2023 CURE FUND APPLICATION & INFORMATION

The Cure Starts Now Foundation (CSN) is an IRS 501C non-profit charity dedicated to educating, aiding and funding the search for a cure for pediatric brain cancer in the hopes of curing all cancers.

The DIPG/DMG Collaborative is an alliance of 27 foundations and 40 chapters unified in the goal of funding DIPG/DMG research through strategy and a long-term approach. The Cure Starts Now is the administrator and a Founding Partner of the DIPG/DMG Collaborative.

THE CURE FUND GRANT

The Cure Starts Now Foundation offers a $50,000 (U.S. dollars) start-up grant awarded to an innovative grant related to pediatric brain cancer research. The DIPG/DMG Collaborative may also offer a second additional $50,000 (U.S. dollars) start-up grant awarded to an innovative grant related to DIPG/DMG research. One unified grant form is necessary for both eligible grants and voting will be unified. Such approved grant is expected to be implemented within 6-months of acceptance and no grant shall be contingent on other external funding unless explicitly approved in writing by the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council of CSN. Considerations will be made for multiple grant solicitations that represent separate expense line items or an expansion of an existing research project with the prior approval of the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council of The Cure Starts Now.

Funding is for direct costs related to the research project. Examples of direct costs include personnel, salary, supplies, equipment and patient care expenses. Support for salary must not exceed percentage of effort related to the research. Institutional costs may be considered, but it is recommended that justification be provided in the budget of the grant. A total of 10% or less of institutional and indirect costs is recommended. Travel costs are excluded from funding in this grant application, but investigators may request additional support from The Cure Starts Now to travel to meetings to present research funded by the Foundation. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

SNAP GRANT PROCESS

Preliminary grant applications will be accepted up until April 7, 2023, 11:00 PM ET. Emails with questions can be sent to [email protected]. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Grants may be granted to organizations outside of the United States of America and current members of the CSN Medical Advisory Council may also apply, though will be required to recuse themselves during the entire voting process.

Applications will be reviewed by the Chairman of the Medical Advisory Council, and any special panel he or she convenes, at which point up to 4 finalists will be determined for consideration at the 2023 DIPG/DMG Symposium (Lexington, Kentucky, USA May 19-20th 2023) in an abbreviated 4-minute presentation by the researcher. Please see official schedule for dates and times of Cure Fund presentations. Finalists will be notified by May 1, 2023. No appeals will be considered. Lack of finalists may result in one grant being awarded only. Finalists unable to present personally at the 2023 DIPG Symposium meeting will be removed from consideration. Depending on availability, reimbursement of travel costs may be covered by The Cure Starts Now. From the finalists one or two winners will be determined by the represented members of the Medical Advisory Council and special delegates selected by the Medical Advisory Council Chairman and grant proceeds will be paid by the end of the meeting.

If internal review has not yet been performed or the study cannot begin within 6-months of grant approval, funds will be withheld until such time that The Cure Starts Now Foundation is notified that the program has been formally approved and will be implemented. If program approval is not received with 6 months and the program is not implemented, it shall be the sole discretion of the Medical Advisory Council Chairman to either deny, modify or delay grant funding to the institution.

A progress report must be submitted by the investigator(s) on annual intervals and at the end of the funding period. Failure to submit a progress report will exclude the investigator from any future funding from the foundation. Additionally, upon approval of funding by The Cure Starts Now, the institution receiving funding must supply a letter acknowledging the grant and amount as well as a link to their website containing further information about the study for the education and coordination of affected individuals and families. A link to this website as well as the answers submitted in Section 1 and Section 2 submitted by the investigator will be posted on The Cure Starts Now website.

Funding by The Cure Starts Now and/or all members of the DIPG/DMG Collaborative must be specifically acknowledged in all presentations and publications that involve research funded by the foundation(s). Grantees shall notify, in writing, The Cure Starts Now of all publishing papers or presentations of study results before release to the general public or research community and shall make available full copies of such work. Our goal is to share research and information, so it is mandatory that any and all study results will be shared promptly with the scientific community and not be kept strictly for proprietary purposes. Failure to promptly and fully share any and all study results with the broader scientific community may result in a revocation, pause and/or complete discontinuation of any funding yet to be disbursed under such research funded by the foundation. Consideration for a limited delay, not to exceed 30 days, in reporting of results will be given to unpublished data that is the subject of a patent application. For clarity, any and all data that is included in a filed patent application must be made available immediately following the filing of such a patent application. Updates and notifications of publishings may be made to [email protected].

