Vice President for Research & Economic Development
Proposal Services & Faculty Support
March Funding Focus Newsletter #3
What is a Limited Submission?
A limited submission solicitation (RFA, RFP, etc.) places a cap on the number of proposals that Auburn may submit to a sponsor. Auburn coordinates limited submissions by sending out a notification via this newsletter and creating competitions in the Auburn University Competition Space (also known as InfoReady ).To apply to any limited submission posted below, click on the above link and search for your competition reflected on the page. Please refer to the Limited Submission Procedures page for a list of requirements.
Limited Submission Announcements

The current grant level is $300,000; $75,000 per year for a four-year period. For the 2021 award, one nomination will be invited.

Candidates must meet all of the following eligibility requirements:
  • Hold a doctorate in biomedical sciences, medicine, or a related field.
  • As of Sept. 10, 2020, hold a full-time appointment at the rank of assistant professor. (Appointments such as research assistant professor, adjunct assistant professor, assistant professor research track, visiting professor, or instructor are not eligible).
  • Must not have been appointed as an assistant professor at any institution prior to June 15, 2017, whether or not such an appointment was on a tenure track. Time spent in clinical internships, residencies, in work toward board certification, or on parental leave does not count as part of this three-year limit. Candidates who took parental leave should contact Pew’s program office to ensure that application reviewers are aware of their circumstances.
  • May apply to the program a maximum of two times. All applicants must be nominated by their institution and must complete the 2021 online application.
  • If applicants have appointments at more than one eligible nominating institution or affiliate, they may not reapply in a subsequent year from a different nominating entity.
  • May not be nominated for the Pew Scholars Program and the Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research in the same year.

Based on their performance during their education and training, candidates should demonstrate outstanding promise as contributors in science relevant to human health. This program does not fund clinical trials research. Strong proposals will incorporate particularly creative and pioneering approaches to basic, translational, and applied biomedical research. Candidates whose work is based on biomedical principles but who bring in concepts and theories from more diverse fields are encouraged to apply.
Ideas with the potential to produce an unusually high impact are encouraged. Selection of the successful candidates will be based on a detailed description of the work that the applicant proposes to undertake, evaluations of the candidate’s performance, and notable past accomplishments, including honors, awards, and publications. In evaluating the candidates, the National Advisory Committee gives considerable weight to evidence that the candidate is a successful independent investigator and has published significant work.

Institutional Limit: 1 Nomination
Internal Deadline: April 10, 2020, 4:45pm
COVID-19 RELATED UPDATES
As information is being shared by sponsors, it is being collected/posted here so please check back often for updates.
 

This includes guidance for awardee organizations, researchers and reviewers of NSF proposals. Please note that this website will be updated as new developments arise: NSF News and Reports on Coronavirus

The NIH is deeply concerned for the health and safety of people involved in NIH research, and about the effects on the biomedical enterprise in the areas affected by the HHS declared   public health emergency for COVID-19 . Due to the potential exceptional impact, we want to assure our recipient community that NIH will be doing our part to help you continue your research.

This is a rapidly evolving situation and updated guidance and information we will be provide here as it becomes available.
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

The Vilcek Foundation will award three Creative Promise Prizes of $50,000 each to young foreign-born biomedical scientists who demonstrate outstanding early achievement. Eligible work may be in basic, applied, and/or translational biomedical science.

Eligibility Requirements:
  • Applicant must have been born outside the United States;
  • Applicant must not be more than 38 years old as of December 31, 2020 (born on or after January 1, 1982);
  • Applicant must: be a naturalized citizen or permanent resident (green card holder) of the United States; be a holder of an H1B or O-1 visa and have been living and working in the United States for at least 5 years; or have been granted Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) relief;
  • Applicant must have earned a doctoral degree (MD, PhD, or equivalent);
  • Applicant must hold a full-time position at an academic institution or other organization. Eligible positions include the following: assistant or associate professor, or equivalent independent position. The applicant must be directly responsible for the design and execution of the work submitted for consideration. Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working under the supervision of a mentor are not eligible;
  • Applicant must intend to pursue a professional career in the United States;
  • Applicant must not be a past winner of the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise.

Applications Due: June 10, 2020 5pm (Eastern)

The American Heart Association (AHA) invites cardiovascular-focused applications that will contribute to understanding the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular pathogenesis, diagnosis, prevention, clinical manifestations, clinical management (including critical care management) and social behaviors which can lead to dissemination, containment, and complications of COVID-19. Because of the urgency of this issue, innovative, highly impactful short-term proposals (9-12 months), which can show progress within the period of this award, are sought.

Grant amounts will be up to $100,000. The application will consist of a two- to three-page proposal, accompanied by the applicant’s NIH biosketch. Applicants interested in heading the coordinating center will attach an additional 300-word qualifications statement. AHA anticipates funding at least 10 awards.

