Ontario Brain Institute: Integrated Discovery Programs

Details

Opportunity Name	Integrated Discovery Programs
Agency	Ontario Brain Institute
Value	Up to $15,000,000
Indirect Costs	Ineligible
Duration	Up to 5 years

Deadlines

Notify SIRI of intention to apply	06-30-2022
Application due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for full review	08-31-2022
Application due to SIRI for full review	09-01-2022
Application and fully signed ORS checklist due to FSc RO at sciapps@yorku.ca for mandatory review	09-08-2022
Final application and fully signed ORS checklist due to SIRI for mandatory review	09-14-2022
Application due at agency	09-15-2022

Objective

The Ontario Brain Institute is hosting an open call for Integrated Discovery Programs (IDPs) that will foster discovery and deliver innovative products and services to improve the lives of those living with brain disorders. IDPs are collaborative, translational brain research networks that harness patient and community involvement, industry collaboration, and data-driven innovation. They are established with the goal of deeply understanding clinical cohorts and generating evidence that will be translated into better care of solutions relevant to a broad array of fruit and vegetable crops in Canada and around the world. 

This open competition seeks networks that have a primary focus in research areas related to brain disorders and who are driven by an approach that starts with standardized patient-level data collection. The focus is on the deep characterization of clinical cohorts in a fashion that facilitates hypothesis-driven research, testing and validation of new clinical tools, and open science. To this end, OBI is building on past approaches (Stuss, 2014) with an enhanced emphasis on a strong clinical framework and borrowing ideas from the Master Observational Trial approach, whereby prospective clinical cohorts can be established and used to trial new tools and treatments that will benefit patients (Dickson, et al., 2020).  

This approach involves:  

• multi-site, prospective and longitudinal data collection.  
• transparent governance, including principles of open data sharing.  
• core capabilities for running modular clinical trials.  
• patient consent enabling data collection, linkage and secondary use.  
• molecular testing capabilities.  
• use of Common Data Elements (CDEs).  
• ability to integrate with interventional trials or real-world data.  
• capacity for advanced analytics and artificial intelligence.  

The approach also involves continued partnerships with industry, patients, caregivers, and community organizations to inform patient-level impacts.  

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Eligibility

This competition is open to neuroscience networks focused on studying prospective clinical cohorts whose outputs target improving brain health, understanding the molecular basis of brain disorders, and creating new tools and technologies.  

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How to Apply

To signal your intent to apply and to book a one-on-one meeting, please contact Diana Frasca, Strategic and Institutional Research Initiatives Specialist, in the Office of Research Services, by e-mail (dfrasca@yorku.ca). 

York University researchers are reminded that all applications for external research funding, including Letters of Intent, must be reviewed and approved by the Office of Research Services before they are submitted to the granting agency.  For internal approval, the application must be accompanied by a completed ORS Checklist, which requires the Dean’s signature.  Please send the complete application, with the finalized budget and a completed ORS checklist to sciapps@yorku.ca, five days prior to agency deadline.

ORS is accepting electronic applications – the process is outlined here.

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For specific questions, please contact your FSc Research Officer