Target ALS funds investigators who collaborate across scientific disciplines and research constituencies to drive medical breakthroughs for the treatment of ALS.
By bringing together the right people, funding, tools, and resources, Target ALS is breaking down barriers that have existed for decades, amplifying and accelerating the ALS drug discovery and development process.
Our funding opportunities are open to investigators working worldwide.
Our Grantmaking Process
Submit LOIs
Review of LOIs
Invitation to submit research proposal
Submit research proposal
Review of research proposals by an independent panel of experts
Collaborative Consortia Studying ALS Biomarkers of Disease Stratification and Progression. As new therapeutics have begun moving the needle for ALS patients, tracking disease progression and monitoring the effects of drug treatment have become even more important. Biomarkers are needed to stratify patient populations, understand response to therapeutics, and quantify disease progression.
Target ALS provides support for in vivo proof-of-concept for promising therapeutics in mouse models of ALS. We have partnered with the contract research organization Biospective to enable evaluation of novel therapeutics for target engagement and disease-modifying potential in ALS. Test articles – small molecules, biologics, gene therapy, or antisense oligonucleotides – are provided by the investigator.
Each year, the Target ALS team strategically designs funding opportunities to accelerate ALS research. An industry-led consortia funding call will be announced this November. We will be soliciting proposals from industry-led multidisciplinary groups focused on discovering and developing novel therapeutics using innovative and complementary approaches including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
We encourage you to join our mission by using our Research Cores or contacting us to discuss how we can help facilitate your work on ALS. To learn about our current and former grant recipients, visit our funded projects page.
Yes, we welcome applicants from outside the USA for all of our funding opportunities.
A competitively funded grant that is one that is awarded based on published funding opportunities on this page. In Vivo Target Validation grants are an exception to this rule and are not considered competitively funded grants. Target ALS also awards grants to further expand our Research Cores. These grants are not considered competitive.
Target ALS places restrictions on many of its funding opportunities, prohibiting applications from PIs that already have two or more competitively-awarded active Target ALS grants. We do this to encourage a greater diversity of applicants and ideas in our application pool.
No. You can only submit one application for any given funding opportunity (with the exception of In Vivo Target Validation grants).
We expect that the Principal Investigator is someone who runs an academic research lab, or industry equivalent.
A CRO can be considered a consortium partner, but they do not qualify to meet the industry partner requirement in any Target ALS funding calls that require such a partner to participate.
Target ALS requires all consortium partners to sign an IP sharing agreement amongst themselves. Depending on the structure of the consortium and the work being performed by the CRO, having a CRO as a formal partner may be simple or it may be very complex. We recommend you evaluate the relative complexity in advance of submitting your application.
Application
Yes
No
No. Target ALS staff and Independent Review Committee (IRC) members sign a confidentiality agreement with Target ALS to ensure all confidential information contained in grant applications remains confidential. Neither staff nor IRC members will enter into a separate agreement as a condition of application.
Budget
No, we do not fund indirect costs. We do permit up to 15% of the award to be allocated for research-associated direct costs. These costs must be specifically tied to the project being funded. Examples include: lab rent, tuition and fees for fellows, IT costs specifically related to the project, etc. These expenses must be specified in your budget.
Yes. We adhere to the salary cap used by the NIH for Executive Level II, which is updated annually.
No. If you have other flexible sources of funding, you may use those to cover any part of the fellow’s salary. We are most concerned with ensuring a dedicated level of effort on the project.
You will see a dashboard called Action Items. It will have multiple tabs. Click on the Scientific Reports tab and then click the Open button next to the report that is due. Note the grant number and project title. You may have multiple reports due.
Complete the narrative fields, add attachments, and click Submit. You can also click Save Draft and come back to it later.
Remember, for consortium grants, the Project Leader is responsible for submitting the scientific reports on behalf of the entire consortium. The other consortium members are expected to provide the necessary information to the Project Leader.
All financial reports are submitted directly through our Grantee Portal. By default, the Principal Investigator for the grant has access to submit the report. If you would like to request that someone else gain access to submit the report on your behalf, please contact us and we will make the update.
Remember, for consortium grants, each Principal Investigator is responsible for submtting the required financial reports for their lab.
You will see a dashboard called Action Items. It will have multiple tabs. Click on the Financial Reports tab and then click the Open button next to the report that is due. Note the grant number and project title. You may have multiple reports due.
Click the Add/Edit Budget button at the bottom of the screen. This will open a new tab in your browser, that will pull up your budget screen.
There will be a column titled “Cumulative Expenditures” available. It will be the only column available for you to input figures as the other columns will be grayed out.
Click the Save button at the bottom and close the screen out once you’ve completed entering in expenditures. You will be taken back to the main budget screen where you will now see your expenditures populated in the table.
Click on the “Submit” button to submit your report. Please note that there is also a “Save Draft” button available next to “Submit” if you need to complete the report up to a certain point and come back later to finalize.
Remember, for consortium grants, each Principal Investigator is responsible for submitting the required financial reports for their lab.
No-cost extensions require a scientific rationale and are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. A no-cost extension request can be submitted through our Grantee Portal. When you log in, you should see a dashboard called My Grant Applications. It has several tabs. Click on the Active Grants tab. You will see your grant with an Open button. Click that and then you will see a button that says Request Amendment or NCE. Click the button and follow the prompts to submit an NCE request
Yes. If you have been awarded a multi-year grant, unobligated funds may be rolled over from one year to the next.
Yes. If you are moving 15% or less of the total grant award for that year, you can move the funds among budget categories as needed. You do not need our permission or approval to do so. If you want to move more than 15% of the total grant award for that year, you will need to submit a budget amendment request. That request will need to be approved by Target ALS in advance of making any changes.
You will see a dashboard called My Grant Applications (the second one down). It will have multiple tabs. Click on the Active Grants tab and then click the Open button next to your grant.
Click the Request Amendment or NCE button.
Select Budget Amendment from the Amendment Type dropdown and then click the SAVE DRAFT button at the bottom of the screen. This will populate the screen with the correct field for you to fill out.
Fill out the two narrative fields and click Save Draft.
Click the Add/Edit Budget button at the bottom of the screen. This will open a new tab in your browser, where you can enter a new budget for Year 1 and Year 2. You cannot exceed your approved budget for each year. Click the Save button when you’re done with the budget and then you can close that tab.
Back in the amendment request tab, you will see the budget information you had just entered. If everything looks correct, you can click Submit.
