NSF has released an updated version of the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide (NSF 24-006). In general, the Guide has been revised to match the changes in NSF's Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 24-1). A summary of changes by chapter is provided at the beginning of the document. 

The guide will be effective for applications submitted (via Grants.gov) or due on or after May 20, 2024. The guidelines in grantsgovguide0123 are applicable to proposals submitted before May 20, 2024.

The start of 2024 is marked by an opportunity to hear about new and in-development NIH programs and policies. Meet with compliance and system policy experts from the NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA) to find out about the most recent policy updates and how your institutions could be impacted.

An application submitted in eRA Commons can be rejected by a signing official (SO) within the first two business days (the viewing window) after it has been submitted. After that two-day window, an SO must submit a request to the Center for Scientific Review's Division of Receipt and Referral (DRR) to have the application withdrawn using the Prior Approval module in eRA Commons (preferred) or via email.

My bibliography contains information on eRA Commons users who have received grants in their portfolio. They are able to determine whether their publications comply with the NIH Public Access Policy, initiate the compliance process and link their publications to NIH extramural awards. The steps to manage compliance with the NIH public access policy can be found here.

Learn when and how to submit a reference letter, cover letter, letter of intent, letter of support and other documents. Each key letter has a distinct purpose in informing peer reviewers, NIH staff, or both. Certain letters may be necessary while others are optional or should be left out, depending on your research plans and the type of your application. The subpages contain instructions on how to use each type of letter and what is required.

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Sprint for Women’s Health aims to address critical unmet challenges in women’s health across all demographics, geographies, and socioeconomic statuses. It champions transformative innovations and tackles health conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women from every walk of life.

ARPA-H is announcing a request for solutions (RFS) funding opportunity in six specific topics developed by ARPA-H Program Managers. This RFS will solicit ideas for novel, groundbreaking research and development to address women’s health and opportunities to accelerate and scale tools, products, and platforms with potential for commercialization to improve women’s health outcomes. Awardees will develop unconventional approaches and innovative new avenues to push high-impact biomedical research forward.

Key Dates

• Virtual Proposers’ Day: Wednesday, March 6, 2024. ARPA-H provided an overview of the Sprint for Women’s Health RFS, the application process, and details of the six women’s health topics. Watch the event recording and access the event slides.
• Submission deadline: Friday, April 12, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET

*Dates are notional and dependent on the number of submissions received.

You can submit questions about the Sprint for Women’s Health until March 27, 2024, at 5:00 p.m. ET. Sign up for updates, including the final RFS, milestone reminders, and other sprint details.

This is to notify the research community of recently released Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) pre-announcement for the Department of Defense (DOD) Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research Program managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY24 funds have not been appropriated, CDMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to anticipated FY24 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. 

The Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychological Health Research Program has released a pre-announcement for the following funding opportunities:

• Clinical Trial Award
• Emerging Research Award *New for FY24
• Focused Program Award
• Health Services Research Award
• Translational Research Award

This is to notify the research community of a recently released Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) pre-announcement for a Department of Defense (DOD) program managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY24 funds have not been appropriated, CDMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to anticipated FY24 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. 

FY24 Pre-announcement released:

The FY24 Peer Reviewed Orthopaedic Research Program (PRORP) released a pre-announcement for the following funding opportunities:

• Applied Research Award
• Clinical Translational Research Award
• Clinical Trial Award
• Women’s Health Research Award *New for FY24*

The Multiple Sclerosis Research Program released a pre-announcement for the following funding opportunities:

• Clinical Trial Award
• Early Investigator Research Award
• Exploration – Hypothesis Development Award – New Investigator Option
• Investigator – Initiated Research Award – New Investigator Option

The Pancreatic Cancer Research Program released a pre-announcement for the following funding opportunities:

• Focused Pilot Award
• Idea Development Award
• Idea Development Award – Early Career Investigator Option
• Translational Research Partnership Award

This is to notify the research community of a recently released Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) pre-announcement for a Department of Defense (DOD) program managed by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The FY24 Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY24 funds have not been appropriated, CDMRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to anticipated FY24 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the government. 

