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NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 8, 2023

Department of Defense
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23)

The FY23 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding for the Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program (PRORP) to support high-impact, clinically relevant research to advance optimal treatment and rehabilitation from musculoskeletal injuries. The managing agent for the anticipated funding opportunities is the CDMRP at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The PRORP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY23 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. The FY23 PRORP 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.

Applications submitted to the FY23 PRORP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

  • Limb Stabilization and Protection: Development and/or clinical evaluation of rapid limb stabilization and novel wound protectants for severely or critically wounded limbs to enable prolonged care and eventual transport to the point of definitive treatment.

  • Volumetric Muscle Loss: Early clinical feasibility studies involving volumetric muscle loss.

  • Composite Tissue Regeneration: Advanced tissue regeneration therapeutics in composite tissue for the restoration of traumatically injured extremities. Isolated bone, cartilage, muscle, or nerve tissue engineering studies are excluded. Techniques aimed at improving outcomes following high-energy extremity trauma, with a focus on improving wound healing and neuromuscular recovery following composite tissue loss and segmental bone loss, are encouraged.

  • Osseointegration: Identification of best practices to address infection, rejection, and/or failure of percutaneous osseointegrated prosthetic limbs.

  • Retention Strategies: Development, optimization, and/or validation of battlefield-feasible diagnostic capabilities, decision support tools, interventions, and/or rehabilitation strategies that can facilitate retention on duty or avoid reinjury for common combat-related musculoskeletal injuries. Biomarker studies are excluded. The current standard of care must be noted. The rehabilitation strategy to be used in the proposed study must be specified, as applicable.

    1. Battlefield Care: Strategies that can be utilized at or near the point of injury to allow an injured Service Member to remain on the battlefield or on mission without the need for evacuation. Treatment strategies that allow return to mission effectiveness within 30 days will be considered.

    2. Return to Duty: Treatment strategies that can be utilized along the continuum of care and enable return to duty of the Service Member within 1 year of injury.

  • Prostheses and Orthoses: Development of high-performance novel prosthetic or orthotic devices designed to enhance whole-person performance and decrease pain in patients with amputation and limb salvage/impairment. Applicants are encouraged to consider multicenter studies that provide clinically relevant sample sizes, advanced limb orthoses that span at least one major joint (i.e., ankle, knee, and elbow), devices that focus on intuitive control and sensation, and compatibility with osseointegrated implants and/or integration of fail-safe devices where appropriate.

  • Translation of Early Findings: Translation of early research findings in the orthopaedic surgical care topic areas listed below to move the research toward clinical trials and clinical practice.

    1. Soft Tissue Trauma: Strategies to develop and/or identify musculoskeletal extremity soft tissue trauma treatments for shoulder, knee, or chronic ankle instability and sequelae only to optimize return to duty, work, or reintegration.

    2. Fracture-Related Infection: Strategies to decrease the burden of fracture-related infections (may include prevention, early detection, or improved eradication). Alternatives to systemic antibiotic delivery are encouraged. Novel approaches that improve the current standard of treatment to prevent fracture-related infections are encouraged.

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Applied Research Award Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to submit applications.
  • Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports applied research applications focused on advancing optimal treatment and restoration of function for military personnel with musculoskeletal injuries sustained during combat or Service-related activities.
  • Proposed research should be supported by preliminary data and have the potential to make significant advancements toward clinical translation.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed under this award mechanism.
  • Applications must address one of the following FY23 PRORP Focus Areas:
    • Limb Stabilization and Protection
    • Composite Tissue Regeneration
    • Osseointegration
    • Retention Strategies
  • Maximum funding of $750,000 for total costs (direct plus indirect costs).

  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years. 
Clinical Trial Award Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to submit applications.
  • Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports rapid implementation of clinical trials with the potential to have a major impact on military combat-related orthopaedic injuries or non-battle injuries that significantly impact unit readiness and return-to-duty/work rates.
  • Funding must support a clinical trial and may not be used for preclinical research studies.
  • Collaboration with military researchers and clinicians is encouraged but not required.
  • Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption applications, if needed, should be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration within 6 months of the award date.
  • Applications must address one the following FY23 PRORP Focus Areas:
    • Limb Stabilization and Protection
    • Retention Strategies
    • Translation of Early Findings
  • Applications submitted to the Translation of Early Findings-Soft Tissue Trauma Focus Area (only) may elect a Collaborative Care Option, which provides additional support to encourage collaborative interdisciplinary research among orthopaedic care providers of different specialties.
  • Maximum funding of $2.5 million (M) for total costs ($3.0M maximum total costs if requesting the Collaborative Care Option).

  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years. 
Clinical Translational Research Award Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to submit applications.
  • Submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports high-impact and/or emerging research that may or may not be ready for a full-scale, randomized, controlled clinical trial.
  • Funding must support clinical research studies involving humans.
  • Preliminary or published data relevant to the proposed research project are required.
  • Collaboration with military researchers and clinicians is encouraged but not required.
  • Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption applications, if needed, should be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration within 12 months of the award date.
  • Applications must address one of the following FY23 PRORP Focus Areas:
    • Volumetric Muscle Loss
    • Composite Tissue Regeneration
    • Osseointegration
    • Prostheses and Orthoses
    • Retention Strategies
  • Maximum funding of $1.5M for total costs.

  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years. 

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) 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 opportunity announcements are released. For email notification when announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage. For more information about the PRORP 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@health.mil





Last updated Sunday, December 31, 1600