The Dana Foundation
David Mahoney Neuroimaging Program:
Using Brain and Immune Imaging to Improve Human Health
On This Page
**Limited funding opportunity for Stanford assistant professors and associate professors (within the first few years of their appointment) with PI eligibility (UTL, MCL, and NTLR appts) and CE assistant and associate professors (with an approved CE faculty PI waiver). Senior investigators (full professors with PI eligibility or CE full professors with an approved CE faculty waiver) can submit an internal proposal if the project represents a new direction for them (see eligibility >>)
Funding of up to $200,000 payable over three years is provided for proposed neuroimaging studies undertaken by promising early career investigators who have not yet been awarded more than one independent research grant (R01 from the NIH or equivalent from another Federal agency).
The 2018 internal selection process has been completed. This webpage is for your reference only.
# of applicants: 1 applicant (preliminary proposal) is permitted (see internal submission guidelines)
Timeline:
Internal Stanford Neuroscience Institute deadline: Jan. 16, 2018, 5 p.m. (see internal submission guidelines below)
Date applicant notified of their selection by SNI: Jan. 23, 2018
The applicant selected will be given additonal instructions regarding the online submission and request for a DRAFT letter of support for Dean Minor to sign: Jan. 30, 2018
Sponsor's preliminary application deadline: February 5, 2018, 3 p.m. EST (online)
Applicants will be informed within eight weeks of the preliminary proposal deadline on whether they are invited to prepare full proposals.
First awards announced in Sept. 2018. Subsequent award notices will be made in December 2018.
Guidelines
Program overview webpage and links to previous recipients: http://dana.org/grants/imaging/
The following "How to apply" webpage is for your reference (see the internal submission guidelines below).
A PDF file of the guidelines can be downloaded from this webpage:
http://www.dana.org/grants/brain-and-immuno-imaging/howtoapply/
FAQ webpage: http://www.dana.org/Grants/FAQ/#eligibility
Amount of funding:
Up to $200,000 total direct costs payable over 3yrs
The Foundation does not provide support for indirect costs. However, up to 10 percent of the total grant award may be used to purchase and maintain equipment needed for the study. The balance is to be used to meet direct research costs. Research that can be supported through clinical income should not be submitted. Studies should be designed to obtain meaningful data withinthe grant award period of up to three years.
Eligibility:
- Support is focused on faculty researchers who have demonstrated the potential for independent research careers who are at the assistant professor level (with PI eligibility-MCL, UTL, NTLR appts) or CE assistant professors (with an approved CE faculty PI waiver) or in the first few years of their associate professor appointments with PI eligibility (with MCL, UTL, NTLR appts.) or early CE associate professors (with an approved CE faculty PI waiver)
- Per the FAQs: Q. Can full professors apply? A. You are considered a senior investigator and are eligible to apply for a Neuroimaging grant only if your proposal represents a new research direction for you. The award would be limited to $100,000.
- Funding is provided for proposed neuroimaging studies undertaken by promising early career investigators who have not yet been awarded more than one independent research grant (R01 from the NIH or equivalent from another Federal agency).
Imaging Categories:
The applicant selected to represent Stanford can be from either of the following categories or both.
- Physiological and Structural imaging - anatomical imaging of white or gray matter and measures of physiological functioning. These proposed studies should focus on patient-oriented clinical research.
- Cellular/molecular imaging - biochemical actions of specific brain cells, or their interactions with immune cells, which have direct clinical relevance to human health and disease. These studies may involve human tissues or animal models. Applications can involve the study of cells within neural circuits, using a combination of imaging and single cell electrical recording, if the techniques have already been developed.
Purpose:
The Dana Foundation’s Neuroimaging research program focuses on improving human brain and brain-immune functioning to promote health, and prevent and treat disease. Funds support pilot-testing by investigators, who are early in their research careers, to enable them to pursue promising, high-risk, and innovative ideas that have a direct clinical application. The pilot data are anticipated to help increase competitiveness for seeking larger-scale support from other funders.
The Program is designed to enable investigators to obtain pilot data more quickly than is possible through other funding processes.
This program, like all other Dana-supported research, is designed to improve human health. Investigations need to be applicable to human brain or brain-immune functioning or malfunctioning. To be considered for funding, submitted proposals should focus on imaging in patients or patient tissues, and healthy volunteers.
Applications for animal model studies of brain conditions or injuries will be considered only if they relate directly to
humans but cannot yet feasibly be undertaken in humans, and are anticipated to be translated into human research
following the three-year grant period. Such studies include research on:
- 1) normal brain anatomy and physiology in the animal model that can help to better understand the roles of cells and networks in specific cognitive functions and how these are altered by disease or injury; and
- 2) animal models of human diseases, either through transgenic methods or through naturally occurring or induced disease states that are directly related to the human condition. Specific criteria for animal model studies are listed in the section on Eligibility.
