DoD Neurofibromatosis, Synergistic Idea Award | W81XWH 22 NFRP SIA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 22 NFRP SIA

The Department of Defense (DoD), through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA), announced the Neurofibromatosis Research Program (NFRP) Synergistic Idea Award (Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH 22 NFRP SIA) to support innovative neurofibromatosis (NF) research built around true collaboration. The central purpose of this mechanism is to fund new ideas that rely on synergistic approaches, meaning the proposed work should be stronger and more impactful because it is driven by a coordinated team rather than a single laboratory working in isolation. Projects are expected to tackle a clearly defined, central problem or question in NF research, with the team structure and work plan showing how the investigators combined perspectives and expertise to address that problem in a way that would not be achievable otherwise.

A defining feature of this opportunity is that applications must be led by two or three Principal Investigators (PIs). The DoD is explicitly looking for complementary skill sets and perspectives, where each PI contributes distinct strengths that meaningfully shape the scientific direction of the project. The award supports both newly formed collaborations and existing partnerships, but it places emphasis on the synergy itself: the investigators should demonstrate how their integration will produce novel insights, methods, or outcomes for NF. The program also encourages participation from PIs outside the traditional NF research community, signaling an interest in cross-disciplinary approaches, such as bringing in expertise from adjacent disease areas, engineering, computational sciences, imaging, drug discovery, or other relevant fields that could accelerate progress in NF.

While the award focuses on new ideas, it is not intended to fund purely speculative concepts without support. Applications are required to include preliminary and/or published data that are relevant to NF and directly tied to the proposed project. In practical terms, this means teams should be prepared to show some evidence that their hypothesis, approach, model system, platform, or underlying observations have a credible connection to NF biology, NF-associated tumors, clinical challenges, or other NF-relevant outcomes, and that the proposed collaborative work is grounded enough to be feasible within the award period.

Administratively, this opportunity was issued as a discretionary funding program within the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category, and it lists funding instruments as a Cooperative Agreement and/or Grant. The CFDA number is 12.420, and eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning it is broadly open to many types of applicant organizations, subject to any additional constraints that might be described in the full announcement. The opportunity was created on April 11, 2022, with an original closing date of July 21, 2022. The posting indicates an expected number of awards of 1. The award ceiling is listed as 0, which typically implies the maximum funding level is either not specified in the summary record or is defined elsewhere in the full funding announcement rather than in this brief listing.

Overall, the NFRP Synergistic Idea Award is best understood as a team-science mechanism aimed at pushing NF research forward by deliberately pairing or grouping investigators whose combined expertise can unlock a higher-impact, more creative solution to a focused NF problem, backed by NF-relevant data and a clearly articulated plan for integrated collaboration.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Neurofibromatosis, Synergistic Idea Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 11, 2022.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jul 21, 2022. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 22 NFRP SIA

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