DoD Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, Clinical Translational Research Award | W81XWH 19 TSCRP CTRA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 19 TSCRP CTRA

The Department of Defense Tuberous Sclerosis Complex Research Program (TSCRP) Clinical Translational Research Award (CTRA) is a funding opportunity designed to push strong, credible TSC research findings closer to real-world clinical use. The central goal is translation: taking results that are already promising and well-supported, and turning them into tools or approaches that can improve diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment for people with tuberous sclerosis complex. The program is oriented toward practical clinical impact rather than early discovery work, and it prioritizes projects that can clearly show how the proposed work will move the field toward something that can be used in patients or in clinical decision-making.

This award supports research that bridges preclinical and clinical work in either direction. On one hand, it can fund studies that advance a validated preclinical concept toward humans, including work that culminates in a pilot clinical trial. On the other hand, it can support "bedside-to-bench" style efforts that learn from patient materials or clinical trial data, such as correlative studies that analyze human biospecimens, imaging, or other clinical datasets tied to trials or ongoing clinical studies. In practice, this means the mechanism is meant for projects that sit in the translational middle ground: not basic exploratory science, and not necessarily a large definitive Phase III-style trial, but rather the key steps needed to make a candidate therapy, diagnostic approach, or clinical strategy ready for more advanced testing and adoption.

A major emphasis for this funding cycle is clinical trial readiness. The solicitation specifically highlights interest in studies that develop and validate biomarkers, define and strengthen clinical endpoints, and validate pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) measures. These are the kinds of building blocks that determine whether later-stage clinical trials can be designed efficiently and interpreted confidently. By focusing on biomarkers, endpoints, and PK/PD validation, the program is essentially encouraging applicants to tackle the practical gaps that often prevent promising ideas from becoming usable clinical interventions.

Projects involving humans are favored. Preference is given to studies that include human samples, direct involvement of patients, or the use of existing clinical datasets and/or connections to ongoing clinical studies. While preclinical work can be part of an application, it must be tied to a clinical component; proposals that are strictly animal-based or purely exploratory are explicitly not competitive for this award. The intent is to keep projects anchored to patient relevance and to ensure that the research has a plausible near-term pathway toward clinical application rather than remaining confined to laboratory models.

Administratively, the opportunity is offered by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). The funding opportunity number is W81XWH-19-TSCRP-CTRA, and it falls under CFDA 12.420 (science and technology and other research and development). The solicitation lists the funding instruments as either a grant or a cooperative agreement, and eligibility is described as unrestricted, meaning a wide range of organizations can apply as long as they meet any additional eligibility conditions stated in the full announcement. The opportunity was posted on February 19, 2019, with an original closing date of May 9, 2019, and it anticipated making about two awards. The award ceiling is listed as 0 in the source data, which typically indicates that applicants should rely on the full program announcement for budget limits and expectations rather than assuming a fixed cap from the summary record.

Finally, the announcement points applicants to the National Cancer Institute Translational Research Working Group report as a useful framework for planning translational research. That reference is meant to guide investigators in mapping their work along the translational continuum, from bench to bedside and back again, and in designing a study that clearly fits the award's intent: a well-justified, clinically anchored project that moves beyond discovery into the steps needed for genuine clinical use in TSC.

• 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 Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, Clinical Translational Research 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 Feb 19, 2019.
• Applicants must submit their applications by May 09, 2019. (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 2 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 19 TSCRP CTRA

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