• POST_FS6 – Investigate the reliability and repeatability of rapid Salmonella quantification technologies and methods. Research should focus on lower levels of contamination (1, 10, and 100 CFU/g or mL) and be applicable to beef items. Research may also include how to improve the accuracy of the estimated level of Salmonella present in products using existing technologies within a testing timeline that is commercially acceptable for the industry.
• POST_FS7 – Evaluate the genetic changes of beef-related STEC and Salmonella isolates in the NCBI database and other global databases, across time and geographic regions (within the US and globally). Research should inform how quickly or slowly populations change and identify patterns across time and geographic regions that could inform risks.

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Meat Foundation – Beef Safety Grants

Additional Information:

VentureWell envisions a world in which science and technology innovators have the support, training, and access to networks and resources they need to solve the world’s most difficult problems. This fellowship provides a unique opportunity for educators and innovators in STEM to access funding, mentorship, and a collaborative network as you build institution-specific plans to expand STEM innovation and entrepreneurship on your campus.

This one-year fellowship supports higher education leaders in advancing STEM innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) ecosystems with a commitment to environmental and social sustainability and inclusive innovation. This fellowship program aims to strengthen campus innovation and entrepreneurship, and enhances both in-class and out-of-class student engagement and institutional culture by growing ecosystem networks. Teams of two will receive $35,000 in funding—a $10,000 award and $7,500 in travel stipends for each fellow—and 12 months of immersive programming and communities of practice. Teams must consist of two members, with at least one being a faculty member. The second member must be a faculty, staff, or administrator at a U.S. higher education institution.

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu.  

Learn More about VentureWell – Ecosystem Futures Fellowship

Additional Information:

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) invites applications for its Impact Research Grant program, which works to address gaps in high-acuity and critical care areas of clinical research.

Three grants of up to $50,000 over two years will be awarded in support of projects designed to address inquiry and systematic research that generates new knowledge. These grants will also facilitate research to support other AACN priorities, such as describing the impact of family presence, influencing nurse certification, and implementing standards for healthy work environments. Grants will ensure a pipeline for research that is vital to AACN’s research translation resources, such as protocols and practice alerts.

Investigators will be expected to present completed studies at the National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition.

Primary investigators must be AACN members, hold an earned master’s degree, or have completed candidacy requirements in a BSN-to-PhD or DNP program.

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about American Association of Critical-Care Nurses – Impact Research Grants

Additional Information:

The Parkinson’s Foundation Impact Awards program is designed for researchers both established and new to the PD field, to provide the support that will enable researchers to test new ideas with an impact on the PD community and generate compelling results that will facilitate continued investment from the Parkinson’s Foundation and other funders. Projects should be “outside the box” to bring new light to the biology of PD, a new approach to Parkinson’s research, or testing a truly novel therapeutic idea. Projects should be based on unconventional ideas that are unlikely to be funded through more traditional funding mechanisms. 

Eligible applicants include scientists with a PhD or MD, regardless of nationality or location. Only independent investigators are invited to apply. Applications from instructors who can demonstrate that they will begin a tenure-track position (as shown by a support letter from their department chair) will be considered. 

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Parkinson’s Foundation – Impact Awards Program

Additional Information:

The Parkinson’s Foundation Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award seeks clinical, pre-clinical, or basic research proposals from promising early-career scientists from all areas of Parkinson’s disease research that will directly impact the understanding of PD. Successful projects should include novel PD research hypotheses and be inventive in methodology or approach.

Junior faculty possessing a PhD, MD, or equivalent are eligible to apply. Applicants must meet the NIH definition of a "new investigator." The foundation anticipates the typical applicant will hold an assistant professor level position. Earlier stage faculty and those with more experience will be considered provided they meet the eligibility criteria. A letter of support from the applicant’s department chair is required to demonstrate the institutional commitment to the applicant.

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Parkinson’s Foundation – Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award

Additional Information:

The Simons Foundation invites letters of intent for its Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences (MPS) program, which aims to stimulate progress on fundamental scientific questions of major importance in mathematics, theoretical physics, and theoretical computer science.

A Simons Collaboration in MPS should address a mathematical or theoretical topic of fundamental scientific importance, where a significant, new development creates a novel area for exploration or provides a new direction for progress in an established field. The questions addressed by the collaboration may be concrete or conceptual, but there should be little doubt that answering them would constitute a major scientific milestone. The project should have clearly defined initial activities and goals by which progress and success can be measured. The support from the foundation should be seen as critical for the project’s objectives.

