DoD Multiple Sclerosis Investigator Initiated Partnership Award | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The DoD Multiple Sclerosis Research Program (MSRP) Investigator Initiated Partnership Award (IIPA) is a FY2014 funding opportunity from the Department of the Army (USAMRAA) designed to bring fresh, cross-disciplinary thinking into multiple sclerosis research with a clear emphasis on improving patient care and quality of life. This mechanism was introduced for the first time in FY14 specifically to attract promising investigators and new perspectives, and it focuses on translational research, meaning projects should be positioned to move observations and discoveries toward practical clinical application rather than stopping at basic findings.

A defining feature of the IIPA is that it funds a small, tightly integrated collaboration of no more than three independent investigators, referred to as partners. The partnership includes an Initiating Principal Investigator (PI) and one or two Partnering PIs. The expectation is not simply parallel work under one umbrella, but genuine synergy where the project depends on the distinct expertise of each partner. The application must make a strong case that every partner is essential to solving the central MS-related problem or question being addressed. Importantly, the program makes it clear that a partnership where one person only provides samples, patient access, or other supporting resources does not meet the intent; each partner must contribute unique scientific or clinical skills that are critical to the project’s success.

The required team composition is structured to ensure both clinical relevance and scientific depth while also injecting outside innovation. At least one partner must be a clinician and at least one must be a research scientist. At least one partner must already have experience in MS research and/or MS patient care, ensuring the work remains grounded in real MS needs and knowledge. At least one partner must come from outside the MS field, which is a deliberate requirement meant to import methods, theories, or technologies that are not commonly applied in MS research. For the purpose of eligibility within the team, experience in MS research is defined in practical terms: a track record of previous or current MS research funding and peer-reviewed MS publications.

Another core requirement is that the collaboration, as a complete team, must be new. The full set of partners cannot have collaborated previously as an entire group. However, the opportunity allows limited prior relationships within the team: some, but not all, partners may have worked together in the past. Prior collaboration is defined as shared research funding and/or joint peer-reviewed research publications; co-authorship on review articles or symposium summaries does not count as prior research collaboration. This structure is meant to encourage genuinely new combinations of expertise while still allowing applicants to include a trusted collaborator if the overall team configuration is novel.

Because the award is aimed at translational progress, applicants are expected to articulate impact in a concrete way. Proposals should describe both short-term and long-term outcomes and explain how these outcomes could improve MS patient care and/or quality of life. In other words, reviewers are looking for a plausible pathway from the proposed work to meaningful benefits for people living with MS, whether through improved diagnostics, better treatment strategies, more effective care approaches, or other patient-centered advances.

The program also requires preliminary data to support feasibility and the proposed research approach. A notable flexibility is that the preliminary data do not have to come from the MS field. This is consistent with the goal of bringing in outside perspectives; for example, a method validated in another disease area or a technology proven in a different biomedical context could serve as acceptable feasibility evidence, as long as the proposal makes a convincing case for translation into MS research.

Operationally, the IIPA places heavy emphasis on how the partnership will function day to day. Applications must include clear plans for interaction among all partners, including the communication structure, meeting schedule, coordination of research milestones, progress reporting and updates, procedures for data transfer and analysis, and how results will be shared across the team. For multi-institution collaborations, an intellectual property (IP) plan is required to address potential intellectual and material property issues up front and to minimize institutional barriers that could undermine cooperation. This reflects the program’s expectation that teams will collaborate at a high level and that administrative or legal friction should not slow down progress.

From an administrative and funding perspective, the opportunity was posted April 17, 2014, with an application closing date of September 3, 2014, and an archive date of October 3, 2014. It was offered as a Grant or Cooperative Agreement under CFDA 12.420 (Military Medical Research and Development). The program anticipated making 2 awards, with an estimated total funding amount of $3,840,000. Cost sharing or matching was not required, and eligibility was listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional eligibility details in the full announcement. For access issues, the announcement directed applicants to the CDMRP Help Desk (301-682-5507).

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