One Mind Rising Star Awards

• The project period for the awards is 3 years.
• The total funding for each Rising Star Research Award is $300,000, of which $100,000 will be distributed annually. Continuation of the awards for the second and third years of the research are dependent upon review of an annual progress report by the Chair of the One Mind Scientific Advisory Board and the One Mind Chief Scientist and Innovation Director.
• Indirect costs are limited to a maximum of 10% and will be taken from the direct costs.
• To qualify as an early career investigator, candidates should be within 10 years of their initial independent appointment as an assistant professor for academic institutions or equivalent for non-academic positions. Note that postdoctoral fellows are ineligible.
• Candidates should have demonstrated productivity and innovation in a scientific field that can be applied to the study of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as anxiety, addiction, bipolar disorder, depression, posttraumatic stress, schizophrenia, traumatic brain injury, suicidality, and other serious psychiatric illnesses.
• Awardees will be invited to attend One Mind’s Annual Music Festival for Brain Health activities on September 11-12, 2021 in Napa Valley and give a presentation about their award-winning research plans at the Music Festival’s Scientific Symposium.
• The proposal should not overlap with existing funding.
• Applicants may apply for the One Mind/Inscopix Technology Grant only as a supplement to a Rising Star Award proposal. Applicants cannot solely apply to the Technology Grant.

One Mind Rising Star Research Awards:

The scope of the three 2021 Rising Star Awards varies as described below. Applicants will be considered for all that fit their proposal.

• The One Mind / Janssen Rising Star Award in Memory of Jeffrey S. Nye, MD, PhD, is open to proposals for translational research on any neuropsychiatric disorder.
• The One Mind Robina Riccitiello Rising Star Depression Research Award is open to proposals for translational and clinical research on depression and related disorders.
• The One Mind Donna Friedman Rising Star Eating Disorders Research Award is limited to translational and clinical research on eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia or compulsive eating disorders.

Examples of relevant research proposals include, but are not limited to, studies that aim to:

• Discover causal mechanisms, biomarkers and therapeutic targets for neuropsychiatric disorders;
• Evaluate the effectiveness of therapies, including pharmaceuticals, electroceuticals, digital therapies or cognitive and behavioral health interventions to prevent the onset or promote recovery of neuropsychiatric disorders;
• Investigate common mechanisms of brain dysfunction and/or recovery between two or more neuropsychiatric or neurological disorders to accelerate the development of diagnostic tools, effective treatments and precision medicine;
• Improve our understanding of how age, race/ethnicity, and/or comorbidities impact the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment effectiveness of neuropsychiatric disorders;
• Integrate preclinical and clinical studies to accelerate and enhance translational research on neuropsychiatric disorders and recovery.

Applicants whose proposals can be enhanced by optical methods to investigate links between neural circuit/ensemble dynamics and disease phenotypes are within scope and encouraged to apply for this supplemental award from Inscopix. Proposals might include, but are not limited to:

• Signal analysis in health vs. disease, and/or how circuit/ensemble signatures change and evolve during disease progression an in therapeutic intervention paradigms.
• Studies that use established or new rodent models of neuropsychiatric disorders to extract key characteristics of the pathophysiology in a cell type-and/or circuit-specific manner.
• Investigations into the causal role of disease circuit/ensemble dynamics identified with nVoke/nVista and potentially in conjunction with other methods such as pharmacology, chemogenetics, electrophysiology and cell ablation.

Each Technology Grant includes:

• 1 state-of-the-art nVoke miniature microscope system from Inscopix for integrated in vivo Ca⁺² imaging and optogenetics (simultaneous or sequential) in the brains of freely behaving mice. Applicants can request an nVista system in lieu of nVoke should their proposal require only Ca⁺² imaging either in the mouse brain and/or in the rat neocortex and hippocampus.
• Full scientific support including a dedicated Field Scientific Consultant for the duration of the project to provide on-site training and guidance to the awardees, from experimental design to data analysis. The award will also provide an opportunity to engage with Inscopix’s transdisciplinary team of neuroscientists, data scientists, and engineers.
• Full technical support including iCare (no questions asked repair and replacement service, for the duration of the award).

For complete details and scope parameters for the Inscopix Technology Supplement Grant, please read the 2021 Rising Star Award RFP.