GREGoR Consortium Grant Opportunities

The GREGoR Consortium’s Data Coordinating Center will facilitate a scientific review similar to that performed by the National Institutes of Health. The review will be performed by experts in Mendelian genomics and potentially others with relevant areas of expertise who are not active members of the GREGoR Consortium.

Priority will be given to proposed projects that use experimental or analytical approaches that complement ongoing efforts by the GREGoR Consortium. GREGoR samples span a wide spectrum of rare diseases, and we encourage proposals focused on a broad range of phenotypes, disease areas, and organ systems. 

Priority research areas appropriate for this funding announcement include but are not limited to:

New genomic technologies / molecular assays that can be applied to unsolved cases

• Projects to pilot the use of emerging or novel genomic technologies on existing GREGoR samples or other appropriately consented unsolved cases after exhaustive sequencing and analysis (i.e. samples that are unsolved after clinical exome alone are not appropriate for these pilot studies).

User-friendly interfaces for annotation and interpretation of candidate variants in non-coding regions that adapt/reuse existing datasets and domain-expert tools to create a web portal and accompanying interpretation guidance (cutoff scores/ranks/etc.) for use by a broad audience of clinicians and researchers. High priorities include:

• Given genomic coordinates of a (typically noncoding) SNV or indel:
  • Does the variant add or remove a transcription factor binding site, is the predicted change in the transcription factor binding likely to have a large effect on gene regulation consistent with a monogenic cause of disease?
  • For which gene(s) is the variant predicted to decrease or increase expression, by how much, and in which tissues?
• Create a comprehensive set of annotations of predicted regulatory elements for a variety of tissues of interest that could be used to identify candidate regions for novel/unsolved Mendelian phenotypes (e.g. developmental heart defect, cerebellar malformation, limb malformation, skin, immune system, reproductive organs, etc.).

Novel analytical approaches that would be useful for analyzing GREGoR molecular data (these data include, but are not limited to: short-read sequencing, long-read Nanopore and PacBio sequencing, RNA-Seq, methylation array and sequencing, metabolomics, optical genome mapping).

• Head-to-head comparisons of available tools for prediction of variant pathogenicity.
• Development or piloting of new computational tools for variant filtration/analysis (e.g. RNA-Seq data, methylation from Nanopore or PacBio sequencing data).

Proposals regarding other novel approaches and techniques that complement the goals of the Consortium are welcome. 

Proposals to carry out routine diagnostic sequencing and analysis of individuals whose samples are not part of a GREGoR center's study cohort will not be considered for this call. Researchers or clinicians who would like to collaborate with GREGoR Research Centers on these types of projects should email the Consortium’s Data Coordinating Center at gregorconsortium@uw.edu.

• Letter of Interest Template - Research Grants
• Template of Required Application Content - Research Grants

Note this information is only for individuals who have submitted an LOI and have been (or will be) contacted by the GREGoR DCC and invited to apply.

December 2, 2022: Deadline for interested applicants to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) using this LOI template containing a short description (up to half a page) of their proposed research and the names and affiliations of anticipated key personnel. The letter should specify whether or not the proposed research represents human subjects research and/or involves animals. The LOIs should be submitted by email to: gregorconsortium@uw.edu with “Letter of Intent” in the subject line. 

December 16, 2022: Deadline by which the Data Coordinating Center will invite eligible applicants to submit a proposal (based on review of the Letters of Intent), and will send a link to the application submission portal to apply.

January 13, 2023: Deadline to submit your proposal to the website that will be provided to eligible applicants via email no later than Dec. 16, 2022. The application will require entering applicant and other characteristics and uploading two separate documents: the research proposal (up to 3 pages) and supporting documents (in a single flattened pdf file). More information about how to submit the application will be provided - please check back on this web page. Those invited to apply will be provided detailed information about how to do so.

March 1, 2023: Awards are announced by this date.

April 1, 2023: Planned start date of awards. Research needs to be completed by March 31, 2024 (or March 31, 2025 for 2 year award applications). 

To issue an award, upon award notification the following will need to be provided:

• IRB approval (for Human or Animal research)
• Project Narrative statement: maximum 3 sentences describing your project. Use plain language for a general audience.
• Contact information for the fiscal person at your University.
• Signed agreement between the University of Washington and your University - this will be initiated by the UW business office.
• Agreement to follow the GREGoR Consortium Publications Policy.
• Agreement to follow the GREGoR Data Sharing Agreement.
• GREGoR Partner Membership - Awardees automatically become Partner Members during the term of their award.
• Current Facilities and Administrative Cost Rates (overhead) rate agreement  - if your institution does not have a negotiated rate, we will use the de minimis rate allowed by federal regulations.
• Institutions are required to have a unique entity ID (UEI) issued by System for Award Management (SAM.gov) at the institutional level - not individual level.

Reporting requirements will be clarified prior to the start of the Award cycle.  This may include a presentation to Consortium members during the Award cycle.

For the Grants to Support Workforce Diversity in Genomics Research, NHGRI will review all applications and determine priority funding for these awards.

With input from Consortium leadership, NHGRI will make the final funding decisions for these awards.

• Application template - Grants to Support Workforce Diversity in Genomics Research
• Letters of support if activities depend on collaborating with others
• Description of your planned activities and associated costs

• No Letter of Intent is required for this award.  Please use the application template which provides the format and content for proposals.
• January 13, 2023: Deadline to submit your proposal by email to gregorconsortium@uw.edu.
• March 1, 2023: Awards will be announced.
• April 1, 2023: Planned earliest start date of awards. Professional development and educational events need to be completed by March 31, 2024.