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Tick-Borne Disease

NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 23, 2024

Department of Defense
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP)
Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP)
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24)

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY24 funds have not been appropriated for the Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP), the TBDRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY24 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government.

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Act is anticipated to provide 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 FY24 funding opportunities. The FY24 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 FY24 TBDRP funding opportunities must be relevant to at least one of the following focus areas. Applicants are encouraged to submit applications focused on persistent Lyme disease, and other tick-borne diseases and conditions endemic to the U.S. The proposed research must be focused on directly impacting human health and diseases/conditions that affect Service Members, Veterans, their Families, and the American public.

  • Pathogenesis (Idea Development Award only)
    • Studies to assess the interaction among tick-borne pathogens in mammals, and consequences on pathogen synergy and competition, immune responses, or disease severity, with an emphasis on Lyme disease and its associated co-infections
    • Studies of immune evasion, host tolerance, or pathogen-host immunosuppression associated with Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne infections
    • Studies of persistent clinical manifestations associated with Lyme disease, with studies providing insight into neurologic symptoms particularly encouraged
    • Studies, including epidemiologic or animal studies, to evaluate the role of tick-borne diseases on maternal health and pregnancy outcomes, improve understanding of congenital tick-borne infections, and/or assess the impact of maternal-to-fetal transmission of tick-borne infections on children
  • Treatment (Idea Development Award only)
    • Proof-of-concept studies for the development of novel therapeutics, or studies to support the repurposing of available or approved compounds for treatment of tick-borne diseases
    • Target identification and/or validation and early refinement of therapeutic candidates, including but not limited to high throughput screens, lead optimization, and structure/activity relationships
  • Diagnosis (Idea Development Award only)
    • Development and optimization of innovative approaches that provide diagnostic advantages for single or multiple tick-borne pathogens, with priority given to direct detection or multiplex assays
    • Development and optimization of more accurate or novel approaches capable of distinguishing active Lyme disease infection from previous exposure and/or resolution of infection
    • Development and optimization of approaches for the detection/diagnosis of maternal-to-fetal transmission of Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne infections, including the development of relevant animal models
  • Treatment (Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award only)
    • Evaluation of novel therapeutics or repurposed compounds for treatment of tick-borne diseases
    • Extensive refinement of therapeutic candidates, including but not limited to structure/activity relationships, and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic and toxicologic studies
  • Diagnosis (Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award only)
    • Evaluation/validation of approaches that provide diagnostic advantages for single or multiple tick-borne pathogens, with priority given to direct detection or multiplex assays
    • Evaluation/validation of more accurate or novel approaches capable of distinguishing active Lyme disease infection from previous exposure and/or resolution of infection
    • Evaluation/validation of approaches for the detection/diagnosis of maternal-to-fetal transmission of Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne 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 tick-borne disease 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 tick-borne disease researcher as demonstrated by a recent (last 5 years) history of funding and publications in tick-borne disease 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.
  • Mechanism-specific Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Diagnosis 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 tick-borne diseases 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.
  • Preliminary data is not prohibited, but in its absence, strong rationale for achieving interpretable results must be provided.
  • Preliminary data is not required under the Career Development Option.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed; human studies/clinical research are permitted.
 IDA:
  • Maximum funding of $525K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
IDA – Career Development Option:
  • Maximum funding of $350K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award (TDRA) TDRA: Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Mechanism-specific 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 tick-borne diseases and conditions and improving patient care and/or quality of life.
    • Treatment-focused applications should be therapeutic evaluation studies designed to advance 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 demonstrate translational potential.
  • Applicants with limited tick-borne disease experience are strongly encouraged to collaborate with experienced tick-borne disease investigators.
  • Applicants with substantial tick-borne disease experience are strongly encouraged to partner with experts in therapeutic and diagnostic assay development and transition, particularly those from the commercial sector.
  • Preliminary data is required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed; human studies/clinical research are permitted.
 TDRA:
  • Maximum funding of $830K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 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 by performing a basic search using Assistance Listing Number (ALN, formerly CFDA) 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 TBDRP 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 Friday, February 23, 2024