The project should involve outstanding researchers in various career stages, and the project should be organized and managed in a manner engendering a high level of collaboration. Each collaboration is led by a collaboration director who is expected to determine the scientific agenda, coordinate the scientific activities of the other members, determine (in collaboration with the other members) the scientific themes, coordinate a collaboration website, and organize collaboration meetings and activities as appropriate, including a two-day annual meeting at the foundation. The director will be the foundation’s main contact for the collaboration activities. They will be responsible for monitoring the overall progress of the research effort and deciding on research directions and personnel as the collaboration evolves.

A Simons Collaboration in MPS is budgeted at up to $2 million per year for four years, including indirect costs. The scientific impact of the collaboration will be evaluated at the year-four annual meeting, and an extension of three additional years may be granted.

To be eligible, the collaboration director must hold a tenured faculty, or equivalent, position at a U.S. or Canadian educational institution, on campus within these countries, with a PhD program in the director’s department at the time of application. PIs and co-investigators (co-Is) must hold a tenured or tenure-track faculty, or equivalent, position at an educational institution at the time of application and for the duration of the award. There are no restrictions on the department and/or discipline of the director or PIs/co-Is. PIs, co-Is, and other collaboration participants may be from non-U.S. institutions.

For more information, please contact Heidi Jurgens at jurgensh@msu.edu

Learn More about Simons Foundation – Simons Collaborations in Mathematics and the Physical Sciences Program

Additional Information:

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. Standard Awards are open to tenure- and non-tenure track investigators of any career stage who are appropriately trained to lead an independent research study and are permitted by their organizations to manage grants and supervise key personnel.  Specific criteria include:

• Candidates must hold an MD, PhD, DVM, DO, OD or equivalent degree
  • Applicant must serve as the Principal Investigator on the project and have independent laboratory space. The applicant should use the indicated space on the application forms to clarify any position that is not immediately recognizable as an independent research position.
  • While some of the grant can be used to support salary for the PI, the percent requested should be limited to the lesser of 25% of the total grant request, or 25% of the individual’s salary. Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI)salaries are capped at the lesser of 15% of the total grant request, or 15% of the individual’s salary.
  • Applicants may currently be working in a non-profit, governmental, academic research institution, or at a for-profit including start-up and biotech institution

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu. 

Learn More about BrightFocus Foundation—National Glaucoma Research Grant—Standard Award

Additional Information:

Postdoctoral fellowship awards are intended for young researchers in their final stages of mentored training. These awards fund projects in an established laboratory that will serve as the basis for the applicant's own independent research career. Specific eligibility criteria include:

• Candidates must hold an MD, PhD, DVM, DO, OD or equivalent degree
•  Applicant may apply for this fellowship before completing their terminal degree, if they have a firm commitment from the laboratory head in which training will take place, and the applicant is the main author of the application
• Fellowship may be performed in a non-profit, governmental, academic research institution, or at a for profit including start-up and biotech institution
• Previous recipients of this award are not eligible

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu. 

Learn More about BrightFocus Foundation—National Glaucoma Research Grant—Post Doctoral Fellowship Award

Additional Information:

Advocacy Grants

RRF funds advocacy projects that focus on improving public policy for older persons. Of particular interest are projects that:

• Advance policy issues of critical importance to older people such as economic security, caregiving, housing, etc.
• Use clearly focused and strategic efforts to address systemic problems
• Forge partnerships with organizations to achieve better use of resources and to share knowledge

Mission

RRF Foundation for Aging’s mission is to improve the quality of life for older people. RRF is one of the first private foundations devoted exclusively to aging and retirement issues. Priority areas are:

1. Caregiving
2. Economic Security in Later Life
3. Housing
4. Social & Intergenerational Connectedness

*Technology is a cross-cutting theme as to all of the above. RRF is interested in supporting efforts that leverage technology as a practical tool for enhancing the quality of life of older adults. Within our grantmaking framework, technology is regarded as a “cross-cutting theme” that has relevance across all priority areas and program pathways.

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu

Learn More about RRF Foundation for Aging—Advocacy Grants

Additional Information:

Research Grants

RRF funds research that seeks to identify interventions, policies and practices to improve the well-being of older adults and/or their caregivers. Preference is given to projects aimed at generating practical knowledge and guidance that can be used by advocates, policy-makers, providers, and the aging network. Of particular interest are:

• Interventional trials; translational studies; and health services and policy research
• Projects that build on the investigator’s past studies
• Proposals that include robust dissemination plans, if appropriate, to assure that findings reach audiences positioned to act on them

Mission

RRF Foundation for Aging’s mission is to improve the quality of life for older people. RRF is one of the first private foundations devoted exclusively to aging and retirement issues. Priority areas are:

1. Caregiving
2. Economic Security in Later Life
3. Housing
4. Social & Intergenerational Connectedness

*Technology is a cross-cutting theme as to all of the above. RRF is interested in supporting efforts that leverage technology as a practical tool for enhancing the quality of life of older adults. Within our grantmaking framework, technology is regarded as a “cross-cutting theme” that has relevance across all priority areas and program pathways.

