Alpha-1 Foundation: Research Grant

The Alpha-1 Foundation aims to cure Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency through its Grants Award Program, funding diverse research initiatives. The program promotes scientific exploration and clinical research, focusing on novel therapies and training new researchers. Grants of up to $100,000 per year are available for collaborative projects that advance understanding of AAT Deficiency. The Foundation emphasizes hypothesis-driven research and encourages collaboration among investigators to enhance treatment possibilities for affected individuals.

Grants Awards Program
The Grants Award Program is the Alpha-1 Foundation’s mechanism to fund a broad range of research that leads to improvements in the lives of people living with AAT Deficiency.
Goals
The specific goals of the Program are:
to promote basic science and clinical research related to the alpha-1 antitrypsin protein and AAT Deficiency;to attract and train clinical researchers for the study of AAT Deficiency;to support and encourage established scientists to work on clinical problems and ethical, legal, and social issues within the field of AAT research (with a preference given to new investigators); and ultimately,to develop effective therapies for the clinical manifestations of AAT Deficiency.
The Alpha-1 Foundation will support a broad spectrum of research projects involving basic science, translational and clinical research, and ethical, legal, and social issues.
Research Grants
The objective of this grant is to provide funds to encourage the development of new information that contributes to the understanding of the basic biology of alpha-1 antitrypsin expression, and the pathogenesis/management of AAT Deficiency. Consideration will be given to those projects that provide insight into the development of information that may contribute to new therapies for AAT Deficiency. All proposals must be hypothesis generating or hypothesis testing and provide sufficient preliminary data to justify the Alpha-1 Foundation’s support.  In addition, this grant category can provide funding to 2 investigators from 2 different institutions who wish to collaborate on research that requires a team science approach to develop new information that contributes to the understanding of the basic biology of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, and the pathogenesis management of AAT Deficiency.
Objective
Encourage the development of novel concepts to better understand the basic biology of alpha-1 antitrypsin expression and the pathogenesis/management of AAT Deficiency.
Funding
Maximum of $100,000 per year may be requested.  The Principal Investigator should devote at least 10% effort to the Research Grant. For 2 PI proposals, a maximum of $100,000 per year may be requested per institution. Each of the 2 Principal Investigators should devote at least 10% effort to the Research Grant.
Up to 2 years of support is available.

Eligibility

The Alpha-1 Foundation requires that each applicant allocate $1,000 of the total budget to pay for travel to the Alpha-1 Foundation’s Biennial Investigators’ Meeting for the first year of the proposal’s period of performance. In case the applicant cannot attend the Investigators’ Meeting, the $1,000 budgetary line item is not refundable.

Ineligibility

Please note that the Alpha-1 Foundation does not accept LOIs or grant applications from pharmaceutical companies, biotechs, or industry for its in-cycle grants programs. These entities may not be collaborators on any proposals.  Any individual who received an Alpha-1 Foundation Research Grant in the previous year’s grant cycle is not eligible to apply for an in-cycle grant in the current cycle. Major equipment may not be requested as part of a grant application, in accordance with Alpha-1 Foundation policies. Major equipment is defined as equipment that costs more than $500.The Alpha-1 Foundation does not pay for indirect costs, facilities and administrative costs or overhead costs.Applicants are not eligible to receive a third year of additional funding for a Research Grant but are encouraged to apply to external funding sources (i.e., NIH) to continue research initiated as a Foundation grantee.