Defense Funds Offered for Medical Research

The Army Medical Research and Materiel Command has recently posted in the Commerce Business Daily the following solicitations for research proposals:

Breast Cancer Research Program – the Army has approximately $3.5 million available to fund concept awards of up to $50,000 each for the development of initial concepts or theories that could give rise to testable hypotheses. The awards encourage the exploration of untested, innovative questions in breast cancer. The deadline for electronic, one-page submissions is April 12, 2000. Any individual with a masters or doctoral degree, regardless of ethnicity, nationality or citizenship status, may apply as long as they are employed by an eligible institution, including for profit and nonprofit organizations, such as universities, colleges, hospitals, companies, laboratories, and agencies of local, state or federal government. More information can be found on the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program web site: http://cdmrp.army.mil/?/announce

Prostate Cancer Research Program – the Army has $75 million available to support research into preventing, detecting and curing prostate cancer, as well as improving the lives of those suffering from prostate cancer. Proposals will be accepted for: postdoctoral training ($98,000/2 years); new investigators ($225,000/3 years) idea development ($375,000/3 years); collaborative research focused on minority population ($75,000/1 year); and, mentoring and conference coordination (up to $20,000/1 year). Proposals are due May 17, 2000. Proposal instructions can be found at:

http://cdmrp.army.mil/?/announce

Gulf War Illnessess Research – the Army is seeking proposals for four research topics into Gulf War illnesses. Approximately $5 million is available for each topic. Awards are expected to average $200,000 per year for up to four years. Pre-proposals are due June 14, 2000 More information can be found at: http://www-usamraa.army.mil

Topics include:

• Epidemiological studies to fill critical knowledge gaps for monitoring soldier health and helath threats during deployments
• Biochemical and physiological markers to assess toxic chemical exposures and health effects in deployed military personnel
• Studies on the effects of psychological stress on cognitive and physiological consequences
• Biological effects and toxicity of militarily-relevant heavy metals