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Greetings:
I would like to
update you on a funding opportunity that was just released today.
For more information please review the Program Announcement below:
Defense Health
Program
Joint Program Committee for Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine
Research Program
(CRMRP-JPC8)
Armed Forces
Institute of Regenerative Medicine – II (AFIRM II)
Program Announcement
The Armed Forces Institute
of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) is dedicated to repairing
battlefield injuries through the use of regenerative medicine
technologies and associated sciences.
The U.S. Army Medical
Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), with the Office of Naval
Research (ONR), the Air Force Medical Service, the Office of
Research and Development - Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Office of the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs (the Sponsors)
intend to solicit applications for the AFIRM II. The AFIRM II is
anticipated to be funded in fiscal year 2013 (FY13). The intent of the AFIRM II is to
fund basic through translational regenerative medicine research and
development. Activities
acceptable under this award may include basic scientific research,
development of animal models, preclinical studies required for
initiation of FDA-regulated human clinical trials, and Phase I – II
human clinical trials.
The Government
anticipates that Offerors will assemble an expert team from
multiple academic institutions and/or industry partners to satisfy
the objectives of the AFIRM II program announcement. Offerors are expected to seek
collaboration with Government laboratories and Medical
Centers/Medical Treatment Facilities such as those in the Army,
Navy, Air Force, NIH and VA, if mutually beneficial.
Topic Areas: The Government
encourages proposals that specifically address one or more of the
following focus areas:
1)
Extremity Regeneration: With better body armor in use in
contemporary warfare, the heightened prevalence of serious
extremity injury on the battlefield has increased requirements to
treat, reconstruct, and rehabilitate Wounded Warriors suffering
massive tissue loss of the extremities. Patients typically have
multiple extremity injuries, which may include damage to skin,
muscle, nerve, blood vessels, bone, and connective tissues. Consideration will be given to
both hard and soft tissue regeneration, limb salvage technologies,
and regenerative medicine treatment of trauma-induced damage to
joints.
a.
Soft tissue
regeneration should focus on nerve, muscle and vascular injury to
the extremities.
b.
Hard tissue
regeneration should focus on bone injury.
c.
Limb salvage
technologies should focus on adequate soft tissue coverage
following multiple limb loss and/or extensive soft tissue damage,
and alternatives to autologous grafts of nerve, vasculature, bone
and/or soft tissues from uninjured tissue.
d.
Trauma induced
damage to joints will focus on the restoration of joint structure
and function, and prevention of post-traumatic arthritis.
2)
Craniomaxillofacial Regeneration: Craniomaxillofacial
regeneration will focus on both hard and soft tissue solutions to
maintain structural integrity (hold its shape) when implanted in
the translational phase, integrate with the cell/environment to
restore both structure and function, and maintain those attributes
over time.
a.
Soft tissue
regeneration should focus on nerve, muscle and vascular injury to
the craniomaxillofacial region.
b.
Hard tissue
regeneration should focus on well-shaped bone that maintains form
and is of moderate strength (cranial and midface bones), load
bearing bone that maintains 3-dimensional shape with the ability to
support an articulating process (mandible), and Alveolar bone that
supports dentition.
3)
Skin Regeneration: Healing of traumatic injuries to
the skin and musculoskeletal system in adults often results in the
development of hypertrophic scars.
These scars lead to chronic pain, limited range of motion,
poor esthetics, and require extensive therapy and
rehabilitation. Primary
consideration for the skin regeneration focus area will be given to
scarless wound repair and burn injury repair.
a.
Scarless wound repair
efforts should focus on the control of scar formation after injury
and/or treatment. Technologies that modulate the inflammatory and
fibrotic response and help control scar formation and contracture
are the intended focus.
b.
Full-thickness
skin repair efforts should focus on next generation skin
substitutes, burn injury inhibitors, and addressing complex or
problematic body areas such as hands, face, and feet.
4)
Composite Tissue Allotransplantation and Immunomodulation: Composite tissue
allotransplantation efforts should focus on immunomodulation and
immune tolerance technologies that promote better outcomes for
composite tissue allotransplantation. This focus area may include
developing treatments or procedures for major limb amputation or
facial disfiguration such as hand or face transplantation. Additionally, this may include
the development of technologies to abrogate the negative outcomes
of long-term immunesuppression.
5)
Genitourinary/Lower Abdomen Reconstruction: Genitourinary and lower
abdominal reconstruction efforts should focus on pelvic and
urogenital reconstruction.
a.
Pelvic
reconstruction efforts should focus on promoting technologies that
address injury to the anus.
b.
Urogenital
reconstruction efforts should focus on promoting technologies that
address injury to external genitalia (penile, scrotal, urethral
tissues), perineal tissue, and bladder.
Military Relevance: Relevance to the
health care needs of the military service members, veterans, and
beneficiaries is a key feature of the AFIRM II award.
The CRMRP is
providing information in this pre-announcement to allow
investigators time to plan and develop applications. The AFIRM II
program announcement and general application instructions for the
award mechanism are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in March
2012.
Application deadlines
will be available when the Program Announcement is released. This
pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the
government.
All applications must
conform to the final program announcement and application
instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from
the Grants.gov website. The
application package containing the required forms for each award
mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov. A listing of all USAMRMC funding opportunities can
be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using Catalog
of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number 12.420.
A Pre-Application
(Letter of Intent) is required and must be submitted through the CDMRP eReceipt website (http://cdmrp.org) prior to the
deadline for submission of Pre-Application (Letter of Intent).
Applications must be submitted
through the federal government's single-entry portal, Grants.gov. Submission
deadlines are not available until the program announcements are
released.
Point of
Contact:
CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
Email: CDMRP.PublicAffairs@amedd.army.mil
Thank you for your
time and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Chelsea Bauckman
Marketing Manager
United States Army Medical Research and Materiel Command
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