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Tick-Borne Disease

NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 28, 2022

Department of Defense
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP)
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22)

The FY22 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the TBDRP to support innovative, high-impact tick-borne disease research. The managing agent for the anticipated program announcements/funding opportunities is the CDMRP at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The TBDRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY22 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY22 TBDRP funding opportunity announcements for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the announcements are released.

Applicants to the FY22 TBDRP funding opportunities must be relevant to at least one of the following Focus Areas. Applicants are particularly encouraged to submit applications focused on tick-borne diseases (TBDs) and conditions endemic to the U.S., and/or involving patients with persistent Lyme disease. The proposed research must be focused on directly impacting human health and diseases/conditions that affect the U.S. military (active duty or veteran), their beneficiaries, or the American public.

  • Prevention (Idea Development Award only)
    • Drugs, antibodies, vaccines, or other novel approaches that can be administered and/or utilized prophylactically to prevent human TBDs and conditions prevalent in the U.S. or that address multiple pathogens
    • Identification, validation, and/or improvement of tick- or reservoir-targeted prevention and control interventions that are safe and non-toxic to non-target species
  • Pathogenesis (Idea Development Award only)
    • Pathogenesis of persistent clinical manifestations associated with Lyme disease
    • Immune evasion and/or tolerance of tick-borne (TB) pathogens (Lyme and/or other TBDs)
    • TB infections and co-infections (simultaneous or sequential) and their effects on human disease severity, the local and systemic immune response, or pathogen synergy and competition
    • Pathogenesis of mammalian meat allergy (allergic response to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose [alpha gal])
    • Understanding the role of TBDs on maternal health and adverse birth outcomes, including maternal-fetal transmission
  • Treatment (Therapeutic/Diagnostic Idea Award only)
    • Novel preclinical therapeutic strategies for TB pathogens, Lyme disease, and/or other TBDs with priority given to those in the U.S.
      • Potential treatments designed to mitigate development of long-term sequelae following infection
      • Repurposing Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs for off-label indication in preclinical evaluation for use in TBDs
  • Diagnosis (Therapeutic/Diagnostic Idea Award only)
    • Priority given to development of direct detection diagnostic assays for agents of Lyme disease and/or other TBDs
    • Diagnostic biomarker panel for Lyme disease and/or other TBDs that distinguishes TB infection from other febrile illnesses
    • Approaches capable of distinguishing active infection and previous exposure and/or monitoring response to treatment
    • Innovative approaches that provide diagnosis for a single or multiple TB infections

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Idea Development Award (IDA) IDA: Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)

IDA – Career Development Option:
  • Principal Investigator (PI) – Investigators within 10 years of completing terminal degree (excluding time in medical residency or on family medical leave) at the time of application submission, working to become independent investigators who exhibit a strong desire to pursue careers in TBD research; time spent as a postdoctoral fellow is not excluded.
  • Mentor – Independent investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent); must be an experienced TBD researcher as demonstrated by a recent (last 5 years) history of funding and publications in TBD research, specifically in the field (pathogen and associated methods) of the proposed studies.
  • Mentorship is required. The PI and Mentor may be at different organizations.
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Prevention and Pathogenesis Focus Areas only.
    •
  • To fund research that could lead to impactful discoveries or significant advancements that will accelerate progress toward reducing the burden of Lyme disease and/or other TBDs and conditions, and improving patient care and/or quality of life.
  • Research should be conceptually innovative, exhibit high levels of creativity, or challenge existing research paradigms.
  • Applications must describe the short- and long-term impact of the proposed research, as well as the public health burden of the diseases being addressed.
  • The Career Development Option is intended to fund early-career investigators to conduct impactful research under the mentorship of an experienced TBD researcher. A Career Development Plan is required for invited application submission and should describe planned coordination between PI and Mentor. Applications submitted under this option will be reviewed via separate, career development-specific evaluation criteria by a separate, dedicated peer review panel.
  • Preliminary data is required, unless submitting under the Career Development Option.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed; human studies/clinical research are permitted.
    •
IDA:
  • Maximum funding of $500K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
IDA – Career Development Option:
  • Maximum funding of $300K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Therapeutic/ Diagnostic Idea Award (TDIA) TDIA: Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)

TDIA – Career Development Option:
  • Principal Investigator (PI) – Investigators within 10 years of completing terminal degree (excluding time in medical residency or on family medical leave) at the time of application submission, working to become independent investigators who exhibit a strong desire to pursue careers in TBD research; time spent as a postdoctoral fellow is not excluded.
  • Mentor – Independent investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent); must be an experienced TBD researcher as demonstrated by a recent (last 5 years) history of funding and publications in TBD research, specifically in the field (pathogen and associated methods) of the proposed studies.
  • Mentorship is required. The PI and Mentor may be at different organizations.
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Treatment and Diagnosis Focus Areas only.
    •
  • To fund hypothesis-driven therapeutic and diagnostic development research aimed at reducing the burden of Lyme disease and/or other TBDs and conditions, and improving patient care and/or quality of life.
    • Treatment-focused applications should be therapeutic evaluation studies designed to promote new ideas aimed at drug or treatment discovery that are still in the early/preclinical stages of development.
    • Diagnosis-focused applications should propose diagnostic approaches that will be readily integrated into clinical settings.
  • Research should have translational potential, with proposed studies expected to be empirical in nature and product-driven.
  • Applicants with limited TBD experience are strongly encouraged to collaborate with experienced TBD investigators.
  • Applicants with substantial TBD experience are strongly encouraged to partner with experts in therapeutic and diagnostic assay development and transition, particularly those from the commercial sector.
  • The Career Development Option is intended to fund early-career investigators to conduct impactful research under the mentorship of an experienced TBD researcher. A Career Development Plan is required for invited application submission and should describe planned coordination between PI and Mentor. Applications submitted under this option will be reviewed via separate, career development-specific evaluation criteria by a separate, dedicated peer review panel.
  • Preliminary data is required, unless submitting under the Career Development Option.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed; human studies/clinical research are permitted.
    •
TDIA:
  • Maximum funding of $825K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
TDIA – Career Development Option:
  • Maximum funding of $495K 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 funding opportunity announcements that will be available for 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 funding opportunities are released. For email notification when funding opportunities 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 TBDRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

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


Last updated Monday, March 28, 2022