Submissions to The Cure Starts Now Foundation for grant approval should not be construed to be confidential information and the submitting organization agrees to release The Cure Starts Now Foundation from any and all liability from the discussion, Internet posting or consideration of all documents submitted. If requested in writing by the applicant, posting of application answers to section 1 and 2 will only be posted for public view at www.thecurestartsnow.org, www.dipg.org and associated sites. All other responses and submissions will still be shared with members of the Medical Advisory Council and partnering foundations.

Grant Eligibility and Criteria

Applicant Eligibility:

• Must be an MD, DO, PhD, DrPH or equivalent
• Must be a member of a non-profit organization or a valid medical/scientific organization
• Must be up to date with any previous funding through The Cure Starts Now, which includes progress report submissions

Grant applications will be assessed based on the following criteria:

• Scientific Merit
  What is the hypothesis and does the study adequately answer and address the hypothesis? Does the study use valid research and statistical methods?
• Disease Impact
  Does the study propose an intervention or clinical tool that will reduce the morbidity or mortality from or potentially find a cure for pediatric brain cancer?
• Innovation
  Does the research study propose a novel approach or represent advancement in current treatment of pediatric brain cancer?
• Feasibility
  Is the study likely to meet its goals during the funding period? Can the research findings be translated into clinic practice? Are the research findings likely to result in a direct change in morbidity or mortality of pediatric brain cancer in the near future?
• Expertise of Investigator(s)
  Do the investigators have the expertise to meet their research goals?

The Medical Advisory Council and its members utilize a modified NIH scoring system to evaluate and score each grant application. Members score each study on a 1-9 scale for each of the criteria listed above (1 being considered as meeting qualifications and 9 considered deficient). In addition, they provide an overall Priority Score that is used for ranking each of the studies. An average of the Priority Scores for each of the studies is calculated, and then the average scores are ranked highest to lowest. The Council will then make recommendations to the Board and Strategic Advisory Council based on these scores.

Grant applications will require the following information:

Category: Clinical, Translational, Informational
Cancer Type(s)
Affiliation: e.g., The Cure Starts Now or DIPG/DMG Collaborative
Grant Amount

Lay Summary

• Describe your grant using layman's terms for funders that typically don't have a medical degree.
• This field is limited to 800 words.
• The first 200 words of your summary will comprise the abstract of your grant.

Executive Summary
This is a summary of the hypothesis, goals, background, clinical significance, design and methods of the proposed study. This summary is not to exceed 2000 words. This summary will aid our reviewers in determining if the study generally meets our three criteria for funding. These criteria include:

1. Scientific Merit
2. Feasibility
3. Expertise

Description of Research Proposal
This is a detailed description of the research project. This section should not exceed 10,000 words in length. Details that must be included in this section and must be listed in the following order:

1. Hypothesis proposed and anticipated results
2. Specific aims
3. Background and rationale for the proposed research project
4. Research design
5. Use of human or animal subjects
6. Disease impact and innovation
7. References

Budget
This section should not to exceed 2000 words and should include budget information and justification. All amounts should be listed in US Dollars. The following categories must be included:

• Personnel costs
• Salaries and wages
• Fringe benefits
• Supplies
• Equipment
• Patient care costs
• Other expenses (descriptive line item list)

Funding is for direct costs related to the research project. Examples of direct costs include personnel, salary, supplies, equipment and patient care expenses. Support for salary must not exceed percentage of effort related to the research. Institutional costs may be considered, but it is recommended that justification be provided in the budget of the grant. A total of 10% or less of institutional and indirect costs is recommended. In cases of questions on funding, NIH guidelines on caps may apply.

Collaborations and Conflicts of Interest

• Include biographical information for any investigators, co-investigators and any known key personnel that will be working on the research project. If the study will be a collaborative effort between investigators, this should be outlined here and the co-investigator should include his or her information along with a designated official from their institution. Biographical information should be in NIH biosketch format. The biosketch should include a description of any other studies for which the investigator(s) is currently being funded or is involved with.
• P.I. must include a statement in this section that discloses any potential conflicts of interest regarding the research project or its funding by The Cure Starts Now. A potential conflict of interest is a situation in which a reviewer or individual involved in a funding decision, a family member, a friend, or other associate is in a position to gain or lose personally or professionally by the foundation’s funding of the program.

Optional Supporting Documentation (Single PDF Upload)

W-9 (if based in the US)