Autism Speaks Announces New Research Grant Opportunities

April 22, 2010

Autism Speaks supports global biomedical research into the diagnosis, causes, prevention, and treatment of autism. Our mission is to improve the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. In support of that mission we provide funding along the entire research continuum -- from discovery to development to dissemination -- for innovative projects that hold considerable promise for significantly improving the lives of persons with autism. Following the announcement of its recent Basic and Clinical and Treatment grant award recipients, Autism Speaks is pleased to now release its latest research funding opportunities.

The current grant requests will fund Pilot and Trailblazer grants. Interested researchers are encouraged to see Open Grants and How to Apply to download the full Request for Applications (RFAs) and to access details of eligibility, the application process, access to the new Autism Speaks grant system, and timelines. For all proposals, the relevance of the proposed research to Autism Speaks 2010 targeted research priorities (outlined in each RFA) must be explicit.

Pilot Grants

Autism Speaks invites grant applications to conduct pilot research into the causes, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and cure of autism spectrum disorders. Autism Speaks' pilot studies must satisfy one or more of the following requirements:innovative, novel and/or untested research, diagnostic or treatment approaches and/or new biomedical or clinical paradigms; collection of preliminary data to support a larger study in future. Good matches for the pilot study program are beginning researchers with demonstrated potential for and a commitment to autism research and established researchers who will be changing direction and applying relevant scientific accomplishments in other scientific areas directly to understanding autism.

Trailblazer Grants

Autism Speaks places a high priority on innovation and has designed its new Trailblazer Award to respond quickly to arising opportunities and highly novel ideas. The Trailblazer Award will support highly novel “out of the box” autism-relevant research that addresses significant roadblocks or that can open new avenues to understanding the causes, diagnosis, subtyping, prevention, treatments, and cure of autism spectrum disorders. The Trailblazer Award mechanism supports small investigator-initiated high risk/high impact projects that are potentially transformative. Good fits include: 1) projects that may be too risky for other research programs, including the Autism Speaks pilot grants, and/or 2) studies that are time-sensitive in their ability to leverage an exceptional opportunity for conducting highly innovative and relevant ASD research.