General Areas of Interest
Previously funded studies under this Program have focused primarily on:
- 1) understanding normal brain functioning, how it is altered by disease or injury, and how it recovers or repairs;
- 2) assessing and improving diagnostic and therapeutic approaches; and
- 3) refining and advancing imaging technologies to address specific clinical questions.
In addition to these three general areas of continued interest, it is becoming increasingly apparent that neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, and mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression start long before they are clinically evident. The Foundation, therefore, encourages studies that seek to understand developmental processes of disease, surrogate measures of early disease existence, and measures of disease progression.
Tips for applicants:
- All proposals that seek to develop new imaging techniques or assays, or modify existing ones to address clinical questions—whether in structural/physiological or cellular/molecular imaging—must provide preliminary evidence of feasibility and evidence of the investigator’s experience in using the technology. Proposals seeking support without such preliminary evidence will not be considered.
- Investigators proposing patient-oriented studies should provide preliminary evidence that the required number of participants—patients and controls—are available at involved research institution(s).
- For all proposals that do not propose to undertake studies in humans, the direct relevance to human health and functioning needs to be explicitly stated. These proposed studies will only be considered if they are designed to:
- 1) pose a specific question concerning the disease process that is directly related to known aspects of brain pathology seen in the human;
- 2) alter a factor in a healthy animal for which there is some evidence of the factor’s involvement in a human disease process (as opposed to altering a factor in a healthy animal to see if the result resembles a human brain disease); and
- 3) be translated into studies in the human following the three-year grant period.
- Ideas for which you do not have preliminary data.
- Instrument development without initial evidence of feasibility and clinical applicability.
INTERNAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
By January 16, 2018, 5 p.m., please submit one PDF file containing the following in the order listed below to:
Roula El-Asmar
Program Manager
Stanford Neurosciences Institute
roula@stanford.edu
650-497-8031
File name: Last name_Dana_Fdn_Neuroimaging.pdf
You do NOT have to submit your internal proposal through RMG or OSR for approval. You can submit your internal proposal directly
Format (per the sponsor's guidelines): The proposal should be formatted using 11-point font, 0.5 inch margins in all directions with numbered pages. Applications using a smaller font size will not be reviewed.
1) Cover Page
The Dana Foundation David Mahoney Neuroimaging Program:
a. Principal Investigator information:
i. Project title;
ii. Principal investigator(s) name(s) and degree(s);
iii. Title(s);
iv. Phone and fax numbers;
v. E-mail; and
vi. Street address(es).
b. Indicate the imaging category (structural/physiological or cellular/molecular, or a combination of both)
specify the imaging technique(s) to be used (such as fMRI, two-photon, etc.).
Preliminary proposal (two pages):
The following five sections should total no more than two pages (including figures).
(These are based on the sponsor’s preliminary proposal guidelines.)
Include as a header for each page:
Your full name and Stanford University School of Medicine
a. Section I: A clearly and succinctly stated hypothesis.
b. Section II: The aims of the proposed research project. What disease(s), disorder(s) or injuries would be
better understood, diagnosed, or treated? Or, what normal brain function or brain-immune interaction
would be better understood? Or, what imaging technology would be refined and for what specific
purposes? Such technology development or modification aims need to be accompanied by initial evidence
of the project’s feasibility.
c. Section III: The research significance and potential clinical application(s) of the research.
d. Section IV: The methods. Please clearly describe the research design and specify tests and analyses
proposed to develop the pilot data. If enrollment of human participants is planned, please provide
preliminary evidence that the number required can be recruited from the participating institution(s).
e. Section V: The qualifications of the primary investigator(s) for undertaking the proposed research. What
facilities and resources at the applicant institution(s) would be used in the research? Please provide
evidence that required technologies would be available for this project.
Appendices:
Include a header with your" full name and Stanford University School of Medicine” and the name of the respective "Appendix” for each page:
4) Appendix A
A list of all active grants and pending proposals by the applicant(s). Please include an abstract that
specifies the aims for any existing or pending grants from these sources of support that are related to, or could
potentially overlap with, the proposed Dana study.
5) Appendix B: Please provide a standard NIH format CV for the primary investigator(s).
6) Appendix C: You may include up to two additional pages to list relevant references. Please bold the name of the
primary investigator(s) where it appears in the references.
(Note: 7. Appendix D: Optional: High resolution photographs that support the methodology proposed. (The applicant selected will have an opportunity to submit these to the sponsor. Please do not submit photographs for the internal selection process.)
Selection process
Your proposals will be reviewed by the Stanford Neuroscience Institute Advisory Committee. The final applicant selected will be given additional instructions (including preparing a draft letter of support for Dr. Minor's signature.
