Medical Research Program

Tauopathy Challenge Workshop

Workshop Date / Location: January 21-23, 2025 / Miami, FL
Letter of Intent Deadline: July 1 – August 15, 2024
Letter of Intent Notification Date: September 30, 2024
Workshop Participation Grant Amount: $10,000 / invited participant
Post-workshop Research Grant Amount: $500,000 direct costs over 2 years. No indirect costs allowed.
Post-workshop Grant Notification Date: July 15, 2025
Start of Post-workshop Grant Term: September/October 2025

Overview

The Rainwater Charitable Foundation (RCF) is pleased to announce the second Tauopathy Challenge Workshop that will focus on addressing key gaps in our understanding of copathologies that are often present with the primary tauopathies.

The presence of copathologies can complicate diagnosis and therapeutic development for the primary tauopathies. There is a need for the research field to understand how aggregate-forming proteins like tau propagate in the brain, and how those pathological species derive from, instigate the formation of, or interact with other pathologies.

Please note that LOIs studying the role of amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau interaction will not be considered.

Process

Workshop participants will be selected through a competitive Letter of Intent (LOI) process. Through the LOI process, up to 12 participants will be selected to attend the workshop and each attendee will receive a $10,000 grant to support their laboratory research. Travel and lodging expenses will also be covered.

Following the meeting, workshop attendees can apply for research grants providing up to $500,000 over two years; up to four awards will be funded, pending budget availability.

The LOI application window will be open from July 1 through August 15, 2024.

Letters of Intent

The LOI will be used to identify novel ideas from researchers with diverse insights to solve key gaps in our understanding of the mechanisms of copathology with a focus on primary tauopathies (i.e., Pick’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, argyrophilic grain disease, globular glial tauopathy, aging-related tau astrogliopathy, and frontotemporal dementias). Applications from researchers with expertise in other neurodegenerative diseases are strongly encouraged to apply.

Suggested high priority LOI topic themes include:

Novel mechanisms of how pathogenic forms of tau develop in the presence of a copathology;
Interactions between pathogenic tau and other proteinopathies;
How neuroinflammation affects neurodegenerative copathologies;
The role of cardiovascular health with the development of copathologies;
Do environmental effects promote copathology development; and
The interaction of copathology mechanisms that may drive or accelerate pathogenic tau.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for consideration, applicants must:

Hold a faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor or above, or be an industry leader.
Have an independent laboratory space and be able to hold independent funding as confirmed by their institution.
Work at an academic, medical, research institution or company anywhere in the world.

Special consideration will be given to junior scientists (Assistant professor-level).

Sign Up for Additional Details

To be notified when this funding opportunity opens, please sign up for our mailing list using this link (or email medgrants@rainwatercf.org to be added to our mailing list).

To learn more about our 2023 Tauopathy Challenge Workshop held in Chicago, we invite you to read our blog post.

Insights from the Inaugural RCF Tauopathy Challenge Workshop