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu

Learn More about RRF Foundation for Aging—Research Grants

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Melanoma Research Alliance Established Investigator Award 2024 - 2025

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Melanoma Research Alliance Established Investigator Academic-Industry Partnership (AIP) Award 2024 - 2025

For more information, please contact Jess Bitting bitting7@msu.edu

Learn More about Melanoma Research Alliance Pilot Award 2024 - 2025

Additional Information:

The McKnight Neurobiology of Brain Disorders Award (NBD Award) assists scientists working to apply the knowledge achieved through basic research to human brain disorders, and who demonstrate a commitment to equitable and inclusive lab environments. Each year, up to four awards are given. Awards provide $100,000 per year for three years. Funds may be used toward a variety of research activities. They may not be used for the recipient’s salary. Online application opens on July 30, 2024.

The McKnight Foundation is interested in proposals that address the biological mechanisms of neurological and psychiatric disorders. This includes proposals that provide mechanistic insights into neurological functions at the synaptic, cellular, molecular, genetic or behavioral level across different species, including humans and vertebrate and invertebrate model organisms. A new additional area of interest is the contribution of the environment to brain disorders. We are particularly interested in proposals that incorporate new approaches and in those that provide potential paths for therapeutic interventions. Collaborative and cross-disciplinary applications are encouraged.

For more information, please contact Larry Wallach at wallach@msu.edu

Learn More about McKnight Foundation—Neurology & Brain Disorders Award

Additional Information:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is taking bold leaps to transform health in our lifetime and pave the way, together, to a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right. RWJF’s Health Policy Fellows program supports this vision by creating a strong and diverse leadership in health policy committed to advancing health.

Health Policy Fellows is a nonpartisan program located in Washington, D.C., that engages midcareer professionals interested in increasing their expertise in health policy. We are seeking applicants with deep experience and subject matter expertise in a discipline that influences health. Applicants should be committed to contributing to the health policy filed for at least 10 years after the fellowship. The fellowship strongly encourages individuals with diverse backgrounds, ideologies, and perspectives to apply.

Eligibility/Selection Criteria:

• Exceptional midcareer professionals that have earned an advanced degree (masters or doctoral degree).
• Applicants must have deep experience and subject matter expertise in a health-related discipline. Examples include but are not limited to medicine: nursing; public health; law; dentistry; economics; and other social sciences (especially disciplines related to factors that influence population health, such as housing, transportation, nutrition, wealth, employment, education, and environmental and community conditions); health services and social work/behavioral health; and other health professions.

Optional applicant web conference calls are available as well as specific deadlines and resources on the RWJF website.  

For more information, please contact Melissa Anderson at ande2476@msu.edu

Learn More about Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – Health Policy Fellows

Additional Information:
The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research is dedicated to accelerating exciting academic discoveries into new therapies and platforms that will substantially improve outcomes for cancer patients.

The Drug Discovery Award program was established to align with investigators working to discover and progress a new therapeutic agent into preclinical development, providing not only resources to support post-target validation through early lead development but also the expertise of seasoned biopharma R&D scientists who will advise on activities on the critical path to developing a new therapeutic agent.

Eligibility:

• Principal investigators must hold an MD, PhD, or equivalent and be independent researcher at the respective institutions.
• Individuals are limited to one application as principal investigator but may be co-investigators on other proposals without limitation.
• Eligible therapeutic modalities:
  • Large molecules / biologics
  • Small molecules (including heterobifunctionals)
  • Peptides
  • Conjugates (ADC, radioconjugates)
  • Nucleic acids (ASO, RNA)
• Eligible project stages:
  • Lead discovery – generate and credential new leads against a validated target
  • Optimization – assess and enhance efficacy, safety, and DMPK of existing leads
• The following topics are ineligible for this award:
  • Drug delivery technologies or optimizations
  • Drug repurposing
  • Preclinical development (IND-enabling studies)
  • Cell therapies, gene therapies, viral therapies, and vaccines

 For more information, please contact Heidi Jurgens at jurgensh@msu.edu or Melissa Anderson at ande2476@msu.edu.

Learn More about The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research – Drug Discovery Award