DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS

U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command &
Fort Detrick Public Affairs/Marketing Office, Fort Detrick, Maryland


September 22, 2004

Department of Defense Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research Program Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2005

The Fiscal Year 2005 (FY05) Defense Appropriations Act provides $3.2 million to the Department of Defense Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research Program (TSCRP) to support innovative research directed toward improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of TSC. This program is administered by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command through the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

FY05 TSCRP Program Announcements for the following mechanisms are expected to be released in early November 2004, with receipt of electronic submissions due February 22, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern time:

  • Natural History Study Awards - New
  • Natural History Development Awards
  • Concept Awards
  • Idea Development Awards

The new Natural History Study Awards are intended to fund focused, hypothesis-driven natural history studies of tumor growth or other manifestations of TSC. All proposals must include a clinical protocol and consent/assent forms in the Army Human Subjects Research Review Board-prescribed format. Funding for the Natural History Study Awards will provide up to $1 million inclusive of direct and indirect costs for 3 years.

Natural History Development Awards are intended to fund the development of focused, hypothesis-driven TSC natural history studies that will be submitted to the Natural History Study Award mechanism in FY06. These awards will fund the development of a clinical protocol and consent/assent forms and plans for data management and statistical analysis. The submission of a Natural History Study Award proposal and clinical protocol will be required in FY06, pending receipt of funds by the TSCRP. Funding for the Natural History Development Awards will provide up to $150,000 inclusive of direct and indirect costs for 1 year.

Concept Awards are intended to fund exploration of an initial idea in TSC research that could give rise to a testable hypothesis. Proposals are limited to three pages, and preliminary data are not required. Projects involving human subjects or human anatomical substances will not be supported unless they are exempt (full details will be available in the Program Announcement). Funding for the Concept Awards will provide up to $100,000 inclusive of direct and indirect costs for 1 year.

Idea Development Awards are designed to encourage innovative research directed toward improved prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment of TSC. All proposals must include preliminary data. Funding for the Idea Development Awards will provide up to $425,000 inclusive of direct and indirect costs for 2 to 3 years.

Detailed descriptions of each mechanism will be provided in the FY05 TSCRP Program Announcements, which are expected to be posted on the CDMRP website in early November. Requests for e-mail notification of the Program Announcement release may be sent to prequest@constellagroup.com. For more information about the TSCRP or other CDMRP-sponsored programs, please visit the CDMRP website at https://cdmrp.army.mil.

Points of Contact:
Gail Whitehead, Public Affairs Coordinator, CDMRP, 301-619-7783
Richard Kenyon, Ph.D., Program Manager, TSCRP, 301-619-7071