Event Type : Pathways Newsletter Events

ARPA-H is hosting a hybrid Proposers’ Day event for their upcoming The Performance and Reliability Evaluation for Continuous Modifications and Useability of Artificial Intelligence (PRECISE-AI) program. This program aims to develop capabilities that can automatically detect and mitigate AI model degradation. 

The event will occur virtually and in-person on October 17th, 2024 9:30 AM MT (11:30 AM EST). Register for the event to learn more about the program visit the program webpage or register for the Proposers Day event here.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is inviting applications for the Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI) Mentored Entrepreneurial Career Development Award program. This program will provide three to five years of funded support and protected time in career development for early-career scientists in biomedical, social, or behavioral sciences. NIH will contribute up to $90,000 per year toward the salary of the career award recipient.

This K01 award offers intensive, supervised career advancement and entrepreneurial training to help participants transition to research independence. Ideal candidates are experienced postdoctoral researchers or junior faculty members interested in entrepreneurial careers in research areas supported by NIA.

Applications must be submitted by October 17^th, 2024. For more details about this funding opportunity announcement, click here.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is accepting applications for the Research and Entrepreneurial Development Immersion (REDI) Entrepreneurship Enhancement Award. This program supports the development of educational activities that enhance the entrepreneurial skillset of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scientists in NIA relevant fields, such as aging and Alzheimer’s disease research. NIA intends to commit $700,000 in general NIA funding and $1.1 million in NIA AD/ADRD funding to support a total of 8-10 awards.

Participants will develop the skills necessary for diverse career paths beyond the traditional research environment. Deadline is October 17^th, 2024. Learn more about the award and application requirements on the grant website.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are seeking proposals for innovative research with the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The SBIR program aims to stimulate technological innovation, enhance small business participation in federal R&D, and promote commercialization of federally derived innovations. 

Funding opportunities span across diverse research topics including aging, cancer, infectious diseases, and more. Eligible small businesses must be U.S.-based, for-profit entities with 500 or fewer employees.

Proposals are due October 18th, 2024 at 5pm EST. Visit the proposal notice page or watch the informational webinar recording to learn more. 

NASA Aeronautics invites teams to participate in the 2025 Blue Skies Competition, focused on identifying novel aviation systems to revolutionize the agriculture industry by 2035. This competition challenges teams to think beyond current mainstream technologies that could address critical agricultural needs, such as crop and livestock management, pest control, and weather prediction.

Open to students, senior capstone projects, clubs, and multi-university teams. Each team must include a faculty member as part of their submission.

The deadline for the Notification of Intent (NOI) is October 22nd, 2024. Learn more about the competition requirements and how to get started here.

The Solar Decathlon Design Challenge, led by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),  invites interdisciplinary teams create innovative building designs that tackle real-world issues such as retrofitting, resilience, affordability, and sustainability. 

Teams spend one to two academic semesters working on residential or commercial projects, culminating in an Solar Decathlon Competition Event in April. Eligible teams must be associated with a collegiate institution and include at least one Faculty Advisor. 

The team registration deadline is October 23rd, 2024. Visit the Design Challenge information webpage to apply.

The 2024 DataWorks! Prize, organized by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and NIH, is calling on research teams to propose innovative secondary analysis and data reuse projects that answer pivotal health research questions. 

The two phase competition focuses on advancing human health by leveraging data from NIH’s Generalist Repositories Ecosystem Initiative (GREI) repositories, such as Dataverse, Dryad, and Zenodo. The Challenge will award up to $500,000 total in cash prizes to the Challenge winners.

Teams must submit a proposal by October 23, 2024 and outline a project that can be completed in 6 months. To learn more about this opportunity, visit the Dataworks! Challenge overview webpage here.

The Health Entrepreneurial Leader Network, hosted by Babson College, is a collective hub for innovators and leaders focused on reducing drug misuse and addiction. This opportunity is ideal for innovators, researchers, entrepreneurial leaders, and professionals across various fields looking to connect within this commercialization ecosystem.

