The John W. Walsh Translational Research Award
Application Deadline: Friday, February 28, 2020
Amount of Grant: up to $225,000 ($75,000/year) over three (3) years to fund one (1) award.
This award is named after John W. Walsh, who dedicated his life’s work to finding a cure for Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency. Walsh and two others, all with Alpha-1 themselves, founded both the Alpha-1 Foundation and AlphaNet in 1995.
Walsh’s leadership and passion have helped to shape the Alpha-1 Foundation into a successful organization, and he is responsible for many of the Foundation’s accomplishments over more than two decades. Walsh has served on many voluntary health agencies and governmental advisory committees, often as chair. He has been awarded the Food and Drug Administration Commissioner’s Special Citation, the agency’s highest recognition, for his “pioneering collaboration in orphan drug development,” and many other honors. Walsh has always referred to himself as an “impatient patient,” and this award, aimed specifically at translating research findings into medical practice, is intended to carry on his commitment to a cure.
Letter of Intent
The first step in the process of a grant application to the Alpha-1 Foundation is to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI). The submission of an LOI is required for each grant category. An applicant must submit an LOI in order to submit a grant application. A grant application that is submitted without an LOI will result in an automatic denial of funding and the application will be returned to the investigator.
Application Timeline for 2019-2020 In-Cycle Grants
Deadline and Where to Submit
With the exception of Scientific Meeting Sponsorship Grants and Travel Grants, the Alpha-1 Foundation requires all applicants to submit their LOI using the online application form available on ProposalCentral.
The LOI must be submitted on ProposalCentral by Friday, September 20, 2019, 11:59 pm ET.
Note: Applicants must create a profile and be logged in to ProposalCentral in order to access the Alpha-1 Foundation’s LOI Form.
For detailed instructions on preparing your LOI application, please download the Alpha-1 Foundation’s LOI Application Instructions.
Grant Application
If your LOI is approved, the Alpha-1 Foundation will invite you to submit a full grant application. Please note that a LOI must be submitted, reviewed and approved prior to submitting a grant application.
Inquiries or technical issues regarding ProposalCentral and the online application process should be directed to consumer support at:
Phone: 703-964-5840, Toll-free phone: 1-800-875-2562
Email: pcsupport@altum.com
Live customer support is only available from 8:30am – 5pm ET.
For information about the Foundation’s in-cycle grant opportunities, please contact David Fernandez, at dfernandez@alpha1.org or at (877) 228-7321 ext. 242.
- Pilot and Feasibility Grant
- Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Grant
- Research Grant
- Scientific Meeting Sponsorship Grant
- Travel Grant
Funding Level: Maximum of $75,000 may be requested.
Period: Up to 1 year of support is available.
The objective of this grant is to provide funds to encourage the development and testing of new hypotheses and/or new methods in research areas relevant to AAT Deficiency. Proposed work must be hypothesis generating or hypothesis testing, reflecting innovative approaches to important questions in AAT research or development of novel methods, and providing sufficient preliminary data to justify the Foundation’s support. Results from Pilot and Feasibility Grants should lead to the submission of applications for funding from other agencies (i.e. NIH). At the conclusion of the funding term, applicants are expected to apply for further funding by other mechanisms or from outside agencies. The award is not intended to support continuation of programs begun under other granting mechanisms.
Funding Level: Maximum of $75,000 per year may be requested.
Period: Up to 2 years of support is available.
The objective of this grant is to provide support for postdoctoral research fellows who are starting their research careers and are working in the laboratories of established researchers or conducting research with the mentorship of established researchers. In addition, this grant category is intended to provide support for postdoctoral research fellows who intend to pursue a career in AAT research. Applications will be accepted from candidates holding an M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent degrees who are interested in conducting basic science, clinical research, or ethic, legal, social issues studies related to AAT Deficiency. Applicants must indicate a commitment to AAT-related research by focusing 50% of their time to AAT Deficiency research or clinical practice.
Funding Level: Maximum of $100,000 per year may be requested.
Period: Up to 2 years of support is available.
The objective of this grant is to provide funds to encourage the development of new information that contributes to the understanding of the basic biology of AAT expression, and the pathogenesis/management of AAT Deficiency. In addition, consideration will be given to those projects that provide insight into the development of information that may contribute to new therapies for AAT Deficiency. All proposals must be hypothesis generating or hypothesis testing and provide sufficient preliminary data to justify the Alpha-1 Foundation’s support.
Funding Level: Grants are generally funded at the $5,000 level. The funds are restricted for use during a specified period of time.
Period: Varies according to request.
The objective of this grant is to provide support for scientific meetings, workshops or conferences relevant to AAT Deficiency and the Alpha-1 Foundation’s mission statement.
Please contact Adriana De Arce at adearce@alpha1.org or at (877) 228-7321 ext. 269, for information on how to apply for a Scientific Meeting Sponsorship Grant.
Funding Level: Grants are generally funded at a level of $1,000. The funds are restricted for use during a specified period of time.
Period: Varies according to request.
There are 2 types of Travel Grants:
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The Alpha-1 Foundation provides funds to support travel to attend a scientific conference or meeting to present AAT-related abstracts or posters at national and international meetings. Candidates must have an M.D., Ph.D. or equivalent degree, and at least one year of recent research experience related to AAT Deficiency. The award is intended primarily for travel support for an award recipient. If the grant is to be used for specialized training, a letter of support for the individual must be presented, and clearly indicate the visitor’s role, time commitment and objectives for the proposed training as well as institutional commitment.
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The Alpha-1 Foundation provides funds to support cross training at an established Alpha-1 laboratory by an established Alpha-1 investigator. Training may include training on diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, research related techniques, training on specialized equipment or software applicable to AAT-related research.
The purpose of this program is to support large, typically clinical grants that do not fit into the in-cycle grant program. Out-of-cycle grants can be Foundation-initiated RFA or Investigator-initiated applications. The investigator should contact the Foundation before considering applying for an out-of-cycle application.
Please contact David Fernandez, at dfernandez@alpha1.org or at (877) 228-7321 ext. 242, for information about the Foundation’s out-of-cycle grant opportunities.
