Analysis of Postmortem Brain Tissue from the Autism BrainNet Collection — Request for Applications: How to Apply

The deadline for application submission is January 10, 2022, 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time

ProposalCentral Log-in Information

Applications must be submitted via ProposalCentral (PC). To start an application in PC, users must first log in to their PC account.

If You Need to Create a New Account in PC

To create a new account, go to ProposalCentral and click ?” Fill in the required fields, check the boxes to agree to PC’s terms of service and acceptable use policy and submit.

If You Have an Existing Account in PC

For all users with a PC account, log in under “Applicant or Awardee” at ProposalCentral and select “Create New Proposal” or click on the “Grant Opportunities” tab. Scroll down to “Simons Foundation” and click “Apply Now” for the “Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative – Autism BrainNet Analysis” program to start the proposal and access the templates. After all sections are completed, you will be able to click on the “Submit” button to send.

To submit an application, you must complete the following ProposalCentral sections:

1. Title Page: Enter the proposal title in this section.
2. Download Templates and Instructions: All templates necessary to complete your proposal are available for download in this module (or the “Proposal Attachments” module, where attachments are submitted as PDF-only files; see the “Proposal Attachments” section below for more details).
3. Enable Other Users to Access This Proposal: This section allows you to give other users access to your grant application. You have the option of giving them one of three levels of permission: view, edit or administrator.
4. Applicant/PI: The principal investigator (PI) should be listed here. For grants with multiple PIs, the contact PI should be listed here.
5. Organization/Institution: Contact information for the signing official and the financial/fiscal officer from your institution is required; select the correct person or enter new names in this section.
6. Key Personnel: Indicate key personnel, including but not limited to PIs, co-investigators, consultants and postdoctoral research associates. In rare circumstances, the applicant organization may designate multiple PIs who share the authority and responsibility for leading the project intellectually and logistically. For more information on the responsibilities of PIs, please refer to the Simons Foundation policies.
7. Abstract: Enter your abstract as text in this section.
8. Budget Period Detail: Enter your budget period detail in this section.
   1. Award start date: Funding will begin on July 1, 2022
   2. Personnel: Please provide the name, role, appointment type, percent effort, institutional base salary, requested salary, fringe rate and requested fringe for all personnel.
      1. Other considerations: Please note there is no salary cap for PIs or other faculty on a Simons Foundation grant; however, the compensation is prorated according to the individual’s percent effort on the grant. There is no minimum percent effort required for PIs or other personnel on any SFARI award type, but it is expected that the PI will commit sufficient effort to this project to be a leading intellectual and guiding role. PIs committing less than 15 percent effort to their project should justify their effort level in detail. SFARI funds may be used only for personnel considered employees of the grantee institution who are eligible for benefits. Funds may not be used for stipend or benefit supplementation unless specifically authorized under the terms of the program from which funds are derived. The Simons Foundation reserves the right to modify budgets when an application has been selected for an award (see Simons Foundation policies).
         1. Please do not use the field marked “For Internal Use Only-Estimated Cost for Simons Collections Biospecimens” below the “Indirect Costs” section in the “Budget Period Detail.”
         2. Investigators interested in recruiting human participants, including those from a Simons Collection, must complete and submit a Human Participants Study Information Sheet.
   3. Indirect costs (IDC): Indirect costs to the primary institution are limited to 20 percent of direct costs with the following exceptions: equipment, tuition and any portion of each subcontract in excess of $25,000. The primary institution may take indirect costs on the first $25,000 modified total direct costs of each subcontract. Indirect costs paid to a subcontractor may not exceed 20 percent of the modified total direct costs paid to the subcontractor.
   4. Equipment: The Simons Foundation (SF) will own equipment purchased with SF grant funds with a unit cost of $50,000 or more. At the end of the grant funding period or in the case of grant termination for any reason, SF reserves the right to retain ownership or cede ownership to the PI’s institution. Equipment with a unit cost of less than $50,000 shall be the property of the institution.
   5. Biospecimens:If the proposal includes the use of Simons Collection biospecimens (i.e., from the Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) or Simons Searchlight), the Simons Foundation will review the estimated cost based on the price list on our website. Biospecimen costs will be considered separately from other project costs. Enter the projected figure in the field marked “Simons Collections Biospecimens (No IDC)” in the “Budget Period Detail” section, under “Other Expenses.” A description of use, including the number and type of biospecimens, should be included in the proposal narrative and budget justification (see the “Proposal Attachments” section below). Biospecimen costs must be excluded from the IDC cost calculation.
   6. Budget: The maximum annual total budget is $1,000,000, including indirect costs, for up to two years.
   7. Multiple PIs:
      1. Please note that the applicant PI will be the designated contact PI for the project. The contact PI will be responsible for directing the project and will coordinate all administrative deliverables.
      2. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must upload in the “Proposal Attachments” section:
         1. Signed signature page for each PI (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates & Instructions” sections).
         2. Budget template for each nonapplicant PI (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates & Instructions” sections).
         3. The direct and indirect costs for all nonapplicant PIs. Direct costs must be included in section 8 (Budget Period Detail) in the “Consortium & Contractual Direct” section, and indirect costs should be included in the “Indirect Costs” Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each nonapplicant PI.
      3. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution are considered subcontracts. Please refer to the subcontract instructions in section 8h below.
      4. Applications with multiple PIs from the same institution do not need to submit additional materials. Additional nonapplicant PIs should be listed as key personnel in section 6 (Key Personnel) and section 8 (Budget Period Detail), and only one signature page is needed.
   8. Subcontracts:
      1. Applications with subcontracts (including PIs who will be paid directly by the contact PI’s institution) must include:
         1. Subcontract detailed budget (available for download in the “Proposal Attachments” and “Download Templates & Instructions” sections) for each subcontract.
         2. Subcontract direct and indirect costs. Subcontract direct costs must be included in the “Consortium & Contractual Direct” section, and subcontract indirect costs should be included in the “Indirect Costs section.” Please add a separate line for direct costs and one for indirect costs for each subcontract.
9. Budget Summary: The budget summary will populate from the saved detailed budget.
10. Organization Assurances: Indicate use of human participants or vertebrate animals in this section and status of approval from the Institutional Review Board or Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Grants cannot activate without current human participant and/or animal research ethical approval.
11. Proposal Attachments: The following documents are to be uploaded in this section, where they are also available for download:
    1. Specific Aims Page: The Specific Aims Page should not exceed one (1) page and should be a summary of the proposed project focused on the research aims of the project, including a concise rationale for the hypothesis, description of preliminary data and experimental approach, and impact on autism.
    2. Proposal Narrative: The Proposal Narrative should not exceed five (5) pages of single-spaced, size 11 text, 0.5 margins. The Proposal Narrative should be considered an expanded version of the Specific Aims Page and used to provide more detail on the following:
       1. Relevant scientific background
       2. Preliminary results (when applicable) and demonstration of feasibility in postmortem human tissue
       3. Specific aims
       4. Experimental design
       5. Pitfalls and alternative strategies
       6. Project significance and relevance to autism
       7. Timeline and milestones

