The Rainwater Prize - Milestone Prize for Advances in Tauopathy Research Grant

The Rainwater Prize - Milestone Prize for Advances in Tauopathy Research is awarded to individuals or teams who significantly contribute to understanding Tau-related diseases. Launched in 2018 by the Rainwater Charitable Foundation, this prize aims to bridge critical gaps in neurodegenerative research and promote new treatments. Awardees are selected based on their research achievements and collaborative efforts. The prize can reach up to $2 million and may be awarded annually upon milestone completion.

NOTE: This prize will be awarded upon milestone completion and may or may not be awarded each year.
Launched in 2018, the Rainwater Prize Program was designed with the goals of:

• Increasing awareness of critical gaps in neurodegenerative research
• Attracting and retaining researchers to work on tauopathies
• Awarding scientific achievements that lead to new treatments for patients.
• Milestone Prize for Advances in Tauopathy Research

This prize recognizes investigator(s) whose work is considered a significant contribution to our understanding of Tau-related diseases by addressing critical gaps in technology and disease knowledge that will help the scientific community develop effective treatments.
Awardees will be chosen by a committee of international scientific leaders from a wide range of fields and backgrounds. The awardee will be chosen based on their scientific contributions to the specified milestones, demonstrated willingness to collaborate and share scientific resources, leadership, mentorship, and overall contributions to the scientific community.
Current Milestone Prize Categories:

• Structure, Function, and Disease Mechanisms -Tau protein modifications and how these function in health and disease
• Mechanism of Tau aggregation and transmission (inside and outside cell)
• Mechanism of glial and neuronal lossRisk and Prevention -Genetic/Epigenetic biomarkers, Polygenic risk assessment
• Predictors of Tau normal vs. dysfunction
• Progression monitoring
• Clinical trial stratificationAdvances in Drug Development Models and Technology - Mouse or other in vivo, clinically relevant model
• Clinical drug efficacy prediction models
• Advances in imaging

This prize will be awarded upon milestone completion and may or may not be awarded each year. This award may be awarded to individuals or teams of scientists and will consist of an up to $2M prize. While it is our hope that the prize money will be used to further the recipient’s neurodegenerative disease research, the prize recipient will only be able to use the funds for non-profit purposes.

Eligibility

This award may be awarded to individuals or teams of scientists.