The Wings for Life Spinal Cord Research Foundation is a privately funded research charity organisation with the exclusive aim to promote basic and clinical research related to spinal cord injury with the perspective to improve outcomes.
Basic research projects may address the following aspects of traumatic spinal cord injury
• nerve regeneration/plasticity
• neuronal and glial protection
• functional deficits induced by lesions
• preferentially in mammalian models
• preferentially on mechanisms present/validated in humans
Clinical research projects may address
• spinal cord injury management
• other areas related to traumatic spinal cord injury essential to the propagation of neurological and functional recovery
A preference is given to research projects, which have
• a perspective of translation from the laboratory to the clinical setting
• the potential to provide real benefits to spinal cord injury patients
• a focus on chronic spinal cord injury, in case applicable
Deadlines:
Individual grants: Submission of executive summary by August 31, 2023
Project Research Grants: Submission of full grant application by October 1, 2023
Accelerated Translational Program (ATP): Executive summaries will be reviewed as they are received
Wings for Life offers these forms of grants
A. Individual grants
This grant is intended only to cover the salary of the applicant: Post-docs, PhDs, and/or technicians. The goals of the individual research grant program are to encourage new investigator’s work on regeneration and recovery processes and to encourage researchers to develop new ideas and/or to transfer their efforts of other areas into spinal cord research.
B. Project research grants
This grant is intended to sustain a full research project. Funds cover personnel, equipment, consumables, etc.
C. Wings for Life Accelerated Translational Program (ATP) (clinical trials)
Even with very promising discoveries, the translation from scientific discovery to applied therapeutics is a long and difficult road due to regulatory burdens, complexities of clinical trial design, patient recruitment and retention barriers, and the high cost of cutting edge research. The Wings for Life Accelerated Translational Program (ATP) has been specifically designed to be able to accommodate obstacles to efficient clinical translation.