The next virtual meeting is on October 24^th. To learn more about this opportunity, visit the network application webpage.

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), alongside Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), is seeking solutions for novel maritime security and counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS). The challenge features two problem statements which surround: 1) cost effective tracking of drones and 2) designing resilient communication between drones in difficult environments. 

This opportunity is open to companies and early stage ventures. Six finalists will be selected for to participate in a virtual Pitch Day with a total of $300,000 available in awards. 

Challenge submissions are due by Oct 30th 2024. Learn more about the opportunity on the challenge website page.

The GLIDE program, created by ARPA-H, is seeking proposals to develop innovative therapies and interventions for lymphatic dysfunction. This initiative is designed to address both primary lymphatic diseases and chronic conditions associated with lymphatic issues. The program is open to universities, non-profits, and small businesses.

The proposal submission deadline is October 31^st 2024. For more details on the program and requirements click here.  

The NCI GDC Analysis Tool Challenge invites the research community to develop innovative analysis tools that analyze and integrate data within the Genomic Data Commons.

Participants are tasked with building open-source tools that leverage GDC data to support cancer research. The competition offers $50,000 in prizes and winning tools will be featured in the GDC Data Portal Analysis Center. 

Phase 1 applications open until October 31, 2024, 08:00 PM EST. To learn more about this challenge and apply, visit the NCI challenge webpage.

The National Cancer Institute, in collaboration with the NIH Office of Data Science Strategy, is hosting the Biomedical Quantum Computation Challenge. This two-phase competition invites participants to brainstorm research opportunities that catalyze development of quantum algorithms for biomedical problem, demonstrating the quantum advantage over classical methods. 

Phase 1 applications are due by October 31, 2024, at 11:59 PM EST. To learn more, please visit the challenge application webpage.

The National Safety Council (NSC) has announced the Safety Innovation Challenge: Heat Stress, aimed at developing technologies and approaches to prevent, manage, and reduce workplace heat stress.

This challenge is open to entrepreneurs and innovators with solutions that can lower human exposure to high-heat environments, provide thermal stress data, manage thermal conditions, or offer heat stress training and emergency response tools.

Proposals should be submitted by November 1, 2024. To learn more about this opportunity, please visit the Safety Innovation Challenge site or click here to apply.

The ANA Innovation Awards, sponsored by Stryker, supports nurse-led innovations that improve patient safety outcomes.

The awards offer $25,000 for an individual nurse and $50,000 for a nurse-led team. The innovation categories include Care Delivery Models, Medical Device or Product, Educational Interventions, New Business, Program, or Service, Research, and Technology.

Applications for the next cycle of the ANA Innovation Awards are due by November 1st, 2024. Guidelines for applications can be found on the ANA Innovation Awards page.

MassRobotics in collaboration with FESTO, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Novanta, and MITRE, has established the Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst program to support healthcare robotics startups. This opportunity offers comprehensive mentorship guidance, and essential resources to foster growth.

Focus areas include clinical care,  hospital automation and more. The program is open to startups with at least a working prototype at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 or above. 
Applications for the next cohort are open until November 1, 2024. To learn more about the program visit the MassRobotics website or click here to apply.

M2D2 is accepting applications for the Barracuda Bowl Pitch event. This is an opportunity to see participate and pitch point-of-care technology alongside the brightest innovators in New England and hear investors rate their pitches and prospects.

While point of care focuses on innovations for heart, lung, blood, and sleep health, proactive health focus areas for the event are:

·     Novel Prevention and Detection- Scalable early disease detection and prevention methods.

·     Population-Level Strategies- Affordable health indicators and wellness education

·     System Innovation for Health Delivery- Predictive models for long-term health and new preventative care funding

Selected applicants will pitch during the Barracuda Bowl Pitch Event on December 11th to a panel of seasoned investors. To learn more about the event and apply, click here.

