Grants awarded through this RFA are intended to advance our understanding of the genetic basis of autism. Investigators who are interested in analyzing genomic data in innovative ways from thousands of SPARK families are encouraged to apply. Available data will include whole-exome and genome-wide genotyping data from approximately 4, 500 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their biological parents. Approximately half of these families will also have genomic data from an unaffected sibling. In addition, whole-genome sequencing data will be available from approximately 400 other ASD individuals, plus their biological parents and unaffected siblings. A limited phenotypic dataset for all participants will be available
Requirements:
All applicants and key collaborators must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree and have a faculty position or the equivalent at a college, university, medical school or other research facility. There are no citizenship or national residence requirements
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Genomic Analysis for Autism Risk Variants in SPARK - Request for Applications Grants awarded through this RFA are intended to advance our understanding of the genetic basis of autism. Investigators who are interested in analyzing genomic data in innovative ways from thousands of SPARK families are encouraged to apply. Available data will include whole-exome and genome-wide genotyping data from approximately 4,500 individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their biological parents. Approximately half of these families will also have genomic data from an unaffected sibling. In addition, whole-genome sequencing data will be available from approximately 400 other ASD individuals, plus their biological parents and unaffected siblings. A limited phenotypic dataset for all participants will be available. We expect to fund several awards in the range of $100,000 (direct costs) for 18 months. Higher budgets will be considered, but we expect such budgets to be strongly justified. Policies and Procedures Closed Share This RFA How To Apply FAQ Past Awards Maximum Budget Budget: $100,000 (direct costs) Funding Duration: 18 months Important Dates Application Available May 21, 2018 Notice of Intent Deadline June 22, 2018 Full Proposal Deadline July 27, 2018 Award Notification November 14, 2018 Award Start Date December 1, 2018 Contact Info Scientific inquiries: sciencerfa@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 Administrative inquiries: grants@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 SPARK data and recruitment questions: collections@sfari.org 646-654-0066 proposalCENTRAL: pcsupport@altum.com 800-875-2562 Read More Background Objective of this Award Eligibility and collaboration Funding period and budget Application requirements Application Deadline Instructions for Submission Contacts Maximum Budget Budget: $100,000 (direct costs) Funding Duration: 18 months Important Dates Application Available May 21, 2018 Notice of Intent Deadline June 22, 2018 Full Proposal Deadline July 27, 2018 Award Notification November 14, 2018 Award Start Date December 1, 2018 Contact Info Scientific inquiries: sciencerfa@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 Administrative inquiries: grants@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 SPARK data and recruitment questions: collections@sfari.org 646-654-0066 proposalCENTRAL: pcsupport@altum.com 800-875-2562 Background SPARK (Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research for Knowledge) is an autism research initiative that aims to recruit, engage and retain a community of 50,000 individuals with autism and their family members living in the U.S. Participation in this cohort will involve contribution of medical and behavioral information, mailing in of saliva for genetic analysis, the option to have genetic findings related to autism returned, and consent to be invited to participate in future research studies. The project is operated by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) in collaboration with approximately 25 university-affiliated research clinics, whose roles are to help enroll individuals with autism and their families in the study. Numerous national and local autism community organizations across the U.S. are also helping to find research participants and spread the word about this landmark initiative. To date, SPARK has collected DNA extracted from saliva samples from thousands of individuals affected with autism and their family members. Phenotypic data for these families were collected online and are available through SFARI Base and summarized here: https://www.sfari.org/resource/spark/ . SFARI has released whole-exome and genome-wide genotyping data from approximately 500 individuals with ASD and their biological parents. In October 2018, SFARI expects to release whole-exome and genome-wide genotyping data from approximately 4,500 additional individuals with ASD, their biological parents and an unaffected sibling (when available). SFARI also expects to release whole-genome data from an additional 400 individuals with ASD, their biological parents and an unaffected sibling (when available). The genomic data on SPARK participants expected to be available in October 2018 is summarized in the table below. Laboratory (# of samples) # of Families Exome or Genome Sequencing? Exome capture reagent (if applicable) Genotyping chip Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center (n = 1,401 samples) 464 ASD families (affected individual/s biological parents) Exome (mean coverage: 80X) VCRome PKv2 Illumina Human Exome cSNP Regeneron (n = 13,324 samples) 4,011 ASD families (affected individual/s biological parents unaffected sibling when available) Exome (minimum of 20X at 85% of targeted bases) IDT xGEN Exome Research Panel v1.0 Illumina Global Screening Array New York Genome Center (n = 1,476) 369 ASD families (affected individual/s biological parents unaffected sibling when available) Genome (estimated average coverage: 30X) Illumina Human Core Exome Objective of this Award This RFA seeks proposals that will advance our understanding