Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance

About FARA's Research Program

FARA supports research through funding competitive grants across the spectrum from basic research through drug development and clinical research programs in Friedreich's Ataxia (FA). We promote collaboration among scientists, advocate for public-private partnerships and host open forums for leading scientists to share their insights and ideas to advance therapeutic development for FA.

FARA's Grant types, Deadlines, and Budget Limits are described in the table below. You can view special interest requests for proposals (RFPs) and other grant program updates and announcements here.

All investigators interested in FA-related research are invited to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) through our submission portal. All proposed research must fall within FARA's Grant Program Priorities. For more information on how to apply for a FARA grant, click here.

Grant types, Deadlines, and Budget Limits
Grant Type		Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline	Application Deadline	Award Notice	Grant start dates	Maximum Budget (in US dollars)
+	General Research Grant	Feb 15 Aug 15	Apr 15 Oct 15	Aug 1 Feb 1	Sep 1 - Oct 1 Mar 1 - Apr 1	$125,000 per year for 1 or 2 years
The General Research Grant is open to qualified investigators proposing projects that fall within FARA Research Priorities, as outlined here. Please click here for information on application requirements. To view lay abstracts of recent FARA-funded General Research Grants, click here.
+	Award for Innovative Mindset (AIM)	No LOI	Feb 1	May 1	Jun 1 - Jul 1	$100,000 for 1 year
The Award for Innovative Mindset (AIM) supports the initial exploration of innovative, high-risk, high-gain, and potentially groundbreaking concepts in FA research, that will foster new directions, bring new perspectives to the field and address neglected issues in FA research. The presentation of preliminary and/or published data is encouraged, but not required. Please click here for information on application requirements.
+	Keith Michael Andrus Cardiac Award	Nov 1	Feb 1	Jun 1	Jul 1 - Aug 1	$150,000 per year for 1 or 2 years
The Keith Michael Andrus Cardiac Research Award was made in honor of its namesake to remember Keith's legacy and to help advanced our understanding and treatment of the cardiomyopathy associated with FA. Proposals for this award should focus on advancing understanding and/or treatment of the cardiac involvement in FA. Please click here for information on application requirements.
+	Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award	Nov 1	Feb 1	Jun 1	Jul 1 - Aug 1	$250,000 per year for 1 or 2 years
The Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award honors its namesake for his diligent efforts to aid in the acceleration of preclinical studies to early pilot trials in FA patients. This award is given to proposals focused on pre-clinical and clinical investigations that will advance treatments for FA. Please click here for information on application requirements. The specific aims must target one or more of the following: Identification of biomarkers for FA that will elucidate disease variability, severity, and prognosis; facilitate drug screening, and/or optimize selection of patients and clinical endpoints for clinical trials; Development of tools and technologies that can (a) be directly used for therapy development; (b) overcome existing obstacles to treatment and (c) be directly applied to, or adapted for, delivery of potential therapeutics; Pre-clinical development and testing of potential therapeutics, biologics, and devices in cells and animals; Clinical studies of patient outcome measures.
+	Bronya J. Keats Research Collaboration Award	Nov 1	Feb 1	Jun 1	Jul 1 - Aug 1	$200,000 per year for 1 or 2 years
The Bronya J. Keats Research Collaboration Award honors its namesake for her academic career in understanding the GAA triplet repeat mutation in FA, and her continued role in managing FARA's grant program. Proposals should focus on FA research that relies on collaboration among investigators from at least two different Institutions. Special consideration will be given to proposals that involve international collaborations and bring new scientists to the FA community. The rationale for the collaboration needs to be convincing and must clearly demonstrate that the research goals could not be achieved by just one of the participating groups and that the synergy among the groups is essential for the success of the project. Please click here for information on application requirements.
+	Postdoctoral Research Award	Feb 15 Aug 15	Apr 15 Oct 15	Aug 1 Feb 1	Sep 1 - Oct 1 Mar 1 - Apr 1	$100,000 per year for 1 or 2 years
FARA offers a Postdoctoral Research Award as a mechanism to expand and retain young investigators in the FA biomedical research space. For this application type, the Postdoctoral trainee is the PI of the grant proposal. Applicants must have completed at least 18 months of postdoctoral training. Eligible applicants are postdoctoral trainees with fewer than 7 years working as a postdoctoral trainee, accounting for career disruptions. Postdoctoral trainees should focus their research proposal on projects that fall within FARA Research Priorities, as outlined here. Applicants are required to submit a personal statement describing their current position and plans for the future as it relates to FA research, with a description of career goals and how the proposed research and research environment will favor achieving those goals. A mentoring plan developed jointly by the junior investigator and mentor(s), as well as letters of support from all mentors are also required. The only allowable budget items are the trainee’s salary/stipend, plus applicable fringe benefits, supplies and travel to conferences if adequately justified and directly related to the proposed research. The trainee is required to contribute at least 75% effort to the proposed work. Competitive candidates demonstrate qualities that will enhance FARA's overall enterprise of understanding fundamentals of disease pathology and developing treatments and a cure for FA. Please click here for information on application requirements.
+	Postdoctoral Fellowship	Feb 15 Aug 15	Apr 15 Oct 15	Aug 1 Feb 1	Sep 1 - Oct 1 Mar 1 - Apr 1	Trainee salary up to 2 yrs
FARA offers a Postdoctoral Fellowship. For this application type, the PI of the grant proposal may be either the trainee or the trainee's faculty advisor; however, both the trainee and advisor must be named in the application. Eligible applicants are postdoctoral trainees with fewer than 6 years working as a postdoctoral trainee, accounting for career disruptions, and fewer than 4 years working in an FA lab as a postdoctoral trainee. Applicants are required to submit a personal statement describing their current position and plans for the future as it relates to FA research, with a description of career goals and how the proposed research and research environment will favor achieving those goals. A mentoring plan developed jointly by the junior investigator and mentor(s), as well as letters of support from all mentors are also required. The only allowable budget item is the trainee salary/stipend (plus applicable fringe benefits), which must not exceed the appropriate NIH stipend level. Postdoctoral trainees should provide a minimum 75% effort contributed to the design, writing and implementation of the proposed work. Please click here for information on application requirements.
+	Graduate Research Fellowship	Mar 15	May 15	Sep 1	Oct 1 - Nov 1	$50,000 per year up to 3 years
FARA offers a Graduate Research Fellowship. This competitive fellowship provides 1 to 3 years of support for individuals engaged in graduate study leading to a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree (or equivalent). FARA will award up to 3 Graduate Research Fellowships per year. For this application type, the PI/applicant of the grant proposal is the graduate student. Applicants need to be matriculated in the chosen graduate school and have a chosen thesis adviser at the time of application. Proof of passing qualifying exam, if applicable, is required at time of application or must be provided within a year of receiving the award, to receive funding for years 2 and 3. The research proposal must focus on projects that fall within FARA’s Research Priorities, as outlined here https://www.curefa.org/grant-priorities. Preliminary data are encouraged but not required. Applicants are required to submit a personal statement describing their plans for the future as it relates to FA research, with a description of career goals and how the proposed research and research environment will favor achieving those goals. A mentoring plan developed jointly by the graduate student and the primary research mentor, as well as a mentor’s letter of support are also required. The only allowable budget items are the graduate student’s salary/stipend plus applicable fringe benefits (including health insurance) and tuition costs and fees that are not already covered by the institution. The majority of the student’s time should be dedicated to this project. Recipients of this Fellowship are encouraged to attend the International Congress for Ataxia Research and FARA will facilitate their participation. Please click here for information on application requirements. Eligibility Individuals must be enrolled full-time in a research-based (dissertation-required) program, leading to a Ph.D. (or equivalent) at a not-for-profit U.S. or foreign institution of higher education at the time of application. Applicants must be matriculated in the chosen graduate school and have a chosen thesis adviser. Proof of passing qualifying exam, if applicable, is required at the time of application or must be provided within a year of receiving the award, to receive funding for years 2 and 3. Individuals must be enrolled full-time and may not accept full-time teaching or research assistantships or internships during fellowship tenure. May not be a recipient of another fellowship / studentship / scholarship, or a previous recipient of this fellowship. Must remain in good academic standing per guidelines of the chosen graduate program. This fellowship can support the Ph.D. portion of an M.D./Ph.D. joint program, if this is not already supported through institutional funds.
+	Request for Proposals and Ad-hoc Requests	FARA will issue requests for proposals (RFPs) on an ad-hoc basis.
All RFPs will be announced through this webpage and through our e-bulletin list. If you are not a subscriber please click here to sign-up. Our latest RFP announcement can be found here. Lastly, FARA is willing to consider ad-hoc proposals off cycle that are high-value projects. For more information, please contact FARA at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The FARA Fellow Program

