Notice of Intent to Publish a Request for Applications for the Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson s Disease Research (P50)


Notice Number: NOT-NS-10-028

Key Dates

Release Date: September 22, 2010

Issued by

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Purpose

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) intends to publish a Request for Applications (RFA) to continue the Morris K. Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson’s Disease Research program.

This Notice is being provided to allow potential applicants, including existing Centers approaching competing renewal, sufficient time to develop meaningful collaborations and responsive projects. 

The RFA is expected to be published in the fall of 2010 with an expected receipt date in January 2011.

This RFA will utilize the Specialized Center (P50) activity code. Details of the planned Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) are provided below.

Research Initiative Details

The goal of this NINDS program is to fund multidisciplinary Centers of Excellence that can rapidly advance innovative research to improve understanding and treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and related disorders. Udall Centers perform state-of-the-art research on PD, including examination of underlying neurobiological and neuropathological mechanisms, identification and characterization of candidate and disease-associated genes, establishment of improved PD models and development and testing of potential therapeutics, and the initiation of novel avenues of clinical research. As Centers of Excellence, Udall Centers should serve as regional and national resources for the study of PD and related parkinsonian disorders.

The Udall Centers program utilizes a Specialized Center (P50) grant mechanism, which is designed to support a spectrum of basic, translational and clinical research activities utilizing an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to a specific disease entity or biomedical problem area. The overall theme of the Center, proposed research projects and associated resource Cores should relate directly to the etiology, pathogenesis or treatment of PD and parkinsonian disorders.

This Notice encourages established investigators with proven expertise in and/or novel insights on PD and related disorders to consider applying through this upcoming RFA. Applications from Principal Investigators outside of the PD field are welcome if their specific expertise can be readily applied to novel approaches for the identification of disease mechanisms and therapeutic targets for PD. Successful Centers will be expected to both collaborate effectively within and contribute unique knowledge to the ongoing Udall Centers program.

While basic research on PD has and will continue to serve as the foundation of discovery, each proposed Center must include at least one, small-scale, early stage preclinical or clinical translational project. For this purpose, preclinical translation is defined as early stage, pre-IND/IDE (Investigational New Drug/Investigational Device Exemption) proof-of-concept research on potential therapeutic or diagnostic candidates.  Clinical translational projects, while not intended to assess therapeutic effect, should be designed to provide early proof-of-principle for advancement of research results to clinical trials.

NINDS policy for Udall Centers establishes the following budget limits: new or competing renewal applications may request maximum annual direct costs of $1,000,000; a requested budget of $1,500,000 is permitted with inclusion of a clinical component. The clinical component and accompanying budget should be clearly described and specified.

Full details will be available in the RFA.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING SOLICITED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Beth-Anne Sieber, PhD
Program Director, Neurodegeneration Cluster
Division of Extramural Research
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2192
Bethesda, MD 20892-9531
Phone: (301) 496-5680
Email: sieberb@ninds.nih.gov