Scientific Grants and Awards Programs

Overview

The Foundation Fighting Blindness’ Grants and Awards Programs annually support basic, laboratory-based early translational, clinical studies, and pre-clinical research applicable to a broad range of inherited retinal degenerative diseases. The goal is to find the causes, preventions, treatments, and cures for retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and the entire spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases.

The Foundation has identified six (6) Research Priority Areas that align with our mission. Awards are made through a competitive funding mechanism. Only those proposals of the highest scientific merit that will advance the goals and objectives of the Foundation Fighting Blindness are considered for funding.

The Foundation encourages individuals and teams from all scientific disciplines that have ideas geared toward eliminating inherited retinal degenerative diseases to apply to a grant or award program. Individuals from underrepresented racial, ethnic and gender groups, as well as individuals with disabilities, are always encouraged to apply.

Timetable of Application Deadlines

Research Priority Areas

(one or more of the the research priority areas below should be addressed in proposals submitted to the award programs)

1. Novel Medical Therapies (NMT)
   1. The goal is to retain retinal function and structure in retinal degenerative diseases via drug therapies through the development of improved animal models of human disease, enhanced functional testing of drug effectiveness, and novel drug delivery systems.
   2. Applications that target the following areas are of interest:
      1. Pan-disease therapeutics
      2. High-throughput phenotypic drug screening tools (markers, target, etc.) relevant to the human orphan inherited retinal degenerative diseases
2. Gene Therapy (GT)
   1. The goal is to find a viral and/or non-viral gene delivery system(s) to treat dominant, recessive, and X-linked retinal degenerative diseases. The application must also address a plan to evaluate efficacy and safety using pre-clinical models in preparation for human clinical trials. The Foundation limits its funding to the development of the technology that will benefit overall retinal gene-therapy strategies.
   2. Applications that target the following areas are of interest:
      1. Gene therapy delivery methods
         1. Target specific retinal cells
         2. Effectively and efficiently transduce all relevant retinal cell types
         3. Deliver hard to transfect gene constructs
      2. Clinically relevant approaches for gene editing
3. Cell and Molecular Mechanisms of Retinal Disease (CMM)
   1. The goal is to expand the basic understanding of inherited retinal degenerations disease etiology toward mitigating or curing vision loss.
   2. Applications that target the following areas are of interest:
      1. Pathways linking mutations in multiple genes to common disease mechanisms, with the goal of identifying pan-disease therapeutic targets
      2. Develop and characterize cone-rich and/or non-rodent animal retinal degeneration disease models relevant to human retinal degeneration diseases
4. Genetics (GE)
   1. The goal is to identify disease-causing mutations in inherited retinal disorders, in part by incorporating comprehensive genetic testing into routine clinical care. Applicants will consider inherited risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and the contributions of associated genetic and non-genetic factors (e.g., lifestyle) as potential targets for treatments and preventions.
   2. Applications that target the following areas are of interest:
      1. Develop and validate next generation methods and tools to identify mutations in known and unknown genes implicated in the orphan inherited retinal degenerative diseases
      2. Develop clinically relevant approaches for genome editing
5. Clinical-Structure and Function (CL)
   1. The goal is to advance early retinal degenerative disease detection by enhancing technology and standard processes that establish relationships between clinical retinal function and retina structure.
   2. Applications that address the following areas are of interest:
      1. Enhanced diagnostic technology and endpoints for clinical trials, that include, but are not limited to:
         1. Natural history studies that correlate genotype and phenotype
         2. Biomarker identification
         3. Improvements in retinal imaging
6. Regenerative Medicine (RM)
   1. The goal is to develop strategies to rescue or replace degenerating or dead retinal cells leading toward slowing and/or prevention of vision loss, or the restoration of lost vision.