The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR), a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting research to advance the understanding and treatment of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), announces the availability of funds to support innovative PWS research. FPWR is particularly interested in supporting projects that will lead to new treatments to alleviate the symptoms associated with PWS. Funding priorities include:
- Genotype to phenotype: understanding PWS genetics / how loss of PWS-critical region genes leads to the phenotype
- Neurobiology of hunger / feeding behavior in PWS
- Neurobiology of cognitive deficits, maladaptive behavior and mental illness in PWS
- Clinical care research: evaluation of existing drugs and interventions to improve health and quality of life in PWS
- Therapeutics development for PWS- Genetic therapies; novel pharmaceuticals; drug repurposing for PWS
A full description of FPWR's funding priorities can be found here.
Funds Available: Applicants may request up to $150,000 USD in direct costs for the initial 18 months of support, with the possibility of a second grant period of 18 months of funding upon competitive renewal. Indirect costs of up to 8% are allowed. Applicants may choose to request a smaller budget and/or shorter duration, for example, for a higher risk / highly innovative project.
Eligibility: Principal Investigators must have a primary faculty appointment at the level of Instructor or higher. This grant program will be useful for junior faculty in the early stages of their careers, established investigators in other areas of research who wish to enter the field of PWS research, or investigators in the PWS field who are seeking funding to support pilot studies in a new area of PWS research. FPWR seeks to support innovative, high-risk/high reward research, and supports research internationally.
Application Review and Award: Letters of intent (LOI) will be reviewed for innovation and potential impact, merit and relevance to the mission of FPWR. Selected LOIs will be invited to submit a full grant proposal.
Full grant proposals meeting the technical requirements will be reviewed on the basis of merit by scientific reviewers with expertise in the research area. An advocate reviewer will evaluate the relevance of the proposed research to the PWS community. Final funding decisions will be based on scientific merit, relevance and the suitability of the research with respect to the programmatic goals of FPWR.
Application Guidelines: All LOIs and applications are to be submitted on-line through ProposalCentral (https://proposalcentral.altum.com/). The LOI is limited to a 2-page description. Full grant proposals are limited to a 5-page research plan. Guidelines and instruction can be found on Proposal Central. Review considerations, and a list of currently funded projects, can all be found through the links below.
Scientific and advocate review considerations
Letter of Intent Due Date: March 1, 2024, 5pm EST
Full Proposal Due Date: May 17, 2024, 5pm EST
Please direct questions to: jessica.bohonowych@fpwr.org
FPWR also welcomes highly integrated, multi-disciplinary research teams to address ambitious and challenging research questions that are important for the mission of FPWR and are beyond the scope of one or two investigators. If your project fits into this category, please contact Theresa Strong (theresa.strong@fpwr.org).
