Request for Applications (RFA):

2024-2025 Grant Funding Cycle

 

GRANT APPLICATION DEADLINE:

Deadline Extended to Monday, October 28, 2024, at 5:00 PM PST 

SUBMISSION OF THE GRANT APPLICATION:

Please click here to complete an application form. Please contact [email protected] if you experience any technical difficulties or with any questions regarding the NASBS Grant Program.

NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THIS RFA:

The North American Skull Base Society is pleased to announce the creation of an annual research grant opportunity to apply for funding. The major purpose of this grant is to facilitate research by active NASBS Members into clinical issues and diseases relevant to the specialty. The additional goals are as follows:

• To foster clinical studies that will generate data to solve clinically relevant issues in skull base.
• To foster translational/basic science research that will improve our understanding of skull base diseases and disorders, which also encompasses low-prevalence (‘orphan’) diseases.
• *NEW* To promote research, scholarly activity, and career advancement and successful transitioning of NASBS members to independent NIH funding.
• To answer the scientific questions deemed to be high priority by the NASBS Board and Research Committee employing methods of consultation with NASBS membership.
• To encourage collaboration with other researchers within the same or different institution from the PI’s home program.

AREAS OF STUDY:

Although all submissions will be given consideration, the following topics and entities have been identified as Areas of Study for the NASBS:

• Diseases and disorders preferentially affecting the cranial base
• Diagnostics related to cranial base diseases/disorders
• Therapeutics related to cranial base diseases/disorders
• Novel anatomic studies of the cranial base
• Sellar/parasellar/suprasellar/pituitary tumors
• Sinonasal malignancies
• Lateral skull base tumors
• Vestibular schwannoma
• Meningioma (as related to the cranial base)
• Quality of life studies for cranial base diseases/disorders
• Surgical education in cranial base surgery
• Simulation in cranial base surgery
• CSF leak prevention and treatment (as related to cranial base)

FUNDING:

A total of $80,000 has been budgeted for this annual grant cycle. For this 2024-2025 cycle, the NASBS can award grants adding up to this amount. Grants in 5, 10, 15, or 20 thousand dollar amounts are expected to be awarded. Final award amounts will also be based on the provided budget. The grant review committee (consisting of Research Committee members) will review and score the applications. The best applications in each of the categories (defined below) will be awarded.

ELIGIBILITY:

The Principal Investigator (PI) on the grant must be an active member (with all dues paid) of the North American Skull Base Society. Please contact [email protected] to confirm your active membership.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES:

The NASBS Grant Program consists of three application categories:

1. Clinical Research: Investigations that are centered on clinical care seeking answers to novel questions through well designed prospective or retrospective methods.
2. Basic Science/Translational Research: Investigations targeting the underpinnings of relevant anatomic and pathologic states or seeking to take basic science concepts and apply them to skull base diseases and disorders.
3. *NEW* Career Development Award: Applicants must demonstrate that they have applied for a K award, R01, R03, R21, U01 or similar NIH funding mechanism and did not meet funding score cutoff. The goal of this award mechanism is to provide funding to obtain additional preliminary data in order to be successful in the grant awardees grant award re-submission. 

Required Materials:

• Cover Letter (Including application category under which the grant should be considered)
• Application (Size 12 font, 1’ Margins):
  • Summary Abstract of Proposed Research Study (500 words maximum)
  • Research Plan with the following sections (2000 words maximum)
    • Specific Aim(s)
    • Background/significance
    • Methodology
    • Data analysis plan with sample size justification (if applicable)
    • IRB/IUCAC approval number or timeline for obtaining approval (as applicable)
  • Budget Justification (Please note that grants can not be used for salary support or indirect costs).
    • Provide in line-item format, each expenditure item and the cost associated.
  • Curriculum Vitae for PI and any Co-Investigator(s)

To the extent possible, applicants should de-identify the cover letter, application, and budget justification materials. 

GRANT REVIEW CRITERIA TO BE EMPLOYED:

Members of the Grant Review Committee will independently read and evaluate proposals according to the criteria below. The scores will be tabulated and averaged. The designated category on the application will determine how grants are compared against each other. The Committee will determine the funding payline based on available funds. The following criteria and considerations will be used:

• Significance

Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in skull base? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?

• Investigators’ Experience

Are the PD/PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If Early Stage Investigators or New Investigators, who are in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approaches, governance, and organizational structures appropriate for the project?

• Innovation

Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?

• Approach

Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be managed?

• Environment

Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Are the institutional support, equipment, and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements?

EXPECTATIONS FOR GRANT AWARDEE:

The PI of the awarded grant is expected to satisfy the following requirements:

1. The grant recipient will present their research findings at the subsequent NASBS Annual Meeting.
2. The first publication stemming from the awarded grant must be submitted to the Journal Neurological Surgery, Part B: Skull Base for first consideration of publication. The manuscript can be submitted to other journals only if the manuscript is not considered for publication by the JNLS-B’s editorial board.
3. The NASBS is credited with grant support in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section of any publications stemming from this grant.
4. Failure to abide by any of these expectations will result in disqualification for future grants.

BEGIN APPLICATION