Expansion Award Grant

The Expansion Award, offered by Additional Ventures, provides a one-time grant of $50,000 to support innovative research focused on single ventricle heart defects. This award is designed for both new and established investigators, enabling them to explore new directions in their work. Competitive applications must clearly demonstrate how the grant will enhance scientific impact and expedite research outcomes. The initiative also emphasizes diversity and inclusion within the research community.

Our Expansion Award enables teams to add new single ventricle–focused approaches and directions to their current work by providing a one-time grant of $50,000. This small but mighty grant is open to both new and established investigators within the single ventricle research community – and has an efficient submission and award process spring-boarding these studies forward, faster.
What Science Fits
Expansion Award funds can be used to explore bold, new single ventricle-focused research directions inspired by the applicant’s current work.
Expansion of existing single ventricle studies through the use of additive technology, approaches, or tools. Previous awardees in this category have proposed to support the following: Prototype development and testing
Computational or clinical software development
Bioengineer novel benchtop testing platforms based on single ventricle or sequelae physiologyAddition of single ventricle-directed aims to ongoing studies. Open to investigators with current awards in any adjacent field seeking to apply technology or findings to single ventricle for the first time. Previous awardees in this category have proposed the following: Assessment of gene or molecular candidates in the context of single ventricle (after identification in other studies)
Application of computational tools for single ventricle populations (after validation for other patient populations)
Assessment of novel biomarker or intervention for single ventricle populations (after validation for other populations)
Competitive applications must provide a credible and realistic discussion of how the award will expand the scope, expedite time to completion, or otherwise increase the scientific interest or impact of an existing project.
Additional Impact Considerations
Additional Ventures strives to support a scientific community that is diverse, collaborative, and forwardthinking. As such, Additional Ventures recognizes the deep inequalities inherent in academia and strives to include those who have been historically excluded and underrepresented. When evaluating the overall impact of submissions, Additional Ventures will take into consideration:
The diversity of the expertise and background of project leads and team members, including underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, sexual and gender minorities, and persons with disabilities.Proposals from investigators new to single ventricle and associated conditions.For the purposes of this RFP, “new to single ventricle and associated conditions” identifies a principal investigator who has not authored a publication relating to single ventricle and associated conditions and has not been the PI on a grant related to single ventricle and associated conditions awarded from a grant-making agency, nonprofit, foundation, or other grant-awarding organization. Proposals from early career investigators and those in instructor or postdoctoral roles.For purposes of this RFP, an “early career investigator” is an individual that has had an independent lab or clinical research position for no longer than seven (7) years past their postdoctoral position or medical fellow position. If an investigator has achieved independence directly following graduate school, an “early career investigator” is considered one who has had an independent research position for ten (10) years or less.Exceptions to this timeline include, and are not limited to:Childbirth or adoption (one (1) year automatic extension),Extenuating circumstances related to child, elder, or family care, Periods of part-time work or leave,Period of time after receipt of terminal degree requirements when the investigator was not conducting research (including required clinical training/activities, or time away due to family care, medical issues, military service, or natural disasters), andSignificant change in field of study.

Eligibility

Principal Investigator(s) (PIs) must hold doctoral degrees (e.g., PhD, MD, PsyD, or equivalent).
Applications are welcome from early career investigators and those in instructor or postdoctoral roles, so long as they meet all other eligibility criteria.Applicants must be currently affiliated with a nonprofit academic or research institution, including:Domestic and international nonprofit organizations,

Domestic and international public/private academic universities or institutions of higher learning (colleges, medical schools, and other related academic research institutions), andGovernmental agencies with active biomedical research programs.Proposed expansion plans must have demonstrated relevance to single ventricle heart defects.
PIs may only submit one application per cycle and may not currently hold an active Expansion Award from another award cycle (including those in a No Cost Extension period). Previous Expansion awardees are otherwise eligible to apply so long as all required deliverables (including the final report) have been submitted. PIs funded by Additional Ventures through other mechanisms are eligible to apply for Expansion Awards.