Grants Program / Funding Opportunities

NBIA Disorders Association Announces Two Research Grant Calls

for

Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation

 Submission Deadline For Applications is March 31, 2024

The NBIA Disorders Association, in collaboration with Isabel's Chance, is currently accepting applications for a one or two-year $120,000 research grant for Beta-propeller Protein-Associated Neurodegeneration (BPAN).

Additionally, a one or two-year research grant of $100,000 for PLA2G6-Associated Neurodegeneration (PLAN) is available, thanks to generous support from INAD Warriors, Inc.

 See grant applications below for details specific to each disorder.

 About NBIA

 Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (NBIA) is a group of rare, genetic, neurological disorders characterized by the accumulation of iron deposits in the brain and progressive degeneration of the nervous system.  It typically first appears in childhood. 

Presenting signs and symptoms may include difficulty walking, loss of balance, developmental delay, intellectual disability, expressive language delay, sleep disorders, seizures, occular defects, and other problems related to speech. Those affected may suffer a progressive loss of muscle control, sudden involuntary muscle spasms, and uncontrolled tightening of the muscles. At the present time, symptoms for the disorders may be treated but there are no cures.

Research Objectives

The purpose of the NBIA Disorders Association Research Grant Program is to encourage meritorious research studies designed to improve the diagnosis or treatment of NBIA. The research can be conducted in the United States, countries of the European Union, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Japan, or Israel, and in other countries where adequate supervision of grant administration is possible.

Evaluation of proposals will follow NIH guidelines and include careful consideration of experimental or protocol design, objectivity or relevance of parameters measured, and statistical analysis plan. 

Our research priorities reflect our goal to find cures for NBIA disorders and the understanding that strategic work in basic, translational and clinical research will be required to reach this goal. We strive to accelerate the pace of discoveries that lead to new therapeutics by supporting pilot and high-risk projects. The projects we support are expected to generate essential resources for the scientific community and advance knowledge about NBIA disease processes.

Funded research for the 2024 Spring grant call is expected to generate essential information for the scientific community to advance knowledge about BPAN and PLAN disease processes, and to produce preliminary data to enable national and international funding to carry the work forward.

Research resources, including model organisms developed under this funding initiative must be shared per National Institutes of Health guidelines. These guidelines can be found at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/model_organism.In addition, investigators are encouraged to share novel cell and animal models or technologies that are not yet defined in the NIH guidelines.

RFA Deadlines

§  Applications due by March 31, 2024

§  Award announcement by June 7, 2024

§  Grant funding to begin July 15, 2024

 

 BPAN GRANT APPLICATION 

 

PLAN GRANT APPLICATION      

 

For any questions, please contact grant manager, Patricia Wood, at pwood@NBIAdisorders.org