DOD Reconstructive Transplant, Idea Discovery Award

Description

The FY23 RTRP Idea Discovery Award is intended to support innovative, untested, high-risk/ potentially high-reward concepts, theories, paradigms, and/or methods relevant to reconstructive transplant. The outcome of research supported by this award should be the generation of robust data that can be used as a foundation for new avenues of scientific investigation.Important aspects of this award mechanism include:• Innovation: The proposed research project should be novel and innovative. Innovative research may introduce a new paradigm, challenge existing paradigms, look at existing problems from new perspectives, or exhibit other uniquely creative qualities. If the proposed project is building upon established research performed in solid tissue organs, there must be justification for how the proposed theory is novel. Research that is an incremental advance upon published data or a logical progression of an already established research project is not considered innovative and will not be considered for funding under this award mechanism.Important Note: Leveraging novel findings from solid organ transplant research for testing in a VCA setting is acceptable if the rationale and benefits for doing so are appropriately explained and justified. For example, it should be clear why the anticipated result might be different in VCA, or why it’s important to confirm the result is the same in VCA, or why repeating the study in a VCA setting could lead to new mechanistic insights or a better understanding of unique aspects of VCA.• Hypothesis and Rationale: The proposed research project should include a well-formulated testable hypothesis based on strong scientific rationale and study design.• Preliminary Data: Inclusion of preliminary and/or published data that support the scientific rationale or evidence that the proposed work can be completed is required; however, the proposed work should be innovative and untested.• Impact: Projects should address at least one of the FY23 RTRP Idea Discovery Award Focus Areas. The anticipated outcome(s)/product(s), including material and/or knowledge products, should be clearly articulated, as should the anticipated long-term gains from this research trajectory.• Military Relevance: All projects should be responsive to the health care needs of military Service Members and/or Veterans recovering from traumatic injury, and/or their family members, caregivers, or clinicians, as well as the general public. Collaboration with military researchers and clinicians is encouraged.Because the FY23 RTRP Idea Discovery Award is designed for preliminary investigations, projects involving human subjects or anatomical substances will not be supported unless they are exempt under Title 32, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 219, Section 104(d) (32 CFR 219.104[d]) or eligible for expedited review under 32 CFR 219.110 or 21 CFR 56.110. Studies that do not qualify for exempt status or expedited review will be administratively withdrawn and will not be funded. Therefore, clinical trials are not allowed under this funding opportunity. A clinical trial is defined as a research study in which one or more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include a placebo or another control) to evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or behavioral health-related outcomes.

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