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RFP for Projects Investigating the Gut-brain Axis

Sponsors:
TMCity
Amount:
$250,000
External Deadline:
07/01/22
Opportunity Information:

TMCity has issued an RFP for research investigating the gut-brain axis for applications to brain and mental health. This RFP aims to address the gaps in knowledge of how the gut affects brain health to harness knowledge to bring about measurable improvements to our prevention and treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. In other words, the aim is to understand and improve brain health by advancing the understanding of the gut and its relationship to the brain. 

Acceptable proposals include but are not limited to any that seek to elucidate the key metabolites, biochemical mechanisms, and physiological pathways by which the gut causally affects the brain; demonstrate the gut biome’s role in neuropsychiatric disease pathology, especially in its etiology; understand how external factors such as probiotics or lifestyle factors can affect the brain via the gut, and/or how these factors interact with medication to moderate its effect; understand how early life environments and experience shape gut and brain health; quantify the concepts of a healthy versus unhealthy gut with respect to cognitive or mental health, especially with age or sex as a covariate; understand the role of both gut diversity and specific gut composition to healthy functioning of the gut-brain axis; understand the role of genetics to gut and brain health, especially to how an individual’s gut responds to both lifestyle factors and to medication and its subsequent impact to brain health develop tests to quickly, efficiently and/or cheaply measure the state of a patient’s gut, e.g., through identifying relevant biomarkers to serve as proxies for gut health; identify gut biomarkers to aid in and help standardize clinical diagnosis of complex neurologic/neuropsychiatric disorders such as dementia, autism, or depression; standardize clinical practice to maximize gut health at different stages in life as related to brain health, e.g., as related to maternal and neonatal care; replicate relevant previous small studies on a larger basis to confirm findings; replicate relevant previous short studies to longer longitudinal ones to confirm the linkage of gut microbial changes to physiological changes; duplicate relevant previous results in animal models in humans through clinical trials; or demonstrate statistically significant changes in cognitive or mental health through use of gut altering techniques (such as fecal transplants) and substances (such as probiotics).

While Alzheimer’s disease/dementia and depression have been used as examples of application in this RFP, any area of brain health is welcome as a proposal's focus. 

The foundation expects to award up to three grants of up to $250,000.

Applicants must be a U.S. academic research organization, a not-for-profit or government body, or a private-sector organization.

For complete program guidelines and application instructions, see the TMCity Foundation website.

ASU Information:

Submissions to this sponsor/donor are managed by the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. Please contact your unit-assigned ASUF Director of Development or Research Advancement Specialist at your earliest convenience to ensure ASU's strategic coordination and management of funding applications.

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