Career Development Award

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Grant Name

Funder

Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB)

Country or Region

United States

Research Field

Bioengineering

Blindness

Gene Therapy

Medical Genetics

Ophthalmology

Organ Transplantation

Vision

Visual Perception

Visual Prostheses

Deadline

April 22, 2022 (Expired)

Grant Size

$375,000USD In general, each five-year award will be for a total of $375,000, received as five annual payments of $75,000. The CDA may be used for partial support of the candidate's salary, postdoctoral and/or technical staff salaries and research supplies.

Contact Info

The Foundation Fighting Blindness grants@fightblindness.org

Eligibility

Clinician-scientists possessing an M.D., D.O., or recognized equivalent foreign degree and who are in their first, second, or third year of a junior faculty appointment are eligible to apply for a CDA. Recipients of these awards must be clinicians who currently care for patients with RDDs. Applicants do not have to be U.S. citizens. Applicants funded from other sources are eligible to apply. The source and nature of this funding must be disclosed to FFB at the time of application.

Description

The Foundation is soliciting applications from researcher of superior dedication and talent. The award is for junior investigators to pursue vigorous research programs to drive the research to find the therapies and cures for inherited retinal degenerative diseases (RDD). The goal of this program is to facilitate advances in laboratory and clinical research, to elucidate the mechanisms for the etiology and pathogenesis of RDD and to develop innovative strategies to prevent, treat and cure these diseases. The recipient must be mentored by one or more senior clinician-scientist. Research programs can be clinical or laboratory-based and must address one (or more) of the six designated FFB Priority Research Program Areas that are listed and described below: Therapeutic Approaches: 1. Gene Therapy (GT) - Develop and optimize viral and/or non-viral gene delivery systems for the treatment of dominant, recessive and X-linked retinal degenerative diseases. Demonstrate efficacy and safety using pre-clinical models in preparation for human clinical trials. 2. Regenerative Medicine (RM) - Develop strategies to rescue and, ultimately, replace dead retinal cells with cells capable of functional replacement (e.g., stem cells , retinal precursor cells), sufficient to restore lost vision. 3. Novel Medical Therapies (NMT) - Develop therapeutic molecules to retain retinal function and structure in retinal degenerative diseases; including the creation of improved animal models of human disease, better functional testing of drug efficacy and novel drug delivery systems. Basic Research 4. Genetics (GE) - Identify disease-causing mutations in inherited retinal disorders, in part by integrating comprehensive genetic testing into routine clinical care. Identify inherited risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the relative contributions of associated genetic and non-genetic factors (e.g., lifestyle), sufficient to incorporate into treatment and preventions. 5. Cell and Molecular Mechanisms of Disease (CMM) - Improve the understanding of the nature and cause of disease in inherited retinal degenerations so that improved therapies for the prevention of vision loss can be developed. Clinical Research 6. Clinical: Structure and Function (CL) - Develop improved technology and standardized processes to establish relationships between clinical retina function and retina structure in retinal degenerative diseases and to enable early disease detection. Awardees may be invited to present a summary of their research at the annual post-ARVO FFB meeting. Eligibility Clinician-scientists possessing an M.D., D.O., or recognized equivalent foreign degree and who are in their first, second, or third year of a junior faculty appointment are eligible to apply for a CDA. Recipients of these awards must be clinicians who currently care for patients with RDDs. Applicants do not have to be U.S. citizens. Applicants funded from other sources are eligible to apply. The source and nature of this funding must be disclosed to FFB at the time of application.

Website

https://www.fightingblindness.org/grants-and-award-programs

Funding resources
Purdue Grant Writing Lab: Introduction to Grant Writing	Open Link
University of Wisconsin Writing Center: Planning and Writing a Grant Proposal	Open Link