Dear researchers,

We are pleased to inform you that the call of the ERA-NET NEURON: Call for proposals on Biomarkers in Brain Disorders is now open (deadline: 11th March 2019; 14:00 CET).

Aim of the call: facilitate multinational, collaborative research projects that will address the unmet medical need for valid and reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis, patient stratification, prognosis, monitoring and prediction of treatment response and side effects in neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Proposals: The call particularly wishes to promote multi-disciplinary work and translational research proposals that combine basic and clinical approaches. The consortia are expected to submit novel, ambitious ideas that can only be achieved by the complementary collaboration between partners. Research proposals should cover at least one of the following areas:

Fundamental research on discovery and validation of biomarkers to be used as bio signatures of the pathophysiology associated to specific neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Clinical research on clinically relevant biomarkers for the diagnosis, patient stratification, prognosis or monitoring or prediction of treatment response and side effects for specific neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Consortiums:

Minimum of 3 eligible partners from 3 different countries participating in the call.    

Maximum of 5 project partners including partner with their own funding. Consortia including partners from countries that are to date underrepresented in this funding scheme (Latvia, Romania and Slovakia) may increase the total number of partners to six.

No more than two research groups can be from the same country.

The inclusion of psychiatrists and/or neurologists in the postulating consortia is highly encouraged, along with fundamental neuroscientists.

Research consortia are encouraged to meaningfully involve patients in research planning, conducting research or research result dissemination.

Elegibility criterias (Spain – Instituto de Salud Carlos III):

1. Eligible entities:

Hospitals, primary health care or public health settings of the Spanish National Health System (SNS).

Accredited Health Research Institutes (Institutos de Investigación Sanitaria acreditados, IIS).

CIBER or CIBERNED.

Academia or Research Centers only if an additional Spanish partner of the above categories is also included in the proposal.

2. Eligibility criteria for Principal Investigator (PI):

The PI and all members of the research group must belong to the eligible institution or be affiliated to CIBER, CIBERNED or an IIS.

Excluded personnel as PI:

Those undergoing a postgraduate training in Health Specialization (MIR, FIR, QIR, BIR, PIR)

Those undergoing research training (e.g. PhD students, or “Río Hortega” contracts)

Researchers contracted by a RETIC or a CONSOLIDER

Those undergoing postdoctoral training (e.g. “Sara Borrell“ or “Juan de la Cierva” contracts)

3. Additional eligibility criteria by ISCIII:

Only one partner per beneficiary institution may be funded within the same proposal.

Principal Investigators (PI) can only submit one proposal to this call.

Researchers with ongoing NEURON projects in 2019 cannot apply to the current call except if the applicant is the coordinator.

SMEs and other private companies are encouraged to participate at their own cost, or as subcontractors.

Researchers affiliated to Vall d’Hebron Hospital can participate both as coordinator and partner.

NEW: Researchers affiliated to VHIR can participate both as coordinator and partner.

Budget by ISCIII:

• Up to 100.000 € per partner (overheads included)

• Up to 175.000 € per coordinator (overheads included)

Application: IP (coordinator) should submit the proposal online application through the Submission ERANET NEURON 2019

Duration: 3 years

Deadlines:

• Statement of interest: February 18th, 2019 by email (ajuts@vhir.org)

Please, it is highly recommended to respect the deadline of Statement of Interest to ensure all steps of the submission procedure.

In case you need International partners, we kindly recommend you to contact us as soon as you have clearly identified the required partner profiles

• Internal deadline for proposal review (optional): 27th February

• Internal deadline for budget review: February, 4th March

• Internal deadline for applications:  March 8th at 14:00 CET.

*Please note that the Research Grants Office will not be responsible for those applications submitted after this deadline.

• Official deadline for pre- proposals: March 11th, 2019 at 14:00 CET

• Full proposal invitations sent to project coordinators: mid May 2019

• Deadline for full proposals: June 27th, 2019 at 14:00 CET

Further information: ERA-NET NEURON webpage and attached documents (NEURON JTC 2019_Calltext, national funding ISCIII_NEURON JTC2019_Country_specific_info, and NEURON_JTC2019_pre-proposal form template)

We want to encourage you to participate in this call and to contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in this call. Please, do not hesitate to contact us for anything you need i.e.: check eligibility criteria, start working on the proposal, budget elaboration…