The need to move quickly is similarly driving AHA’s timeline and process for submission (April 6th, 2020) and peer review (April 2020). Activation of the awards is planned to occur as early as 6 weeks after grant submission (subject to receipt of required assurances).

Applications due: April 6, 2020 (5pm Central)


Areas of Interest:
  • AOI #4.1-A: Molecular Diagnostic Assay for SARS-CoV-2 virus on existing FDA-cleared platform
  • AOI #4.1-B: Point-of-Care Diagnostic Assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus
  • AOI #4.1-C: Diagnostic Assay for detection of COVID-19 disease
  • AOI #4.3: COVID-19 Vaccine
  • AOI #4.4: Advanced Manufacturing Technologies

Award(s) expected to be made will be less than $750,000 in total government funding.

Please note that AOI #4.2 : Nonclinical Model Development and Screening for SARS-CoV-2 virus is closed.

Abstracts may be submitted until 5pm (Eastern) on June 30, 2020.

The Division of Innovation and Industrial Partnerships (IIP) of the Engineering Directorate invites US-based small businesses to submit Phase I proposals focused on the development and deployment of new technologies, products, processes, and services with the potential to positively impact the nation’s and world’s ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Areas of research that might be considered include, but are not limited to: artificial intelligence, digital health, diagnostics, distributed ledger, environmental technologies, medical devices, pharmaceutical technologies, disinfection and sterilization, and filtration and separations. Interested proposers are invited to submit to the NSF Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I Program. ust contact OAC prior to submission of the proposal.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard have committed up to $125 million in seed funding to speed-up the response to the COVID-19 epidemic by identifying, assessing, developing, and scaling-up treatments. The partners are committed to equitable access, including making products available and affordable in low-resource settings. The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator will play a catalytic role by accelerating and evaluating new and repurposed drugs and biologics to treat patients with COVID-19 in the immediate term, and other viral pathogens in the longer-term. Currently there are no broad-spectrum antivirals or immunotherapies available for the fight against emerging pathogens, and none approved for use on COVID-19.
The Gates Foundation and Wellcome are each contributing up to $50 million, and the Mastercard Impact Fund has committed up to $25 million to catalyze the initial work of the accelerator. The Gates Foundation’s funding is part of its up to $100 million commitment to the COVID-19 response announced last month.
“Viruses like COVID-19 spread rapidly, but the development of vaccines and treatments to stop them moves slowly,” said Mark Suzman, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “If we want to make the world safe from outbreaks like COVID-19, particularly for those most vulnerable, then we need to find a way to make research and development move faster. That requires governments, private enterprise, and philanthropic organizations to act quickly to fund R&D.”
The COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator will work with the World Health Organization, government and private sector funders and organizations, as well as the global regulatory and policy-setting institutions. The Accelerator will have an end-to-end focus, from drug pipeline development through manufacturing and scale-up. By sharing research, coordinating investments, and pooling resources, these efforts can help to accelerate research. This kind of collaboration was a key lesson from the 2014 Ebola outbreak. By providing fast and flexible funding at key stages of the development process, the Accelerator will de-risk the pathway for new drugs and biologics for COVID-19 and future epidemic threats, ensuring access in lower-resource countries.

As stated in the Strategy for American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing, worldwide competition in manufacturing has been dominated in recent decades by the maturation, commoditization, and widespread application of computation in production equipment and logistics, effectively leveling the global technological playing field and putting a premium on low wages and incremental technical improvements. [1]  The next generation of technological competition in manufacturing will be dictated by inventions of new materials, chemicals, devices, systems, processes, machines, design and work methods, social structures and business practices. Fundamental research will be required in robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, materials science, sustainability, education and public policy, and workforce development to take the lead in this global competition. The research supported under this solicitation will enhance U.S. leadership in manufacturing far into the future by providing new capabilities for established companies and entrepreneurs, improving our health and quality of life, and reducing the impact of manufacturing industries on the environment.
The goal of this solicitation is to support fundamental research and education of a future workforce that will enable Future Manufacturing: manufacturing that either does not exist today or exists only at such small scales that it is not viable. Future Manufacturing will require the design and deployment of diverse new technologies for synthesis and sensing, and new algorithms for manufacturing new materials, chemicals, devices, components and systems. It will require new advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, new cyber infrastructure, new approaches for mathematical and computational modeling, new dynamics and control methodologies, new ways to integrate systems biology, synthetic biology and bioprocessing, and new ways to influence the economy, workforce, human behavior, and society.

Among this array of technologies and potential research subjects, three thrust areas have been identified for support in FY 2020 under this solicitation:
  • Future Cyber Manufacturing Research
  • Future Eco Manufacturing Research
  • Future Biomanufacturing Research

Mandatory Letters of Intent Due: April 10, 2020 (5pm central)
Full Proposals Due: June 5, 2020 (5pm central)
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