DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS

NEWS RELEASE

Released: September 13, 2011

Department of Defense
Defense Health Program (DHP)
Combat Casualty Care Joint Program Committee 6
Military Operational Medicine Joint Program Committee 5
Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Joint Program Committee 8

Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) Psychological Health/Traumatic Brain Injury (PH/TBI)
Research Program Funding Opportunity

The DHP has assigned funds to the Combat Casualty Care Joint Program Committee 6, the Military Operational Medicine Joint Program Committee 5, and the Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Joint Program Committee 8 for the purpose of supporting applied research focused on military relevant traumatic brain injury. Solicitation of relevant applied traumatic brain injury research applications will be administered by the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) through the Office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs. Release of the official solicitation is pending. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY11 PH/TBI Research Program Program Announcement and General Application Instructions for the solicitation are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in September 2011. The description of the pending mechanism is provided below. Additional funding mechanisms may be released at a later date.

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Applied Traumatic Brain Injury Award Independent Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)
  • Supports applied research (including clinical trials) focused on military relevant traumatic brain injury.
  • Applications must address one or more of the following research areas:
    • The identification, role, and possible management (upstream or at the point of phosphorylation) of phosphorylated Tau in TBI;
    • Investigation of the role of blast-induced hyper-acceleration upon the generation of TBI;
    • The development of a valid animal model of anterior spinal cord injury as associated with burst or simulated burst/multi-level burst fracture of the spine;
    • Impact of field management and evacuation on the neurotrauma casualty;
    • Characterization of functional changes in mTBI in casualties and operational forces and animal models of mTBI;
    • Prevention or reduction of training and combat-related brain injuries (specifically, mTBI/concussion) and mitigation of negative impact of concussion on cognitive and behavioral health;
    • Development of field-deliverable forms or carriers of progesterone and related compounds that may be promising initial therapies for TBI;
    • The role of pain in peripheral nerve trauma;
    • The discovery and development of restorative and rehabilitative concepts, technologies, and strategies for TBI-related hearing and balance injury and dysfunction that could support a full recovery to pre-injury functional capability (i.e., that of a deployable warfighter);
    • Pain management associated with TBI;
    • Phase I/II clinical trials of neutraceuticals (e.g., DHA, Omega 3FFA) or promising pharmaceuticals for the treatment of the spectrum of TBI.
  • Applied research applications may include clinical trials as appropriate.
  • The maximum allowable direct costs for the entire period of performance is $2 million plus indirect costs.
  • The maximum period of performance is 4 years.
  • All direct and indirect costs of any subaward must be included in the total direct costs of the primary award.

Information in this pre-announcement is being provided to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. The government reserves the right to make changes to the award mechanism description and the mechanism elements, if necessary. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcement and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website in September 2011. The application package containing the required forms for the award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all USAMRMC funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA number 12.420.

A pre-application will be required and must be submitted through the CDMRP eReceipt website (https://cdmrp.org) prior to the pre-application deadline. Applications must be submitted through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov.

Requests for email notification of the release of program announcements may be sent to help@cdmrp.org. For more information about CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

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