A new funding opportunity announce-ment (FOA) has just been released by the National Centers for Complementary and Alternative Medicine/National Institutes of Health (NCCAM/NIH), titled "Tools & Technologies for Assessing Manual Therapies (SBIR [R43])."
According to the FOA Web site, "This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) solicits Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) that propose to develop new technology, research tools, instrumentations, devices, or to apply new or innovative uses of existing technology to illuminate the mechanisms of action of the biological effects of manual therapies, or to develop new and innovative approaches to diagnosis, monitor, manage, treat and/or prevent a wide variety of neuro-musculoskeletal conditions that are treated by manual therapies.
"The FOA solicits new and innovative technologies that would facilitate research in manual therapies. Development of new technologies as well as innovative application of existing technologies may be proposed. Studies may include use of animal models and/or human participants. If appropriate, plans for manufacturing and clinical evaluation of developed technologies, devices and innovative approaches should be included in the application. However, clinical trials beyond Phase I studies will not be considered responsive to this announcement.
"Appropriate topics for development and validation under this FOA include, but are not limited to, the following: diagnostic devices, protocols, and/or assays; real-time imaging technologies; methods and technologies for reliably and reproducibly applying desired loads; methods and technologies for reliably and reproducibly measuring in-vivo biomechanics of spine, joints, and soft tissues; biomedical simulation (device and/or computational) of manual therapies; technologies for measuring in-vivo CNS responses to manual therapies. Tools and technologies for acupuncture research (i.e., using needles or electroacupuncture) would not be responsive to this FOA."
The NCCAM will award up to $400,000 to as many as four applicants in fiscal year 2008. Interested applicants must submit letters of intent by Jan. 14, 2008. Submissions are due by Feb. 14, 2008. For additional information, visit the FOA Web site or contact Partap S. Khalsa, DC, PhD, DABCO, Program Officer, Division of Extramural Research and Training.
Dr. Khalsa can be contacted at khalsap@mail.nih.gov.
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