Discover Funding Opportunities

This limited competition Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites renewal applications of existing NINDS-supported clinical trial cooperative agreement awards (U01) requiring additional time and resources to complete the clinical trial. The program is offered by the National Institutes of Health through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and supports the continuation of ongoing clinical trials in neuroscience and neurological disorders. This is a restricted competition opportunity specifically designed for renewal of existing cooperative agreement awards, not for new applicants. The funding is provided through cooperative agreements which involve substantial programmatic involvement between the recipients and NIH during the performance of the activities.

This NOFO provides funding to conduct pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and in vivo efficacy studies to demonstrate that proposed therapeutic agent(s) have sufficient biological activity to warrant further development to treat neurological or neuromuscular disorders that fall under the NINDS mission. Therapeutic agents include small molecules, biologics or biotechnology-derived products. This FOA is part of a suite of Innovation Grants to Nurture Initial Translational Efforts (IGNITE) to advance projects to the point where they can meet the entry criteria for the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network or other translational programs. The grant mechanism is R61/R33, which is a phased innovation award designed to support high-impact projects. Clinical trials are not allowed under this funding opportunity.

The purpose of this award is to support outstanding scientific training of highly promising postdoctoral candidates with outstanding mentors. Candidates are eligible to apply for support from this program from approximately 12 months prior to the start of the proposed postdoctoral position to within 12 months after starting in postdoctoral position. Based on the early timeframe of eligibility, and the discouragement of inclusion of preliminary data, this NINDS F32 seeks to foster early, goal-directed planning and to encourage applications for bold and/or innovative projects by the candidate that have the potential for significant impact. Applications are expected to incorporate strong training in quantitative reasoning and the quantitative principles of experimental design and analysis. Support by this program is limited to the first 3 years of a candidate's activity in a specific laboratory or research environment, so as to further encourage early fellowship application and timely completion of mentored training of the postdoctoral candidate in a single environment.

This announcement encourages applications for multi-center clinical trials focused on neurological emergencies. Successful applicants will collaborate and conduct the trial within the NIH SIREN Network. The NIH SIREN Clinical Coordinating Center (CCC) will work with the successful applicants to implement the proposed trial efficiently and the SIREN Data Coordinating Center (DCC) will provide statistical and data management support. The NIH SIREN hubs and their affiliated clinical sites will provide on-site implementation of the clinical protocols. The NIH SIREN Network will also be uniquely poised to collaborate with other US and international consortia necessary to conduct larger, definitive trials of promising interventions for neurological emergencies. Multi-center clinical trials in stroke treatment, recovery, or prevention supported by NINDS will be conducted in the NIH StrokeNet, and not within SIREN. Applicants do not need to be part of the existing SIREN infrastructure to apply under this FOA.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) encourages applications for multi-site exploratory and confirmatory clinical trials focused on promising interventions; biomarker or outcome measure validation studies that are immediately preparatory to trials in stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery; and ancillary studies designed to add scientific aims to active studies being conducted within StrokeNet. Successful applicants will collaborate and conduct the study within the NIH StrokeNet. Following peer review, NINDS will prioritize studies among the highest scoring to be conducted in the NIH StrokeNet infrastructure. The NIH StrokeNet National Coordinating Center (NCC) will work with the successful applicant to implement the proposed study efficiently and the National Data Management Center (NDMC) will provide statistical and data management support. The NIH StrokeNet Regional Coordinating Centers (RCCs) and their affiliated clinical sites will provide recruitment/retention support as well as on-site implementation of the clinical protocol.