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The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH. The over-arching goal of this National Insitute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nations biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on research experiences, designed to foster the development of physicians as research scientists in areas relevant to the NINDS mission. The research experiences will prepare clinicians to successfully compete for individual NIH mentored career development awards, or where appropriate, independent research awards. This FOA will also support educational activities such that participants of the R25 are expected to attend and participate in an annual workshop specific to this FOA to present their work, discuss progress and plans towards transitioning to the next career stage and to network with other researchers and leaders in their fields. Such success will facilitate their transition from resident/fellow to physician-scientist, and will thus foster retention of a cadre of physician-scientists who will conduct research into the mechanisms of, etiology, and treatment of neurological diseases.

This NOFO would support investigations with a minimum of two relevant co-pathologies (e.g., tau, alpha-synuclein, TDP-43, TMEM106B, vascular), with optional risk factors and co-morbidities, to identify cellular and molecular mechanisms of how/why multi-proteinopathy interactions drive worsening neurodegenerative processes and phenotypic outcomes. Studies should examine co-pathology cellular and molecular interactions across brain regions and time in proximate cell population, across various intracellular dynamics and localization, and upstream and downstream from aggregated protein states to determine what events lead to worse phenotypic outcomes.

This FOA would support establishing deeper mechanistic insight and causal relationships between TDP-43 pathology and phenotypic outcomes, as well as mechanistic interactions between TDP-43 and other co-pathologies, such TMEM106B. Additionally, it would include comparisons (including mechanistic, molecular, structural, cellular, genetic, -omic, anatomical, neuropathological, etc.) between TDP-43 proteinopathies, including LATE, with or without AD-NC, and FTD and/or ALS.

Reissue of RFA-NS-19-011: The purpose of the NIH Blueprint and BRAIN Initiative Diversity Specialized Predoctoral to Postdoctoral Advancement in Neuroscience (D-SPAN) Award is to support a defined pathway across career stages for outstanding graduate students who are from backgrounds that are nationally underrepresented in neuroscience research. This two-phase award will facilitate completion of the doctoral dissertation and transition of talented graduate students to strong neuroscience research postdoctoral positions, and will provide career development opportunities relevant to their long-term career goal of becoming independent neuroscience researchers.

(Reissue PAR-21-056) The purpose of this Program Announcement (PAR) is to enable analytical validation of strong candidate biomarkers for neurological diseases and conditions. Specifically, the goal of this PAR is to enable the rigorous validation of analytical methods for biomarker measurements, including evaluation of the detection method, its performance characteristics, and the optimal conditions that will generate reproducibility and accuracy consistent with FDA guidelines. This PAR assumes that 1) a candidate biomarker has already been identified, 2) detection method technology has already been developed, and 3) the research and/or clinical need and potential context of use has been identified.

(Reissue PAR-21-057) The purpose of this Program Announcement (PAR) is to enable analytical validation of strong candidate biomarkers for neurological diseases and conditions. Specifically, the goal of this PAR is to enable the rigorous validation of analytical methods for biomarker measurements, including evaluation of the detection method, its performance characteristics, and the optimal conditions that will generate reproducibility and accuracy consistent with FDA guidelines. This PAR assumes that 1) a candidate biomarker has already been identified, 2) detection method technology has already been developed, and 3) the research and/or clinical need and potential context of use has been identified.

The purpose of this Program Announcement (PAR) is to enable clinical validation of strong candidate biomarkers for neurological diseases and conditions. Specifically, the goal of this PAR is to enable the rigorous validation of biomarker measurements within the clinical population of interest to establish the positive and negative predictive values of the candidate biomarker consistent with FDA guidelines. This PAR assumes that 1) a candidate biomarker has already been identified, 2) detection method technology has already been developed and analytically validated, and 3) the research and/or clinical need and potential context of use has been identified.

(Reissue PAR-21-058). The purpose of this Program Announcement (PAR) is to enable clinical validation of strong candidate biomarkers for neurological diseases and conditions. Specifically, the goal of this PAR is to enable the rigorous validation of biomarker measurements within the clinical population of interest to establish the positive and negative predictive values of the candidate biomarker consistent with FDA guidelines. This PAR assumes that 1) a candidate biomarker has already been identified, 2) detection method technology has already been developed and analytically validated, and 3) the research and/or clinical need and potential context of use has been identified.

This Notice of Special Interest (NOSI) encourages the translation of the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative-supported technologies from academic and other non-small business research sectors to the marketplace. Small Business Concerns (SBCs) are encouraged to submit Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grant applications that propose to further develop, optimize, validate and scale such technologies for commercial dissemination. Additionally, SBIR and STTR applications supporting the development and commercialization of novel technologies that fit within the mission of the BRAIN Initiative are encouraged.

This NOFO encourages applications for multi-site exploratory and confirmatory clinical trials focused on promising interventions; biomarker or outcome measure validation studies that are immediately preparatory to trials in stroke prevention, treatment, and recovery; and ancillary studies designed to add scientific aims to active studies being conducted within StrokeNet. Successful applicants will collaborate and conduct the study within the NIH StrokeNet. Following peer review, NINDS will prioritize studies among the highest scoring to be conducted in the NIH StrokeNet infrastructure. The NIH StrokeNet National Coordinating Center (NCC) will work with the successful applicant to implement the proposed study efficiently and the National Data Management Center (NDMC) will provide statistical and data management support. The NIH StrokeNet Regional Coordinating Centers (RCCs) and their affiliated clinical sites will provide recruitment/retention support as well as on-site implementation of the clinical protocol.