Discovery research includes the search for understanding the causes of disease, unraveling pathways involved in disease, identifying novel drug targets, and testing new strategies to treat disease. The goal for discovery research is to form a solid foundation that informs and accelerates all subsequent drug development. Since each rare disease poses unique challenges to therapy development, discovery research may include various types of studies related to the unmet needs of each disorder including the creation of improved disease models, biomarker discovery, and the identification of the genetic causes of disease, among others.
These Research Grants are awarded to independent, established investigators to accelerate progress toward understanding and treating neuromuscular disease and total $100,000 per year for one to three years. In a very limited number of cases, awards will exceed $100,000 per year, but pre-approval is required before letter of intent submission.
To be eligible to apply for a Discovery Research Grant, applicants must:
- Hold a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D), Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) or equivalent degree (i.e. D.O.)
- Be a professional or faculty member (professor, associate professor or assistant professor) at an appropriate educational, medical, corporate or research institution
- Be qualified to conduct a program of original research within his or her own laboratory
- Assume both administrative and financial responsibility for the grant
- Have access to institutional resources necessary to conduct the proposed research project
Applications should directly relate to a disease in MDA’s program.
Applications should focus on accelerating therapy development for the disease(s) in question. Such projects may include:
- New target identification
- Target validation
- Screening for new therapeutic molecules that hit validated targets
- Addressing a need of the neuromuscular research field (e.g., developing a novel animal or cell model of the disease, developing new technologies.
Deadline: 1st December 2019.