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Spinal Cord Injury

NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 5, 2020

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20)

The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides $40 million (M) to the Department of Defense Spinal Cord Injury Research Program (SCIRP) to support innovative, high-impact spinal cord injury (SCI) research1. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The SCIRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY20 funding opportunity. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government. The FY20 SCIRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. 

Applications submitted to the FY20 SCIRP must address one or more of the following focus areas:

  • Preserving and protecting spinal cord tissue at time of injury for improved neurologic outcomes
  • Identifying and validating biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis, and for evaluation of treatment efficacies (Translational Research Award and Investigator-Initiated Research Award only)
  • Bowel, genitourinary, cardiopulmonary dysfunction, and neuropathic pain
  • Psychosocial issues relevant to people with SCI, their families, and/or their care partners
  • Rehabilitation and regeneration—maximizing the function of the residual neural circuitry, including harnessing neuroplasticity and recovery to improve function after SCI
Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Clinical Trial Award Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Fund Phase 0, I, or II clinical trials with the potential to have a major impact on treatment or management of SCI and its consequences.
  • Applications must include at least two individuals with lived SCI experience as members of the research team.
  • Preclinical data required for all clinical trial applications.
  • Maximum funding of $3M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years.
Translational Research Award Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Fund studies that accelerate the movement of promising ideas in SCI research into clinical applications.
  • Applications must include at least one individual with lived SCI experience as a member of the research team.
  • The SCIRP TRA may include a pilot clinical trial as part of the proposed research where limited clinical testing of a novel intervention or device is necessary to inform the next step in the continuum of translational research.
  • Preliminary data required.
  • Maximum funding of $1.25M for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Investigator-Initiated Research Award Investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent).
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Fund SCI-related research that has the potential to make an important contribution to SCI research and/or patient care.
  • Clinical trials not allowed.
  • Preliminary data required.
  • Maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline. All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website. The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all CDMRP and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released. For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the SCIRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.health.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil

1 Funding is provided through the FY20 appropriation for Peer-reviewed spinal cord research


Last updated Thursday, December 5, 2024