Fellowships of the Lysosomal Disease Network (LDN) for Career Enhancement

Utilizing NIH funding, the Lysosomal Disease Network provides $50,000-$75,000 total costs (direct and indirect costs) to a post-doctoral level researcher with an interest in a career in lysosomal diseases.  The Fellowship is for one year, coinciding with the NIH funding cycle (August 1st to July 31st). The LDN Fellowship can support currently-ongoing research projects, as well as new research projects. The projects are required to be of a clinical nature, working with human subjects or human tissues; they cannot be non-human medical research.

  1. Applicants should be a recent post-doctoral professional with an interest in clinical research of lysosomal diseases This could include physicians with training in relevant disciplines, as well as pharmacists, psychologists, or other suitably qualified professionals (i.e., MD, PhD, MD-PhD, DO, PsyD, DDS, PharmD, DNP, etc.).
  2. Owing to NIH specification of the Rare Disease Clinical Research funding program, this opportunity must be clearly detailed as a clinical research fellowship, not a bench research position, unless human specimens are a key aspect of the proposal.
  3. Applicants must identify a mentor with an appropriate track record in lysosomal disease research.
  4. Applicants need not be United States citizens, but must be allied with a United States-based institution qualified to receive funds from the National Institutes of Health.

At the conclusion of the funding period, July 30, 2022, the Fellow must provide (a) a brief summary of the results and (b) written plan for a peer-reviewed publication that acknowledges support of the NIH-funded Lysosomal Disease Network using the NIH-stipulated format.

  • Due date: June 15, 2021. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
  • Decision date: July 25, 2021
  • Funding period: August 1st, 2021 – July 30, 2022
  • Applications must be on NIH 398 (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html) forms and adhere to the page limits listed below. Biosketches and budgets must be included.
  • To be eligible, the applicant must be able to receive this funding through grant/contract from the University of Minnesota through an academic institution or medical center that is actively receiving other funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
  • Applications must include the following items on NIH 398 pages (with these strict page limits). Applications which are not in this format, do not adhere to these page limits, or are incomplete, or arrive after the June 15, 2021 deadline will not be considered.

Applicants should use the NIH PHS 398 forms, but with these modifications including strict adherence to the specified page limitations:

  1. Research Plan, (3 page limit, plus literature citations on additional page)
  2. Training plan written by applicant, i.e., goals, possible coursework/workshops, clinical activity, symposia,  structured interaction with Mentor (2 pages)
  3. Outline of a manuscript (1/2 page) to be written by (first author) on a topic related to lysosomal disease, and which explicitly acknowledges support as a Fellow of the Lysosomal Disease Network with funding provided by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (specific language of this acknowledgement will be provided to awardees).
  4. A letter of support from the Mentor which includes a discussion of the Mentor’s role in the research project, frequency of interactions, available resources, etc. (1 page)
  5. Description of research environment and resources relevant to this training program and research project (1 page)
  6. Biosketches on NIH PHS 398 forms
    1. PI (the applicant)
    2. Mentor
  7. Submit applications by midnight June 15, 2021 to Brenda Diethelm-Okita (dieth001@nullumn.edu).

Qualified individuals from under-represented groups and individuals with disabilities, who are in health-related sciences, are encouraged to apply.