The Platform Optimizing SynBio for Early Intervention and Detection in Oncology (POSEIDON) program, developed by ARPA-H, seeks proposals to revolutionize cancer screening by creating at-home, over-the-counter Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) tests. 

These tests will detect 30+ cancers at Stage 1 using breath or urine samples, to save lives and reduce the economic burden of late-stage cancer care. Eligible applicants include businesses, academic researchers, non-profit organizations, and more. 

Submit your solution summary by November 6th, 2024. To learn more about the program, visit the POSEIDON ARPA-H information webpage.

The Predictions for Real-time Optimization of Microbiomes of Built Environments (PRO-MICROBE), led by ARPA-H, seeks to create novel models that utilize non-biological data to predict a Microbiome of the Built Environment (MoBE) health indices for specific indoor settings. This initiative aims to transform how a building’s design and engineering can support microbial communities important for optimal human health while reducing pathogenic microorganisms.

Eligible participants include businesses, academic research teams, non-profit organizations and more. 

The application deadline is November 19th, 2024. To learn more visit the PRO-MICROBE solicitation webpage here. 

To learn more about upcoming opportunities to click here.

The Molecular Foundations for Sustainability: Sustainable Polymers Enabled by Emerging Data Analytics program (MFS-SPEED) is a cross-directorate funding call in response to The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act. It is supported by the NSF Directorates for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP), and five industry partners: Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, BASF, Dow, and IBM.

The goal of MFS-SPEED is to support fundamental research enabling the accelerated discovery and ultimate manufacturing of sustainable polymers using state-of-the-art data science, and to enhance development of a cross-disciplinary workforce skilled in this area.

The total funding amount includes a $500,000 in-kind contribution from IBM in the form of Access to Accelerated Discovery services (SaaS, Software as a Service).

Learn more.

The Digital Information Platform (DIP) Sub-Project of NASA’s Air Traffic Management – eXploration (ATM-X) invites teams to build advanced, data-driven services to make better predictions of runway throughputs using machine learning or other techniques. These technologies will provide short-term estimated airport runway throughput using simulated real-time information from historical NAS, weather forecast data, and other factors.

The total prize pool for this competition is $120,000. This competition is open to students, faculty, and university-affiliated individuals across the U.S.

Applications must be submitted by December 8th, 2024. Visit the challenge webpage to learn more. 

ARPA-H offers funding opportunities throughout the year through transformative biomedical and health programs. These programs support innovative research and development in areas such as cancer therapy, viral efficacy, digital health security, precision surgery, and tissue regeneration.

Eligibility varies and often includes small businesses, research teams, and other life sciences innovators. There are multiple deadlines apply depending on the specific program. For detailed deadlines and application information, please visit the ARPA-H program site.

As part of its robust portfolio of education and workforce development efforts, MLSC reminds our community that applications are open year-round for the their Internship Challenge, High School Apprenticeship Challenge, and Data Science Internship Programs. Opportunities abound for students and startups!

Click here for the general internship challenge page. Click here for Data Science internship Program.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), in alignment with the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, is issuing a Notice of Special Interest to receive research applications focused on diseases and health conditions that predominantly affect women, present and progress differently in women, or are female-specific.

Small business concerns developing new technologies that may improve the treatment, diagnosis, prevention, of conditions in female patients should apply through this NOSI. Applications are accepted through November 5th, 2027.

Fostering the growth of a globally competitive and diverse research workforce and advancing the scientific and innovation skills of the Nation is a strategic objective of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF and Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration (BETA) housed in the National Institutes of Health (NIH)- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have entered into a partnership to support the training of graduate students to meet both the NSF’s strategic workforce development objectives as well the NIBIB’s mission to transform through engineering the understanding of disease and its prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment and NIBIB’s support of the next generation of diverse, interdisciplinary researchers across the career continuum.

Learn more about the internships being offered, submissions due any time.