DoD Gulf War Illness New Investigator Research Award | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The DoD Gulf War Illness New Investigator Research Award is a funding opportunity within the Gulf War Illness Research Program (GWIRP) run by the Department of the Army through USAMRAA. It was created to bring new people into Gulf War Illness (GWI) research by letting them compete in a category separate from long-established GWI investigators. The mechanism was first offered in FY14, when 11 applications were received and 4 were recommended for funding, and the FY15 version added more explicit, prescriptive guidance for applicants who want to propose studies focused on potential GWI biomarkers.

The core purpose of the award is to help investigators who are new to the GWI field launch credible, proof-of-principle projects that can grow into larger, more definitive studies later. Prior GWI experience is allowed but not required, and the program explicitly encourages applicants with limited GWI background to build meaningful collaborations with experienced GWI researchers and/or other experts who strengthen the scientific approach. The principal investigator is expected to explain clearly how any collaborations will directly improve the team’s ability to answer the research question.

Eligibility is organized around specific “new investigator” career situations, and applicants must fit into one of the categories listed in the announcement: Transitioning Postdoctoral Fellow, Early Career Investigator, or New GWI Researcher. This structure is meant to support multiple entry points into the field, from people just leaving postdoctoral training to established scientists who are pivoting into GWI from another area.

From a scientific standpoint, the award supports research that targets Gulf War Illness as experienced by Veterans, with an emphasis on the complex, chronic symptom patterns associated with GWI and the biological mechanisms that may drive them. Projects can range from basic to clinical research, and they are especially encouraged to pursue objective measures that could improve diagnosis and classification, such as biomarkers that help distinguish healthy Veterans from Veterans with GWI or that clarify underlying pathobiology. The program also supports work aimed at improving the case definition and diagnostic approach, characterizing symptom profiles, and developing a more coherent understanding of disease processes.

A notable feature of this mechanism is that preliminary data are not required. Applicants may include preliminary data if they have it, and those data do not need to come from GWI specifically. If an application does not include preliminary results, it is expected to rest on a strong scientific rationale, for example by building from clinical observations or by testing whether findings from other chronic multisymptom illnesses can translate to GWI. Regardless of the starting point, proposals are expected to stay tightly focused on relevance to Veterans with GWI, and the PI must explicitly spell out the project’s potential impact on GWI.

The opportunity also calls out particular areas of interest related to Gulf War-era exposures. Studies that examine chronic effects of neurotoxic exposures at doses comparable to what service members may have encountered in theater during the Gulf War are considered responsive. For animal work, the announcement emphasizes long-term and latent effects of toxic exposures so that models better reflect the current clinical reality of GWI patients decades after the war. It also sets an expectation that researchers should use established animal models unless there is a compelling scientific reason to develop or use a new one; the development of new animal models is generally discouraged.

Beyond mechanism and biomarker work, the award can support early-stage testing of interventions targeted to GWI. This includes pharmacologic agent testing through absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) studies and toxicology testing, including IND-enabling pharmacology/toxicology activities. Preclinical development of non-pharmacological interventions is also allowable, providing flexibility for investigators pursuing device-based, behavioral, or other non-drug strategies, as long as the work remains relevant to GWI.

Administratively, this FY15 opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH-15-GWIRP-NIA) was posted May 14, 2015, with an application closing date of October 29, 2015, and an archive date of November 28, 2015. The instrument types listed are grant and cooperative agreement, the activity category is science and technology/other R&D, and the CFDA number is 12.420 (Military Medical Research and Development). The estimated total funding noted is $2.4 million, with an expected three awards, and there is no cost-sharing or matching requirement. Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional clarifications in the full text of the announcement. For access issues, the notice directs applicants to the CDMRP Help Desk at 301-682-5507.

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