Funding Opportunities

Opportunity Type: Education and Career Development

Goal: The Early Career Investigator Grants (ECIG) address training needs in rare disease research by providing specialized education in the complexities of clinical research in the neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs). Funding support is provided for a research project and career development activities over one year.

Sponsor: Batten Disease Clinical Research Consortium (BDCRC) Patient Advocacy Groups | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Eligibility Criteria: Eligible candidates must be actively affiliated with a US-based academic health care institution; they must be within five years of completing their terminal clinically oriented training; and they must have a doctoral degree in medicine, psychology, nursing, genetics/genetic counseling, occupational or physical therapy, or speech language pathology; others licensed to practice clinically may also be eligible. Candidates from non-clinical disciplines will only be considered if proposing a career development plan integrated with their institution’s clinical team focused on the NCLs. In addition to faculty, strong post-doctoral or clinical fellows may be considered as long as at least 3 calendar months are dedicated to the activities of the program. Candidates who propose animal studies will not be considered. Applicants are required to have a local primary mentor and are encouraged to establish a mentoring team.

Application Due Date: 2026-01-26

Term: Annual

Opportunity Type: Pilot Grants and Other Requests for Applications

Goal: The Pilot Project Grants fund high-quality translational and clinical pilot studies aligned with the top, Research Priorities for the Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinoses, identified by Batten disease stakeholders (Lancet Neurology). Each year, at least one project is selected through a rigorous NIH-based review process to ensure feasibility, impact, and innovation.

Sponsor: Batten Disease Clinical Research Consortium (BDCRC) | Batten Disease Global Research Initiative (BDGRI) | Patient Advocacy Groups (Batten Disease Support, Research and Advocacy Foundation (BDSRA) Foundation | Our Promise to Nicholas Foundation) | National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Eligibility Criteria: Eligible candidates must hold a faculty level (or equivalent) appointment at a US institution for single site projects, or at a recognized international institution for multi site projects with at least one US site. Fellows in their final year of training are eligible with a letter confirming a forthcoming faculty appointment. Applications from investigators at all career stages, and established investigators from outside the Batten disease field are encouraged. Multi PI applications are permitted, though an individual may serve as Principal Investigator on only one proposal per cycle.

Term: One Year