Research Funding

Funding Opportunities

Duke Funding

Duke Biostatistical Research Pilot FundingThe DTMI has funds available through the CTSA grant to support research projects in biostatistical methodology applicable to clinical and translational science. Applications relevant to either of the major translational blocks, Bench to Bedside or Trials to Populations, are especially welcome. Awards will be for two years. Individual awards per year will be $35K. Joint applications will be allowed a maximum of $35K per year per individual; the amount for successful joint applications may vary.

Bass Connections in Global Health is interested in promoting educational and research activities that integrate disciplines and bring together various levels of students and trainees in teams to address problems of societal consequence. Global health is defined as an area for study, research, and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide. A request for proposals for projects focused in Global Health is underway. Bass Connections projects are team-based scholarship. Proposals must describe the project team, with specific attention to three core elements: (1) a real-world problem that will provide the focus of the team; (2) interdisciplinary membership, representing diverse disciplinary expertise that is relevant to the chosen problem; (3) and students at different learning levels. Teams will consist of two or more faculty (the faculty should come from different disciplines), at least three undergraduates and at least one graduate/professional student or postdoctoral fellow. The deadline for proposals is May 30, 2013.

Duke Center for Personalized Medicine: Travel Grants Program. The Duke Center for Personalized Medicine Travel Grants program provides funding for Duke Junior Faculty members and Trainees to travel to national academic personalized medicine conferences. The purpose of the travel grants program is to contribute to the dedicated community of experts within the Duke system who address the scientific, clinical, technical, legal, ethical, and policy aspects of personalized medicine.

Bass Connections: Brain and Society. Faculty-initiated proposals are matched with interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates to complete projects with diverse outcomes, ranging from co-authored articles to artistic solutions, policy briefs, smartphone applications, curricula, community outreach programs and other mediums. Any group of faculty members with interests in these areas is invited to submit an application. The inaugural Brain and Society teams will begin working together in summer 2013. A statement of intent is the first stage of the application process.

Industry Funding

The Biomarker Factory is accepting proposals for funding of biomarker projects at all stages, from early discovery to validation. They offer domain expertise in the areas of: experimental designs in diagnostic studies, biospecimens (including potential access to the MURDOCK longitudinal health study collection), assay development, clinical research, and clinical practice. Areas of interest include disease diagnosis, and prognostic, predictive, and companion diagnostics for personalized medicine.

Government Funding

The National Institutes of Health will fund research projects that seek to find out how the function of genes and gene variants are involved in certain rare diseases that have only recently been diagnosed. Letter of intent due May 14, 2013.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will support the career development of post-docs and junior faculty in comparative effectiveness research methods, applied to patient-centered outcomes. Letter of intent due June 7, 2013.

The National Institute on Aging will support the application of optogenetic tools for research on normal and/or pathological aging of neural systems. Letter of intent due July 1, 2013.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences solicits applications from institutions that propose to provide better resources, knowledge, and tools to prepare for, identify and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Letter of intent due June 18, 2013.

The National Institute of Mental Health plans to support research efforts under the PsychENCODE project. This funding opportunity will support studies that identify non-coding functional genomic elements and elucidate their role in the etiology of mental disorders. Letter of Intent Due Date is May 10, 2013.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute plans to use as much as $29.9 million over the next five years to fund new resources of omics data, tissue samples, and a research center that will support efforts to understand the molecular basis of lung development in humans and mice. Letter of Intent Due Date is May 19, 2013.

The National Human Genome Research Institute plans to fund new efforts to delve into the range of possible ethical, legal, and social issues that could arise from the use of genomics technologies and genome-focused research projects in Africa. Deadlines June 19, 2013 and March 19, 2014.

The National Cancer Institute intends to fund investigators who will use samples and data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening (PLCO) trial to study the etiology of cancer and develop early detection biomarkers. Deadlines February 20, 2013; June 20, 2013; February 20, 2014; June 20, 2014; February 20, 2015; June 19, 2015.

The National Human Genome Research Institute plans to fund development of short courses that will spread information about genomics methods and techniques and will update researchers on many of the ethical, legal, and social implications (ELSI) of new genomics advances. Standard dates apply.