FY27 GLIA-CTN Community Award

The Global Leukodystrophy Initiative Clinical Trials Network (GLIA-CTN) is an NIH-funded consortium of institutions, clinicians, scientists, and patient advocacy leaders working together to promote advances in the diagnosis and treatment of leukodystrophies. GLIA-CTN is affiliated with Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), which was founded by the NIH Office of Rare Diseases in 2003 and is now coordinated by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS).

In the last cycle, requests for support from investigators external to the GLIA-CTN have led to new collaborations and impactful projects. To encourage continued network growth, diverse membership, and an expanded leukodystrophy workforce, we will offer two annual GLIA-CTN Community Awards. Award recipients will receive in-kind infrastructure support for their projects, and will work closely with the GLIA-CTN Biomedical Informatics and Statistical Core (BISC) to refine data collection and management plans. Award recipients will also benefit from generous access to GLIA-CTN data and/or samples, as well as consultation and support by GLIA-CTN staff with expertise in data management, database design, outcome development and validation, regulatory affairs, etc.

GLIA-CTN Community Award recipients will also receive grant development support and will be expected to apply for more substantial funding through traditional federal, institutional, and/or industry grant mechanisms upon conclusion of their award. This mechanism is primarily intended to enable early feasibility studies for new natural history studies that can later be expanded to funded projects within the GLIA-CTN.

We ask that prospective applicants contact the GLIA-CTN Career Development Committee prior to submission of a new application to confirm that a proposal is responsive to the overall funding structure of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) prior to submission.

Applications are currently being accepted on a rolling basis.

At least two GLIA-CTN Community Awards will be awarded annually. Additional awards may be granted during a single period at the discretion of the GLIA-CTN Career Development Committee, and as permitted by available resources.

Support will be provided for a one-year project beginning no later than September 1, 2026

Awardees will receive up to one (1) year of in-kind support from the GLIA-CTN, including ad hoc virtual consultation meetings and regular email correspondence with the assigned administrative and/or technical contacts within the GLIA-CTN.

Candidates for the award must have a doctoral degree within the health professions (e.g., MD, DO, DDS, DMD, OD, DC, PharmD) and be actively affiliated with a US-based academic and/or health care institution. Individuals with degrees in nursing research and/or practice, who are licensed to practice clinically, may be eligible. There are also certain circumstances in which individuals with a PhD may be eligible, outlined below. 

Innovative, early-stage applications addressing key knowledge gaps that are without evidence of alternate means of funding (i.e., “high-risk/high-yield”) are encouraged. 

Eligible applications will meet the following key criteria:

i. The application must relate to a specific established leukodystrophy (Vanderver et al., Mol Genet Metab. 2015; doi: 10.1016/j.ymgme.2015.01.006);

ii. All projects must be performed using patient samples, imaging and/or clinical data. Please contact the GLIA-CTN to assess that the proposal is responsive to the overall structure of the Rare Disease Clinical Research Network prior to submission;

iii. The applicant must demonstrate willingness to collaborate with the GLIA-CTN in a sustainable way, including adoption of centralized/standardized data collection tools managed by the GLIA-CTN Biomedical Informatics and Statistical Core (DIC);

iv. Applicants holding a PhD only must demonstrate integration with the clinical team at their site.

v. The applicant must describe scientific methods that demonstrate adequate rigor and replication to translate the proposed research project into future clinical studies (i.e., description of alternative approaches or “Go/No-Go” criteria).

Applications should also meet the following feasibility criteria:

i. The applicant must demonstrate approval by their local Institutional Review Board (IRB) and, if appropriate, their Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) prior to accepting the award.

ii. For projects involving interventional approaches, the application must include a protocol synopsis and evidence of submission to appropriate regulatory bodies prior to submission.

Please note that this time, only US-based investigators are eligible to apply for a GLIA-CTN Community Award. We hope to be able to include international applicants in future award cycles. In the meantime, alternative support mechanisms may be available to support international researchers interested in proposing a new project or collaborating on an existing project within one of the key disease areas outlined in Appendix A. 

We invite you to contact the GLIA-CTN Administrative Director, Omar Sherbini, MPH, at email@theglia.org or 215-590-3068 for additional details.

Applications that include a plan to leverage central GLIA-CTN resources in one or more of the following ways will be prioritized:

• Use of existing phenotype and longitudinal natural history previously collected through the consortium’s central repository, known as the Myelin Disorders Biorepository Project (MDBP);
• Use of banked and/or prospectively collected biospecimen obtained by one or more clinical research centers currently participating in the GLIA-CTN;
• Inclusion of one or more GLIA-CTN Principal and/or Site Investigators in project design and/or execution;
• Interaction with and/or support from disease-specific patient advocacy organization(s).

• A progress report will be expected at 6 months following award, and a final report will be expected at 12 months following award.
• Publication in the form of an abstract at a national or international meeting or submission of a manuscript for publication is expected within 12 months of completion of the award.
• The awardee is expected to attend, and be prepared to discuss their career development project, at the GLIA-CTN Annual Instigator Meeting (Summer 2026), and attend the next GLIA Scientific Meeting (Spring 2027) after completion of their award.

IRB/IACUC protocols must include language that permits protected health information (PHI) to be shared with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and with the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC) designated by the National Institutes of Health.

• Project Proposal (2-3 Pages): Background, Innovation, Approach (inc. Specific Aims, Preliminary Data and Methods), Project Timeline, and Future Directions;
• Bibliography
• Biosketch*

*In standard NIH format per https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm.

• Does the application meet the eligibility requirements?
• Have efforts been made to connect with leaders in advocacy organization(s) related to the disease(s) of focus in the application, or is there a clearly outlined plan to do so?
• Are the aims well defined?
• Is the approach innovative?
• Are the methods appropriate?
• Will the collected data answer the stated aims?
• Is this project expected to enable early feasibility studies for new natural history studies?

All applications will undergo the following two-stage process.

• Applicants will submit a first-round application for review by the GLIA-CTN Career Development Committee. Feedback will be provided to all applicants.
• Applicants with strong proposals will be invited to incorporate the Committee’s feedback and submit a revised application for a second round of review.

Proposals focused on leukodystrophies listed in Appendix A will be given priority. Applicants interested in conditions not included on the list below should contact the GLIA-CTN Career Development Committee before submitting a new application.

Questions regarding the application requirements, submission guidelines, etc. may be directed to GLIA-CTN Administrative Director, Omar Sherbini, MPH at mailto:email@theglia.org or 215-590-3068.