       Figures, figure legends and references should follow the narrative text and will NOT count toward the page limit. References should be in Journal of Neuroscience format, including full author list, title and a link to PubMed. Figures are limited to 10, each fitting on a single page. Please attach them at the end of the seven-page narrative in the same PDF file.

    3. Statement of Changes Template: Required only for investigators who are resubmitting an application previously submitted to SFARI.
    4. Biographical sketch of key personnel.
    5. Budget justification.
    6. Budget templates:
       1. Multiple PIs: Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed budget template for each PI institution.
       2. Subcontract: Applications with subcontracts must submit a budget template.
    7. Progress Report: Investigators currently receiving SFARI funding on science relevant for the current proposal should include a progress report in two (2) pages or less.
    8. Research environment and resources.
    9. Renewable reagents and data-sharing plan.
    10. Current and pending support: Please upload current and pending support both for PIs and for key personnel.
    11. 501(c)(3) determination or equivalency letter (foreign institutions only): Please upload, if available, a copy of your U.S. IRS 501(c)(3) determination or equivalency letter as part of the application. (See Simons Foundation policies.)
    12. Signed signature page: Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions that would like to be paid separately must submit a signed signature page from each PI institution.
12. PI data sheet: Your professional profile will populate this section of the application. If revisions are required, please select “Edit Professional Profile” and go to section 4 (Personal Data for Applications).
13. Validate: You must click the “Validate” button to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed on the screen. Please supply any missing information before proceeding to the next step.
14. Signature page(s): The signed signature page is available for download in this section and must be signed by the signing official, then re-uploaded in the “Proposal Attachments” Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid separately must submit a signed signature page for each PI institution.
15. Submit: You will be unable to submit if you have not provided all the required information. Any missing information will be listed on the screen. If your submission is successful, you will receive a confirmation message on the screen and a confirmation email.

Please note that narratives exceeding the five (5)-page limit will not be reviewed. Figures, figure legends and references (formatted in the Journal of Neuroscience style) are not included in the page limit.