Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Neurodegeneration Challenge Network – Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Awards
OSP Deadline: April 10, 2018
Sponsor Deadline: April 17, 2018 by 2:00PM 
Award Amount: $500,000 per year for five years
Target Applicants: Applicants should be in their first independent faculty position for at least two years but not more than six years at the time of application.

The Ben Barres Early Career Acceleration Awards program offers grants for early career academic investigators, with an emphasis on those who are new to the field of neurodegeneration. Recent advances in neurodegenerative disease research, especially in genetics and genomics, have expanded the view of contributing mechanisms, such as the immune system, glia, vascular systems, and metabolism. This program aims to build on these advances by empowering early career investigators to pursue bold, cross-cutting approaches to understanding these disorders within a supportive and collaborative environment. Awardees will benefit from mentorship support, training and professional development, networking opportunities, and practical career guidance.

The program strongly encourages applications from researchers who are working in relevant fields outside of neurodegeneration and neuroscience, such as cell biology, immunology, metabolism, physiology, and computational biology. Previous work in neurodegeneration is not a prerequisite as long as the proposal is able to make a strong case for potential relevance to neurodegeneration. Successful projects will be foundational and mechanistic studies grounded in human biology and disease pathology that provide new avenues for future translational and clinical development work. Applications are welcome from both investigators who are tackling underexplored topics as well as those addressing more well-developed mechanisms where there remain significant gaps in understanding. The selection process for this award includes a written application followed by an in-person interview for finalists.