FARA Grant Types

The General Research Grant is open to qualified investigators proposing projects that align with FARA Research Priorities.

Maximum Budget (USD): $125,000 per year for 1 or 2 years

1st Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Feb 15
• Application Deadline: Apr 15
• Award Notice: Aug 1
• Grant Start Dates: Sep 1 – Oct 1

2nd Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Aug 15
• Application Deadline: Oct 15
• Award Notice: Feb 1
• Grant Start Dates: Mar 1 – Apr 1

The Award for Innovative Mindset (AIM) supports the initial exploration of innovative, high-risk, high-gain, and potentially ground-breaking 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.

Studies supported by this award mechanism are expected to lay the groundwork for future avenues of scientific investigation. The proposed research project should include a well-formulated, testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale and study design.

Research that is an incremental advance upon published data is not consistent with the intent of this award mechanism. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI) to clearly and explicitly articulate how the proposed research project is innovative in the field of FA.

Maximum Budget (USD): $100,000 for 1 year

Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: N/A
• Application Deadline: Apr 1
• Award Notice: Jul 1
• Grant Start Dates: Aug 1 – Sep 1

The Keith Michael Andrus Cardiac Research Award was made in honor of its namesake to remember Keith’s legacy and to help advance our understanding and treatment of cardiomyopathy associated with FA. Proposals for this award should focus on advancing understanding and/or treatment of the cardiac involvement in FA.

Maximum Budget (USD): $125,000 per year for 1 or 2 years

The Kyle Bryant Translational Research Award honors its namesake for his diligent efforts to aid the rapid translation of basic research discoveries into clinical applications. Eligible applications should focus on accelerating completion of translational stage activities necessary for advancement to clinical study of a therapeutic candidate or development of novel tools that address a critical bottleneck to the discovery or development of therapies.

The specific aims must target one or more of the following:

• Pre-clinical development and testing of potential therapeutics, biologics, and devices in cells and animals, when proof of concept has already been established 
• Development of tools and technologies that can be used for therapy development, delivery of therapeutics or to address critical bottlenecks to drug development in FA
• Identification of pharmacodynamic, monitoring and diagnostic biomarkers and novel clinical endpoints for clinical trials in FA, that will facilitate clinical development, elucidate disease variability, severity, and prognosis or optimize selection of patients for clinical trials
• Clinical studies of patient outcome measures 

Maximum Budget (USD): $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: it must clearly demonstrate that the research goals could not be achieved by just one of the participating groups and the synergy among the groups is essential for the success of the project.

Maximum Budget (USD): $175,000 per year for 1 or 2 years

The Clinician Scientist Development Award provides funding for mentored clinical research to provide protected research time to early-career physician faculty to enable career development and transition to independent investigators as clinician scientists. FARA’s objective is to promote training and retention of clinicians who wish to develop expertise in diagnosis, management and/or treatment of Friedreich’s ataxia as part of their clinical practice and who want to engage in Friedreich Ataxia (FA)-focused clinical and/or translational research.   

FARA seeks to fund outstanding clinicians, mentored by an established FA expert, who want to maintain or develop clinical experience and have potential for clinical/translational research careers and whose projects will address highly significant clinical/translational research questions in FA. 

For the purpose of this award, research is defined as patient-oriented research conducted with human participants, or translational research specifically designed to develop treatments or enhance diagnosis of FA. Areas of research may include natural history, epidemiologic or behavioral studies, clinical trials, studies of disease mechanisms – as they relate to symptoms and disease progression, and clinical outcome assessment and biomarker research. Disease-related studies not directly involving humans or human tissue will also be considered if the primary goal is the development of therapies, diagnostic tests, or other tools to prevent or mitigate FA. Proposals that support applicants in training and research activities that lead to Master of Science in Clinical Investigation (MSCI) or Master of Public Health (MPH), or equivalent, will be viewed favorably. 

Eligibility 

1. Recipient must have an MD or MD/PhD (or equivalent) and completed residency training no more than 7 years prior to the beginning of this award. If the applicant completed a fellowship of any kind after residency, the eligibility is still based on the date residency was completed. 
2. Current principal investigator of an individual mentored training grant or current or former principal investigator of an NIH R-level or equivalent grant are not eligible. 

Requirements  

1. Letter of support from the mentor(s)  
2. A mentoring plan developed jointly by the applicant and mentor(s).  
3. The applicant must contribute at least 50% effort to the project.  
4. Letter of support from Department Chair, confirming at least 50% protected time and outlining other responsibilities (such as clinic and on-call time) 

Award Term and Budget  

$100,000 / year for a maximum of 2 years, for direct costs (e.g. salary support, research project costs).  

 

1st Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Feb 15
• Application Deadline: Apr 15
• Award Notice: Aug 1
• Grant Start Dates: Sep 1 – Oct 1

2nd Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Aug 15
• Application Deadline: Oct 15
• Award Notice: Feb 1
• Grant Start Dates: Mar 1 – Apr 1

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. 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. The maximum direct salary that can be requested cannot exceed the NIH stipend level for 100% effort. If the trainee is contributing less than 100% effort then the stipend request must be reduced to correspond to this effort.  For example, if the trainee’s effort is 85%, then the stipend requested can be no more than 85% of the appropriate NIH stipend level.

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.

Maximum Budget (USD): $100,000 per year for 1 or 2 years

1st Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Feb 15
• Application Deadline: Apr 15
• Award Notice: Aug 1
• Grant Start Dates: Sep 1 – Oct 1

2nd Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Aug 15
• Application Deadline: Oct 15
• Award Notice: Feb 1
• Grant Start Dates: Mar 1 – Apr 1

FARA offers a Postdoctoral Fellowship to support young investigators in the FA biomedical research space. 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. The maximum direct salary that can be requested cannot exceed the NIH stipend level for 100% effort. If the trainee is contributing less than 100% effort then the stipend request must be reduced to correspond to this effort.  For example, if the trainee’s effort is 85%, then the stipend requested can be no more than 85% of the appropriate NIH stipend level. 

Maximum Budget (USD): Trainee salary for up to two years, plus applicable fringe benefits

1st Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Feb 15
• Application Deadline: Apr 15
• Award Notice: Aug 1
• Grant Start Dates: Sep 1 – Oct 1

2nd Round of Annual Funding Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: Aug 15
• Application Deadline: Oct 15
• Award Notice: Feb 1
• Grant Start Dates: Mar 1 – Apr 1

The Graduate Research 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. If passing a qualifying exam is not an institutional requirement, then the applicant must have been doing research in the adviser’s lab for at least the 6 months prior to the application deadline and must provide: (1) Institutional proof of acceptance to the PhD program; and (2) a letter from the adviser stating that the student will be supported by the adviser until completion of the student’s PhD degree (or equivalent). The research proposal must focus on projects that fall within FARA’s Research 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.

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.
• If passing a qualifying exam is not an institutional requirement, then the applicant must have been doing research in the adviser’s lab for at least the 6 months prior to the application deadline.
• 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.

Maximum Budget (USD): $50,000 per year, up to 3 years

Deadlines and Important Dates:

• Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: March 15
• Application Deadline: May 15
• Award Notice: September 1
• Grant Start Dates: Oct. 1 – Nov. 1

All RFPs will be announced through this webpage and through our e-bulletin list. If you are not a subscriber please click below to sign-up. Lastly, FARA is willing to consider ad-hoc proposals off cycle that are high-value projects. For more information, please contact FARA at grants@curefa.org