of the genetic basis of autism. SFARI welcomes proposals that focus on any type of genetic variants (rare and common variants, single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), copy number variants (CNVs), indels, coding and noncoding variants) that contribute to autism risk. We encourage innovative applications that combine analyses of variants across the allele frequency spectrum. We will prioritize proposals that will analyze SPARK data in conjunction with available genomic data from other ASD and neurodevelopmental genetic cohorts. SFARI will make the alignment and variant call data available to all eligible researchers (i.e., not only those funded through this RFA) following standard quality control and data processing steps. The first batch of data is already available on SFARI Base, and the remaining data will be made available around October 2018. There will be a publication embargo for six months after all genomic data are released, which will prohibit submission of manuscripts for publication. SFARI will work with successful applicants to make the genomic data available to their academic or cloud-based computing resources. SFARI understands that validation of de novo variants in recurrent genes/pathways is a key aspect of this project and will coordinate experimental confirmation of de novo calls with awardees. Eligibility and collaboration All applicants and key collaborators must hold a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree and have a faculty position or the equivalent at a college, university, medical school or other research facility. Applications may be submitted by domestic and foreign nonprofit organizations; public and private institutions, such as colleges, universities, hospitals, laboratories, and units of state and local government; and eligible agencies of the federal government. Applications may also be submitted by for-profit companies, in which case the funds provided for the grant are to be used only for charitable purposes to fund research related to ASD. There are no citizenship or national residence requirements. If the proposal includes investigators at more than one site, all investigators should have demonstrated prior success in similar collaborations. Funding period and budget The grant period is 18 months. We expect to fund several awards in the $100,000 range (direct costs). Exceptions with good justification will be considered but are not encouraged. Application requirements Applications should include the following: Narrative, not to exceed six pages (excluding references, figures and figure legends). Proposals should include specific aims, background relevant to the application, significance of the proposed studies, preliminary results, experimental design, pitfalls and alternative strategies, and a timeline with milestones. Biosketches for Principal Investigator(s) and key collaborators. Current and pending support for Principal Investigator(s) and key collaborators. Budget. We expect to fund several awards in the $100,000 range (direct costs). Exceptions with good justification will be considered but are not encouraged. Proposals should include a realistic budget sufficiently detailed for evaluation of needed resources. SFARI will work closely with investigative teams with competitive applications to arrive at a suitable budget. Indirect costs are limited to 20 percent of the modified total direct costs (see Simons Foundation policies ). Applicants should detail a strategy and estimate a budget for orthogonal confirmation of applicant’s specific variants of interest. But note that SFARI will coordinate and directly fund the validation of variants in a centralized fashion. Applicants should detail a strategy and estimated budget for computing costs (either cloud or academic computing facility). SFARI will pay directly for cloud storage costs, so these costs need not be included in the applicant’s budget. Applications with multiple Principal Investigators from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must include a signed budget template and budget justification for each Principal Investigator’s institution. Applications with subcontracts must include a budget and budget justification. The budget template and budget justification are available for download in the proposal attachments section of proposalCENTRAL’s full application. Research environment and resources. Investigators should demonstrate access to appropriate resources for high-capacity data analysis and computation. Data-sharing plan. The plan should include the sharing of all analyzed data in addition to the sharing of any new algorithms/data visualization tools that are a direct result of this award. SFARI will work closely with awarded investigative teams to ensure that the plan includes timely dissemination of data. For more details, see the Instructions document, which is available for download in the proposal attachments section of proposalCENTRAL . Application Deadline We request that investigators who intend to submit a proposal send an email by June 22, 2018, with the intended investigators’ names and affiliations and their intended proposal’s title to grants@simonsfoundation.org with the subject line: SPARK Genomic RFA Notice of Intent. The deadline for full proposal submission is July 27, 2018. No extensions will be given. If you have any difficulties, please contact grants@simonsfoundation.org . Competitive applications will receive external peer review. SFARI will make final funding decisions; notification of award is anticipated by November 14, 2018, with funding expected to begin December 1, 2018. Instructions for Submission Applications must be completed electronically and submitted using forms provided at proposalCENTRAL. Please log in as an applicant, scroll to “Simons Foundation” and click on the program. Contacts Scientific inquiries: sciencerfa@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 Administrative inquiries: grants@simonsfoundation.org 646-654-0066 SPARK data and recruitment questions: collections@sfari.org 646-654-0066 proposalCENTRAL: pcsupport@altum.com 800-875-2562 Read More
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