Announcement: September 22, 2011
NIH Director's Transformative Research Awards

The National Institutes of Health has announced a new funding opportunity — the 2012 NIH Directors's Transformative Research Awards — for exceptionally innovative, high risk, original and/or unconventional research. Awards are for up to $25 million per year for a single project.

Please see http://commonfund.nih.gov/TRA/ for detailed information and application instructions. Send questions to Transformative_Awards@mail.nih.gov.

Announcement: June 14, 2011
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at BIO 2011

NINDS will be represented at the annual biotechnology industry convention, BIO 2011, June 27-30, 2011, in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Porter encourages attendees who want to learn about opportunities for federal funding for clinical trials or preclinical studies to contact NINDS representatives at the NIH booth (#1912) on the exhibit floor.

See the announcement for further details.

Announcement: April 15, 2011
Establishing a Protocol and Conducting a Pilot Effort for a Biorepository of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Specimens

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registries (ATSDR) is establishing a biorepository to collect human specimens from ALS patients who enroll in the National ALS Registry (www.cdc.gov/als).

See the announcement for further details and contact information.

Announcement: April 11, 2011
Solicitation for Collaborative Projects for the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases (TRND) Program, National Human Genome Research Institute

The TRND program provides an opportunity to partner with and gain access to rare and neglected disease drug development capabilities, expertise, and clinical/regulatory resources in a collaborative environment with the goal of moving promising therapeutics into human clinical trials.

The TRND program has set up drug development resources within the NIH. Successful academic/corporate applicants currently lacking such resource support can gain access through an application process. The process is competitive and the candidate therapeutic has to have advanced to a point where TRND reviewers would judge it as having potential for development in collaboration with TRND — please see http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HG-11-018.html for details.

TRND will be a continuing program that is scheduled to be folded into the newly forming NIH Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) — so investigators not yet ready for the program might want to plan for subsequent calls for applications.

Announcement: March 3, 2011
Inherited Neuropathy Training Fellowship

A one-year neuromuscular fellowship specializing in hereditary neuropathies is available through the NIH Rare Disease Inherited Neuropathy Consortium starting in August 2011.

Announcement: February 7, 2011
Letter from Dr. John Porter: New Opportunities from Clinical Trainees from NIH

Dr. John Porter, program director for neuromuscular diseases at provides information regarding a new NIH funding opportunity for clinical trainees.

Announcement: January 21, 2011
Letter from Dr. Stephen I. Katz: New Investigator Opportunities from NIAMS/NIH

Dr. Stephen I. Katz, director of NIAMS, provides an overview of efforts at the NIH and the NIAMS to support the next generation of researchers.

Announcement: December 21, 2010
New NIH Career Development Opportunities for Muscular Dystrophy Researchers

NIAMS and NICHD will provide career development awards to promising clinically trained applicants with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in basic, translational and clinical research on the muscular dystrophies. These funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) are issued in recognition of the urgent need for highly skilled, interactive investigators who are able to integrate various disciplines and levels of expertise to successfully address the increasing challenges in the current research environment of the muscular dystrophies.

Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award in Muscular Dystrophy Research (K23)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-076.html

Mentored Clinical Scientist Research Career Development Award in Muscular Dystrophy Research (K08)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-077.html

NIH Pathway to Independence Award in Muscular Dystrophy Research (K99/R00)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-078.html

Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awards for Individual Postdoctoral Fellowships in Muscular Dystrophy Research (F32)
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PA-11-075.html

Announcement: December 2, 2010
HHMI Medical Research Fellowship

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has announced a Medical Research Fellows Program to support a one-year research fellowship for medical, dental and veterinary students to conduct research on Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The application deadline date is January 11, 2011.

HHMI Medical Research Fellowship
http://www.hhmi.org/grants/individuals/medfellows.html