The FARA Fellow Program recognizes young investigators who will commit their early career to FA research. Growing and training the next generation of FA scientists is a priority for FARA and this program provides young investigators the opportunity to grow their profile within the research community and network with other investigators, together with a cash award and opportunity to attend scientific conferences. Eligible candidates are postdoctoral trainees who have demonstrated or hold promise for outstanding research achievements in FA. Both new and existing postdoctoral trainees with fewer than 6 years working as a postdoctoral trainee, accounting for career disruptions, and fewer than 4 years working in an FA lab as a postdoctoral trainee, can be nominated to receive the award. Nominations must be submitted by the trainee’s PI or prospective PI and consist of the trainee’s CV, a brief abstract describing the trainee’s project with a list of publications and/or presentations related to the project, documentation providing evidence that the PI can support the trainee’s salary for 2 years and a letter briefly describing how the trainee’s qualities and research accomplishments will support FARA's mission of developing treatments and a cure for FA.

The award consists of $10,000 USD and financial support to attend one scientific conference per year and the FARA & CHOP FA Symposium in Philadelphia (maximum covered cost of $4000 USD that includes: airfare in coach class, hotel accommodation and conference registration fees. These expenses will be reimbursed directly by FARA). Postdoctoral trainees can be nominated and receive the award for a maximum of 3 years, but nominations are required each year. Nominations must be submitted by the PI and include trainee’s CV, a brief abstract describing the trainee’s project with a list of publications and/or presentations related to the project, documentation providing evidence that the PI can support the trainee’s salary and a letter briefly describing the trainee’s research accomplishments.

As FARA Fellows, trainees will be invited to attend round table discussions with other Fellows, present at the FARA Forum and at the FARA Flash Talks, and contribute their FA knowledge and results of their research to the FA CollaMap (https://www.collamap.org/).

Nomination must be submitted by June 1 via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For more information, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Grant program updates and announcements

The FARA forum webinars

The FARA Forum is a monthly webinar featuring investigators who have been awarded FARA grants. The webinar is open to FARA grant awardees and it is held on the second Tuesday of every month. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

September 12, 2023 12 PM ET
David Lynch (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia)

October 10, 2023 12 PM ET
Hélène Puccio (Institute NeuroMyoGène, Lyon) and Marek Napierala (UT Southwestern) – FA mouse models

November 14, 2023 12 PM ET
Clementina Mesaros, (University of Pennsylvania)