Children’s Tumor Foundation: Young Investigator Award
Deadline: December 02, 2024
5 pm
Amount: Starting in 2023, all base salaries for a given YIA cycle will be in alignment with the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) stipends existing at the time of launch of that YIA cycle
Purpose
The Young Investigator Award (YIA), CTF’s longest-running competitive award program from the mid 1980s, has traditionally provided two years of funding to early-career NF researchers. The goal is to enable these trainees to become established independent investigators in NF-related fields. The YIA program provides seed funding to attract researchers to the field and to enable them to generate data to secure larger grants, such as from the NIH and CDMRP NFRP. Several former YIAs are now leaders in the NF research and clinical communities. In fact, CTF’s ‘seeding’ of the NF field with new talent has been hailed as one of the key reasons for rapid advancements in NF research in recent years.
The YIA mechanism supports basic and translational research towards:
- Understanding cellular, genetic, and molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of NF1 and all types of schwannomatosis (SWN) including NF2-related schwannomatosis
- Identifying and/or testing novel therapeutic targets*
- Testing candidate therapeutics*
- Analysis of natural history of NF
* Applicants with proposals focused mainly on validating and testing therapeutic targets and agents are advised to apply to CTF’s Drug Discovery Initiative program.
The focus of YIA research includes but is not limited to:
- NF1, all forms of schwannomatosis (SWN) including NF2-related schwannomatosis
- Manifestations such as –
- Neurofibromas, schwannomas, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors, other brain and nervous system tumors
- Bone abnormalities
- Cardiovascular abnormalities
- Learning disorders
- Pain
Applicant must be:
- A postdoctoral fellow (MD, Ph.D., or equivalent) with no more than 7 years past completion of their first doctoral degree (MD, Ph.D., or equivalent) when the YIA is issued (typically on July 1st), OR
- A graduate student pursuing an MD, Ph.D., or equivalent degree
NOTE: This mechanism is NOT for individuals holding an independent faculty position.
Applicant must be affiliated with the laboratory of a senior researcher who is the applicant’s research sponsor. The sponsor must offer a training environment that is conducive for the growth and education of an early-career NF researcher. As the YIA funding is only intended for awardee's salary support and cannot be used for research expenses, applicants and their mentors are expected to have already established in their laboratory all resources required for the proposed research. As part of the application, the mentor will be asked to describe the intended training plan.
Applicants selected for the YIA must commit to the following minimum effort requirements -
- Predoctoral YIA awardees are expected to spend 100% of research time on the proposed project, encompassing a minimum 90% effort overall each year.
- For Ph.D. postdoctoral applicants, it is expected that the YIA awardee will spend at least 80% of his/her effort on the proposed project.
- MD postdoctoral applicants must provide overall anticipated effort in research, clinical duties, and any teaching, in the Activities Planned section. It is expected that all or the majority of the research effort will be put toward the proposed project.
More Info: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ZxqnX8E8_boLyCd1uh364wKOktQNyBlLQoIm4vPMDM/edit?tab=t.0