FY24 Pre-announcement released:

The Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP) released a pre-announcement for the following funding opportunities:

• Idea Development Award
• Therapeutic/Diagnostic Research Award

Due: March 27, 2024

Amount: $200,000 over two years

The objective is to support research projects that promote equity, inclusivity, and evidence-based approaches to overcome the barriers faced by marginalized communities with a focus on ovarian cancers and/or related gynecologic cancers. There must be a clearly defined research project with aims related to health equity. Projects for community programs without a defined research component are not eligible. The primary review criteria will be the likelihood that the investigators can leverage this funding to explore ideas specifically related to reducing health disparities, with long-term impact for the field. The ideal project would provide resources to promote the generation of data, which would be capable of performing high-impact research and competing successfully for additional funding, and the authorship of scientific publications. The proposed projects may be new research or part of ongoing research. Research areas include but are not limited to identifying and addressing factors that contribute to health disparities in ovarian cancer; improving access to quality care, diagnostics, and treatment options for underserved communities; exploring impact of disparities on disease progression and survival rates; and investigating the genetic and molecular factors influencing ovarian cancer disparities and potential therapies.

Eligibility: PIs at all stages of their careers are eligible to apply. Applicants must have either their PhD, ScD, MD, or other doctoral degree at time of application.

Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org and click here for further details.

Due: March 28, 2024

Amount: $250,000 over one to two years

The goal is to provide initial support to identify new therapeutic modalities including small molecules, antibodies, and cell therapies against validated melanoma targets, with an emphasis on targets that are applicable to rare melanoma subtypes such as acral, mucosal, and uveal melanomas. Support will be geared towards early stages of the drug discovery continuum that could result in an optimized lead compound or biologic showing activity in appropriate melanoma preclinical models. Target suggestions: adapter proteins and transcription factors, epigenetic regulators, cell surface proteins that can be targeted with antibodies or cell-based therapies. The RFP supports High throughput screening (HTS) or high content screening (HCS) of the target including design and optimization of relevant HTS or HCS assays • Medicinal chemistry efforts to optimize activity in cell-based assays and in vitro ADME and in vivo PK properties • Testing of optimized lead compounds in relevant melanoma animal models for efficacy and PD assessments • Optimization of biologics (antibodies and cell-based therapies) that can be tested in relevant melanoma cell-based and animal models. The RFA does not support Identification and validation of new targets • Testing of repurposed drugs, FDA

approved, or drugs being clinically tested in other cancer and disease indications • Development and characterization of new cell lines, organoid and xenograft models for preclinical drug testing (a separate priority funding announcement from the Next Steps Program will be released to support these activities).

Eligibility: PIs must hold a full-time faculty appointment at the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) or above. An investigator may serve as PI on only one proposal submitted to the Next Steps RFA call in any given calendar year.

• Click here for further details.

The Early Career Catalyst Award supports two early career investigators whose research could improve the lives of people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

Due: March 29, 2024 (LOI)

Amount: $500,000

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation believes that early support for innovative ideas can lead to improvements in preventing, predicting, diagnosing and treating IBD. Both basic and translational projects must be conceptually and/or technically innovative. Priority for translational projects will be given to applicants using human samples and/or datasets in their aims and objectives. Applicant must be Assistant Professor or equivalent… and institutional support of at least $750,000. Project may only have one Principal Investigator and no Co-Investigators/Co-Principal Investigators.

LOI guidelines: Requires ~ 2000 word project description, an NIH-style biosketch, and letter of support from your department chair.

Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org for further details.

Any of the four funding themes is open for applicants to submit an Expression of Interest. Registration on the CARB-X Portal is required for applicants who have not applied before. Click here to find Target Product Profiles. Click here to find minimal entry criteria.

