Project Funding

Catalyst grants for matched research projects

Grant awardees

Eligibility

Principal investigators must be members of the AFGN Researcher Registry and affiliated with an Australian public or private institution that is able to formulate a funding agreement with the AFGN.

Project proposal submissions

If you are identified as a suitable candidate, you will be emailed an expression of interest survey containing confidential information about the gene and clinical case.

Interested research teams will be asked to complete a 2-page project proposal that outlines the potential studies to be undertaken and associated milestones, budget, and timeline.

Project proposal form

Proposals must be submitted to the AFGN via email to functional.genomics@mcri.edu.au within two weeks of receiving the invitation.

Selection process

Project proposals will be evaluated at the monthly SRC meeting against the following criteria:

  1. Quality of the experimental strategy
  2. Adequacy of experimental controls
  3. Ability to assess functional consequence of the variant
  4. Appropriateness of the proposed cost/timeline
  5. Capability of the investigator/s to deliver the project

Project scope

STREAM 1

Assessing the impact of variants in known or novel disease genes

Project proposals to assess variants from Stream 1 should focus on determining pathogenicity of the variant(s) and causality of the disease phenotype.

Stream 1 projects are eligible for catalyst funding in quanta of $15,000 up to $60,000.

STREAM 2 (now closed)

Investigation of multiple VUS in known disease genes with high clinical priority

Projects in this Stream establish systems to functionally assess multiple variants in a single gene in parallel.

Stream 2 projects will be eligible for funding relative to the number of variants that require modelling.

Funding opportunities are released through expressions of interest calls for targeted gene lists.

Research opportunities

New project opportunities are available each month. Registered researchers are invited to apply based on their expertise and research interests.

Unmatched genes

Clinically approved genes that remain unmatched are available to study for all registered researchers. Researchers can register their interest to apply for project funding (up to $60K) via REDCap. This list is updated quarterly.

Research opportunities

 

Stream 1 funding renewal

The AFGN will consider awarding an additional one-year funding for a subset of Stream 1 projects that have achieved promising results during or at the conclusion of the functional genomics investigation, which if supported with extended funding will generate high-value deliverables that advance the objectives of the AFGN.

Examples would include, but not be restricted to, projects that propose to:

  • Incorporate functional validation, beyond model creation and phenotyping, to better understand the underlying pathophysiology of the disease.
  • Chart a route to the development of future therapies.
  • Analyse additional patients with newly identified mutations in the same gene, using the model that was established, to build an informative series of cases that enable robust genotype-phenotype correlations.
  • Analyse additional controls to validate the assay used in the initial grant to build capacity for analysis of future variants.
  • Describe a critical pathway to a larger grant application.
  • Develop a strategy to leverage sustainable competitive grant support.

Investigators that have completed or are nearing completion (≤ 3 months remaining) of their initial Stream 1 project are invited to apply.

Funding renewal form

 

Current projects

The AFGN has funded over 30 functional genomics projects and awarded over $2.3M in catalyst funding to date (April 2024).

Explore current projects