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SuRE is a research capacity building program designed to develop and sustain research excellence in U.S. higher education institutions that receive limited NIH research support and serve students from groups underrepresented in biomedical research (see NOT-OD-20-031) with an emphasis on providing students with research opportunities and enriching the research environments at the applicant institutions. The purpose of SuRE-First awards is to support research grants for faculty investigators at eligible institutions who have not had prior independent external research grants.

This NINDS Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) announces the availability of administrative supplements to support hyperacute magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain in stroke patients to understand how lesion evolution and hyperacute brain changes affect cognitive trajectories and outcomes.

Between 40 and 70% of older adults suffer from sleep disturbances or disorders, which are especially prevalent among patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Alzheimers Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD), i.e., frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia, and multiple etiology dementias. The AD Research Summits specifically recommends to invest in understanding the integrative physiology of sleep and elucidating the short- and long-term consequences of disrupted and optimized sleep on brain aging and AD. Moreover, NIAs AD/ADRD Research Implementation Milestone 2.F plans to "create new research programs aimed at understanding the integrative physiology of circadian rhythms and sleep and its impact on brain aging and the risk of AD and AD-related dementias at multiple levels (epigenetic, gene expression, proteomic, neuronal, network, systems) to identify new targets and approaches for AD prevention." The purpose of this one-year administrative supplement program is to facilitate collaborative research to better understand the bi-directional relationship between chronic sleep disturbances/circadian disruption and AD/ADRD pathogenesis. This notice encourages eligible NINDS awardees in the AD/ADRD research community to apply for supplemental funds to establish new collaborations with sleep/circadian researchers for the advancement of research on the association between sleep disturbances/circadian disruption with ADRD. This initiative aims to investigate the potential of sleep/circadian-related treatment as a modifier of the development and progression of neurodegeneration. The proposed studies must be within the scope of the peer-reviewed activities specified within the NINDS parent award, and collaborators may not have a prior history of collaboration. Active awards with project end dates in FY 2022 or later are eligible. The award may not be entering or in a terminal no-cost extension in FY 2021.

NINDS is interested in supplementing applications to conduct research on the effects of COVID-19 on the development of, or disease progression in, AD/ADRD. For example, anosmia is a risk factor for developing LBD and AD dementiaand anosmia is a common sequelae of COVID-19 infection, but it is unclear whether COVID-19 infected individuals with anosmia are also at greater risk for developing cognitive impairment and dementia. Similarly, although subjects with AD/ADRD are likely to worsen cognitively during COVID-19 infection, research is lacking as to whether they return to baseline after recovery from infection or whether there is accelerated progression of cognitive decline. Applicants requesting supplements to active NINDS-funded human subjects projects that will address these research questions, for example bytesting for COVID-19, anosmia, cognitive assessments, and biomarker assessments (neuroimaging, fluid-based), are encouraged under this opportunity.

The purpose of this one-year administrative supplement is to expand the scope of the currently active awards supported by the Blueprint RFAs on the Neurobiology of Small Blood and Lymphatic Vessels (RFAs NS-18-003 and NS-18-004) to advance the mechanistic understanding and/or the development of new technologies to investigate changes in brain small vessels that can lead to Alzheimers Disease and Alzheimers Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD). Areas of interest include: alterations in the brain (g)lymphatic system, cerebral microinfarcts and microbleeds, post-stroke cognitive impairment, and vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia, with an emphasis on the microvasculature.

This FOA provides funding to conduct pharmacodynamic, pharmacokinetic, and in vivo efficacy studies to demonstrate that proposed therapeutic agent(s) have sufficient biological activity to warrant further development to treat neurological or neuromuscular disorders that fall under the NINDS mission. Therapeutic agents include small molecules, biologics or biotechnology-derived products. This FOA is part of a suite of Innovation Grants to Nurture Initial Translational Efforts (IGNITE) to advance projects to the point where they can meet the entry criteria for the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network or other translational programs.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages the development and validation of animal models and human/animal tissue ex vivo systems that recapitulate the phenotypic and physiologic characteristics of a defined neurological or neuromuscular disorder. The goal of this FOA is to promote a significant improvement in the translational relevance of animal models or ex vivo systems that will be utilized to facilitate future development of neurotherapeutics. Ideally, models proposed for this FOA would have the potential to provide feasible and meaningful assessments of efficacy following therapeutic intervention that would be applicable in both preclinical and clinical settings. This FOA is part of a suite of Innovation Grants to Nurture Initial Translational Efforts (IGNITE) Program focused on enabling the exploratory and early stages of drug discovery.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) encourages research grant applications to develop in vitro and/or ex vivo assays and conduct iterative screening efforts to identify and characterize potential therapeutic agents for neurological or neuromuscular disorders. This FOA is part of a suite of Innovation Grants to Nurture Initial Translational Efforts (IGNITE) to advance projects to the point where they can meet the entry criteria for the Blueprint Neurotherapeutics Network (BPN) or other translational programs.

The goal of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to solicit Initial Analgesic Development R34 applications that propose 2-year exploratory/planning awards that are expected to enable a future application for RFA-NS-21-015 HEAL Initiative: Team Research - for Initial Translational Efforts in Non-addictive Analgesic Development [Small Molecules and Biologics] (U19 Clinical Trial Not Allowed). Thus, the limited scope of aims and approach of these applications are expected to establish a strong research team, feasibility, validity, or other technically qualifying results that support, enable, and/or lay the groundwork for a subsequent Team Research U19 application. These R34 awards will support the building of a research team to collect initial data and recruit additional collaborators. The proposal must include a plan for developing a strong research team, as well as a strategy to collect preliminary data linking putative therapeutic targets to the proposed pain indication and supporting the hypothesis that altering target activity will produce desirable outcomes for the disease.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is part of a suite of FOAs to support the development of safe, effective, and non-addictive therapeutics to treat pain. The goal of this FOA is to support team-based research projects to develop assays, screening and early optimization work to develop a non-addictive therapeutic to treat pain. Discovery and validation of pharmacodynamic markers efficacy and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) studies are also responsive. The result of the project should be to advance a hit or lead to the point where they can meet the entry criteria for RFA-NS-21-010 HEAL Initiative: Non-addictive Analgesic Therapeutics Development [Small Molecules and Biologics] to Treat Pain (UG3/UH3 Clinical Trial Optional) within the 5 years of the award, there is no opportunity for renewal of this award. Applications should propose a plan that will lead to the development of analgesics with a rigorous biological rationale and scientifically sound assays. If the data does not currently exist, the proposal must include a strong plan for developing data linking the putative therapeutic target(s) to the proposed pain indication and supporting the hypothesis that altering the target activity will produce desirable outcomes for the disease. This FOA is not specific for any one or group of pain conditions. Projects to develop therapeutics for acute pain, chronic pain, painful neuropathy, musculoskeletal pain, headache disorders, osteoarthritis, diabetic neuropathy, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, eye pain, sickle-cell pain, post-surgical pain, cancer pain, visceral pain, post stroke pain, myofascial pain, painful disorders of the orofacial region and other conditions will be considered.