The American Sleep Medicine Foundation (ASMF) announces a new “Bridge to K Research Award” opportunity. The awards are designed to provide some ‘bridge funding’ to promising sleep scientists who have applied for a K grant from NIH but whose applications are unlikely to be within the NIH funding cutoff and who need additional time and resources to collect further data and respond to the NIH critique, thereby increasing the chances of a successful K grant resubmission to NIH. Thus, the ASMF invites sleep scientists to apply for the Bridge to K Award if they: (1) possess an advanced degree (MD, DO or PhD); (2) have submitted a K grant application in the field of sleep or circadian rhythms to NIH; and (3) have received their summary statement from NIH, and the priority score indicates it is likely to not receive funding.

Through this award, the ASMF aims to assist investigators at a critical juncture in their career where bridge funding can determine whether or not a promising sleep scientist stays in the sleep field or moves to a different career track. The ASMF will award up to two $75,000 grants per year, with the possibility of a full or partial second year of funding for awardees with further documented need. The awards can be used for research expenses such as salary support, and supplies, as well as institutional overhead (up to 8%). Award recipients will be recognized at SLEEP 2012.

A grant review committee appointed by the ASMF Executive Board will evaluate and rank the proposals for a final decision by the ASMF Board of Directors to determine the award recipients. Factors that will be taken into consideration include:

1. The summary statement and priority score from NIH (applications close to the NIH ‘payline’ will be given priority such that NIH funding would be expected upon subsequent reapplication to NIH);
2. A clear plan for resubmission of a competitive NIH K grant application that is responsive to the critique of the original application (including, for example, collection of required preliminary data);
3. Continued involvement in academic sleep medicine, including performing original research and publishing research articles under the guidance and support of an established sleep research mentor;
4. Continued involvement in a mentored training plan (potentially including enrollment in courses) directed towards a successful career path in academic sleep medicine

Candidates must complete the application process by Wednesday, January 25, 2012. Applicants will be notified of the award decision by April 10, 2012.

For questions about the Bridge to K Research Award or other ASMF inquiries, please contact Nick Cekosh, ASMF Coordinator at 630-737-9763 or ncekosh@aasmnet.org.