The following timeframes are available for submission of Expressions of Interest (EOI) for all four themes :

• 18 March 2024 at 10:00 ET – 29 March 2024 at 23:59 ET
• 23 September 2024 at 10:00 ET – 4 October 2024 at 23:59 ET

Amount: $100,000

Due: March 29, 2024 (LOI)

Aims to provide seed funding for early-stage research projects centered around the discovery of novel therapies, treatment regimens or diagnostics for early detection of gastric cancer. Eligible applicants should be working in a faculty position with independent laboratory space. Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org for further details.

1.Exceptional Project Grants

Due: March 31, 2024

Amount: $100,000/1 year

Limited submission 2 LOIs per institution. This award recognizes creative, unique, and innovative research. Proposal must focus on breast cancer. There is no limitation on the subject matter of the project if it is reasonably related to the treatment, prevention, or cure of breast cancer. However, the proposed project should be an exceptional project that can stand alone. The LOI must include hypothesis, outline of research aims and methods, and project’s potential impact. Eligibility: Clinical doctors and research scientists at any stage of their career, including postdocs. You do not have to be a US citizen to apply.

• Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org and click here for further details.

2.Young Investigator Grants

Due: March 31, 2024

Amount: $125,000 over two years

Limited submission 2 LOIs per institution. Proposal must focus on breast cancer. This grant is intended to help advance the careers of young researchers who do not yet have their own major grant support but who design and conduct their own independent research projects. The LOI must include hypothesis, outline of research aims and methods, and project’s potential impact. Eligibility: Clinical doctors and research scientists who are in the early stages of their careers, including post docs. Applicants must (i) not have held a tenure track faculty or tenure track research position for more than four years following completion of their training, as of March 1, 2025; (ii) not have been or are not a principal investigator on an NIH R01 or equivalent national/international non-mentored award as of March 1, 2025; and (iii) dedicate at least 50% of their work effort to research. You do not have to be a US citizen to apply.

• Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org and click here for further details.

Due: April 1, 2024 (LOI)

Amount: $100,000 per year for 2-3 years

Funds basic research in vertebrate (excluding clinical) and invertebrate neurobiology in the United States. Investigations should specifically concern neural mechanisms involved in sensory, motor, and other complex functions of the whole organism as these relate to behavior. The overall goal should be to better understand behavioral output or brain mechanisms of behavior. It is the Foundation's policy to assist those dynamic areas of basic biological research that are not heavily supported by Federal Agencies or other foundations with specialized missions. Eligible PIs must be Assistant Professor or higher. Must have under $200,000 in current extramural funding. Must not have applied to the foundation within past 12 months. The Foundation emphasizes the support of young scientists at the beginning of their careers and productive senior scientists who wish to move into new fields of interest. Consideration is given, however, to applicants of all ages. The chief criteria for support are the quality and creativity of the research as well as the commitment of the Principal Investigator (a minimum time allocation of 20% is required). 

Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org for further details.

Due: April 8, 2024

Amount: $200,000

Grants are intended to enhance education for community gastroenterologist and advanced practice providers involved in diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with ulcerative colitis. “Pfizer is particularly interested in programs that focus on educational needs in UC, including but not limited to, education of new oral therapies for UC, including S1P modulators mechanism of action and data; education on transition from conventional to advance therapy in UC (treat to target and shared decision making); and burden of disease and management of isolated proctitis in UC.”

Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org and click here for further details.

Due: April 15, 2024

Amount: $750,000/18 mos.- 3 years.

The Genentech Health Equity Innovation Fund supports partnerships - often between health systems and communities - that have the potential to shift policies, mindsets, evidence base, and practices to eliminate inequities in patient health outcomes. They welcome and encourage proposals that are designed to measurably and sustainably close racial and ethnic inequities in healthcare. They especially invite proposals that bring a systemic lens: cutting across multiple outcomes with a focus on root causes to realize the long-term future indicated above.

Genentech is specifically seeking proposals that address inequities across at least one of these therapeutic areas:

1. Neuroscience and Brain Health, including but not limited to multiple sclerosis;

2. Oncology, including but not limited to Breast, Lung, & hepatocellular carcinoma;

3. Ophthalmology, including but not limited to diabetic macular edema; Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease, including but not limited to diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.



Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org for further details.

Due: April 15, 2024

Amount: $275,000 over 3 years

The foundation seeks applications from early-career basic scientists, medical oncologists, pathologists, urologists, radiologists, radiation oncologists, public health experts, bioinformaticians, bioengineers, or professionals from any other field that could contribute to the end of potentially lethal prostate cancer. Applicants may be working in basic, translational, computational, or clinical research and need not be trained specifically in prostate cancer research to be highly competitive. Access to and real-time interaction with a clinical environment and translational prostate cancer physician-scientists is highly desired. “Small step” or incremental proposals are usually non-competitive. Highly innovative basic science programs will be carefully considered, but priority will be given to “bench to bedside” translational research proposals with the potential to deliver near term benefit to patients. Young investigators working on prostate cancer health disparities to apply are especially encouraged to apply. Applicants traditionally under-represented in science and medicine are highly encouraged. Research proposals addressing disparities in care experienced by patients with prostate cancer may focus on implementation research in various populations (e.g., urban vs rural, racial, geographic, or financial) or in drivers of care and outcome disparities that could potentially be addressed through changes in policy, advocacy, or education.

Eligibility: Must be within six years following completion of a professional degree or subsequent mentored academic or clinical training program. Must hold title of Postdoctoral Fellow, Instructor, Research Associate, Assistant Professor or equivalent. Must be under the direct supervision of a mentor(s). At least one mentor at the applicant’s institution is required. The Applicant should not have been granted more than $500,000 in direct research funding from all sources including institutional funds at the time of application.

Please contact the Institutional Giving team at institutionalgiving@montefiore.org for further details.

Due April 29, 2024

Amount: $750,000 over three years

These grants are awarded to outstanding early career investigators to support high-impact, high-risk projects that are distinct from their current research portfolio. This award is not intended to be the main source of funding for the applicant’s lab. Applicants must demonstrate multi-year independent funding that sustains the central activities of the lab.

Projects must be centered on evidence-based laboratory, data, and/or medical science.

Eligibility: MD, PhD or equivalent is required; Must be 3 to 8 years from the start of an independent faculty research appointment as of 12/31/2024.

The Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences provides funding to support assistant professors who, based on their performance during their education and training, demonstrate outstanding promise as contributors in science relevant to the advancement of human health. Awards are $75,000 per year for 4 years. Einstein may nominate ONE candidate for the 2025 Pew Scholars Program.  

Eligibility criteria: 

• Candidates must have been awarded a doctorate in biomedical sciences, medicine, or a related field. 
• As of Aug. 28, 2024, nominees must be running an independent lab and hold full-time appointments at the rank of assistant professor or equivalent. Appointments such as research assistant professor, adjunct assistant professor, assistant professor research track, visiting professor, or instructor are NOT eligible. 

Candidates must NOT have been appointed as an assistant professor at any institution prior to June 10, 2020, whether or not such appointment was on a tenure track. Time spent on clinical internships, residencies, on work towards board certification, or on parental leave does not count as part of this four-year limit. 

The deadline for submission of preliminary applications for internal review by Einstein’s Awards Committee is 5 PM, Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Please send ONE PDF file containing the following as an email attachment to Indranil.basu@einsteinmed.edu: 

• Candidate Profile Form (click here). 
• A statement outlining the applicant’s career potential and the Department’s plans for his/her future to be obtained from the Department Chairperson, limited to no more than TWO single-spaced pages.  
• A written proposal containing a title and a description of the proposed research project to be carried out during the grant period, limited to no more than THREE single-spaced pages, plus one additional page (single-spaced) for references with titles included. The font should be 11-point or larger, and the margins should be at least 0.5 inches. Figure legends can use smaller fonts.  
• A complete curriculum vitae and bibliography. Do NOT submit an NIH biosketch. 
• Information about present and pending grant support with amounts requested or approved, annual amounts, and duration of award. 

Complete guidelines for this program can be found by clicking here.

If you have any questions concerning this award or the application procedure, please contact Indranil.basu@einsteinmed.edu.