DoD Lupus, Impact Award | W81XWH 17 LRP IA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 17 LRP IA

The DoD Lupus, Impact Award (FY17 LRP Impact Award; Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH-17-LRP-IA) is a Department of Defense research funding opportunity administered through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). Introduced for the first time in FY17, this award is designed to support lupus-focused research with the potential to significantly move the field forward. It is positioned to accommodate a wide range of project types and scientific approaches, as long as they are clearly centered on important scientific or clinical problems in lupus and are framed in a way that could produce a major, meaningful impact if the work is successful.

A central expectation of this mechanism is that applicants propose a well-formulated and testable hypothesis grounded in strong scientific rationale. That rationale should be demonstrated through careful reasoning and a critical analysis of existing evidence, including a thoughtful review of the published literature. While preliminary data are encouraged to strengthen the case that the project is feasible and that the hypothesis is plausible, they are not strictly required. In practice, applicants can bolster their proposal using unpublished observations from their lab and/or relevant findings already available in the lupus literature, as long as these data directly support the planned research direction.

The opportunity emphasizes several core review themes. First is impact: proposals should target an area of paramount importance to lupus disease, and the principal investigator is expected to explicitly spell out what the project could change in lupus research or patient-relevant understanding. Reviewers will be looking for a clear line of sight from the proposed experiments to the potential payoff, whether that payoff is a shift in scientific understanding, identification of new therapeutic targets, improved diagnostics, better stratification of patients, or other high-value advances relevant to lupus. Second is research strategy: the experimental plan and methods should show deep familiarity with lupus biology and the key challenges in the field. The strategy can be novel, but it can also be a strong, logically derived approach that builds from existing knowledge; what matters is that the methodology is rigorous and the reasoning is compelling.

A non-negotiable programmatic requirement is that the proposed research aligns with at least one of the FY17 Lupus Research Program (LRP) Focus Areas, meaning applicants must map their aims directly to those designated priorities for that fiscal year. Another important boundary is that clinical trials are not allowed under this program announcement, so projects must be designed accordingly (for example, mechanistic, preclinical, translational, or other non-trial clinical research approaches that do not meet the definition of a clinical trial, consistent with the solicitation rules).

From an administrative standpoint, the funding instrument may be a grant or a cooperative agreement, and the opportunity is categorized under science and technology/research and development (CFDA 12.420). Eligibility is broadly open (unrestricted) to any type of applicant organization, subject to any additional eligibility clarifications contained in the full announcement. The posting lists an expected five awards, with an award ceiling shown as 0 in the record (typically indicating that the ceiling is not specified in the summary field and applicants must consult the full solicitation for budget limits and constraints). The opportunity was created on October 18, 2017, with an original application deadline of January 4, 2018.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Lupus, Impact Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 18, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 04, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 17 LRP IA

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