Autism Rat Models Consortium 2.0 RFA: How to Apply

The deadline for application submission is Thursday, March 6, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. (noon) Eastern Time.

Applications must be submitted via the Simons Award Manager (SAM). Please click on the Funding Opportunities icon and navigate to the 2025 Autism Research – Autism Rat Models Consortium call. Click the Create Application button to begin. Applications should be started and submitted under the applicant’s own account in SAM.

Please note that anyone submitting an application will be added to the SFARI newsletter mailing list.

Informational Session for Potential Applicants

The SFARI science team held an informational Zoom meeting on January 23, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The video replay of the informational session can be found here.

Application Submission Instructions

To submit an application, the following sections must be completed in SAM:

1. Proposal Tab:
   1. Applicant Details & Personal Data: Enter required fields. The applicant may edit information via the Edit Profile button as needed. If the applicant is a new user in SAM, their profile must be finalized before submission.
   2. Academic Degrees: Click the Add/Modify Degree(s) button to provide this information.
   3. Application Details: Provide the project title, estimated start date, and end date. Hovering over the question mark icons will provide additional information on required fields. Available start dates can be as early as October 1, 2025. We encourage PIs to select a project start date that best accommodates the needs of the project. Projects must begin on the first of the month.
   4. Proposal – The following information/upload must be provided:
      1. Indicate the requested budget track: Explorer or Collaboration.
      2. SFARI Cohorts Data and/or Biospecimens: If there are SSC, Searchlight, SPARK or AIC samples or phenotypic data requested in the application, indicate accordingly.
      3. Specific Aims: Upload via template provided.
      4. Proposal Narrative: Upload via template provided, following the instructions on the template.
      5. Personnel Biosketches: Provide biosketches for all personnel on the project who contribute to the scientific development or execution of the project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. This may include the PI, Co-Investigators, collaborators, postdoctoral research associates or equivalent employee positions. Upload using the template provided or using your NIH biosketch or NIH SciENcv.
      6. Resources and Research Environment: Upload via the template provided.
      7. Human Participants Study Information Sheet (Optional): If applicable to your proposal, upload via the template provided. If not relevant to your application, please disregard.
      8. Indicate the extent to which generative AI technology was used to develop your proposal.
      9. Indicate whether any project personnel are employees of the Simons Foundation.
   5. Data & Renewable Reagents: Indicate your plan for sharing data and renewable reagents (if applicable) by answering the provided questions.

For multi-site applications (applications with multiple PIs at different institutions being paid separately):

1. The Spokesperson PI (main applicant PI):
   1. Will complete the above questions in the Proposal tab.
   2. Will generate a linked application for the multi-site PI by listing them as additional personnel. For more on how to generate a linked application, see “Instructions for Multiple PIs” in section 2.2.1 below.
2. The multi-site PI(s):
   1. Will complete the additional linked application, which will include applicant details specific to the additional institution (other support, biosketches) and a budget for the additional institution.
   2. Multi-site PIs do not need to complete:
      1. specific aims page,
      2. proposal narrative,
      3. abstract, or
      4. data and renewable reagents questions. This is because the Spokesperson PI’s application will submit these materials for the project as a whole.
2. Contacts and Personnel Tab:
   1. Institution Administrative Contacts: At least one institution Signing Official and one Financial Officer must be added to the Institution Administrative Contacts section before you will be able to submit your application.
   2. Project Personnel: Please indicate all personnel on the proposed project. Please do not include the Spokesperson PI (main PI) in this section, because they will already automatically display in the budget. Project personnel include any other individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive, measurable way, whether or not they request salaries or compensation. This may include co-investigators, collaborators, postdoctoral research associates or equivalent employee positions. Personnel can be added either with or without access to the application.
      1. Project personnel who will be named in the budget must be added to the Project Personnel section on this tab before they will display as available options in the budget module. This does not apply to TBD personnel.
      2. Instructions for Multiple PIs: The applicant PI will be the designated Spokesperson PI for the project. The Spokesperson PI will be responsible for directing the project and will coordinate all administrative deliverables.
         1. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions that would like to be paid separately must list the additional PI(s) in the Project Personnel section and use the Application Role dropdown that indicates “Principal Investigator (Multi-Site).” This will generate a linked application that the additional PI and their institution must complete. Additional PIs will be notified via email that they have been invited to participate in a collaboration and will be able to access their application upon logging into SAM. Their application will include a budget and requires sign-off by a signing official from the additional PI’s institution. Additional PIs can work on their applications at the same time as the contact PI.
         2. Applications with multiple PIs from different institutions that would like to be paid directly by the main institution are considered subcontracts. Subcontract PIs should be listed in the Project Personnel section either with or without access.
            1. Subcontract PIs with access should be added using the Application Role dropdown that indicates “Subcontract Lead – With Application Access,” which will generate an email notification that they have been added to the application with access to view or edit the main or any subcontract budgets.
            2. Subcontract Leads without access should be added using the Application Role dropdown that indicates “Project Personnel (Including Subcontracts) – Without Application Access,” which will not notify the Subcontract PI and will not give them access. Instead, this allows the contact PI to fill out the subcontract budget on their behalf.
         3. Applications from multiple PIs at the same institution do not need to submit additional materials. Additional non-applicant PIs can be added to this section as “Project Personnel – With Access” or “Project Personnel (Including Subcontracts) – Without Application Access.” Under “add more details,” select the role “ Additional Principal Investigator.”
3. Budget Tab: Click the Edit/Modify button to add a detailed budget. Any errors that must be corrected before submission will be displayed in red above the budget. If a budget has more than one period, using the “copy from previous period” functionality will copy items from the previous period into the current period.
   1. Subcontractor Budgets, including budgets with PIs from different institutions who would like to be paid directly by the main institution, will be visible once the Subcontract is added in the Contacts and Personnel tab as described above.
   2. Multi-site budgets from different institutions that would like to be paid separately will be visible on each PI’s individual application, but they will not be able to see any individual salary information. They will see an aggregated personnel total.
   3. Budget Considerations
      1. Personnel: Please note that 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 provide a leading intellectual and guiding role on the project. PIs committing less than 15 percent effort to their project should justify their effort level in detail. The Simons Foundation reserves the right to modify budgets when an application has been selected for an award (see grant policies).
      2. Indirect costs (IDCs): 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.
      3. Equipment: The Simons Foundation will own equipment purchased with foundation 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, the foundation 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.
      4. Biospecimens: If the proposal includes the use of SFARI Cohorts 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 SFARI.org. Biospecimen costs will be considered separately from other project costs. Enter the projected figure under “Other Expenses.” A description of use, including the number and type of biospecimens, should be included in the proposal narrative and budget justification. Biospecimen costs must be excluded from the IDC cost calculation: if they are calculated automatically, please manually exclude them from the IDC calculation.
      5. Budget Maximum: Please ensure that your budget does not exceed the annual and total maximums for the budget track you are requesting. Applicants on the Explorer track, which is meant to support individual labs or small collaborative groups, may request an annual budget of up to $200,000, inclusive of 20 percent indirect costs, over a period of two (2) years (and a two-year maximum of $400,000). Each lab within a Collaboration project may request a maximum of $300,000, inclusive of 20 percent indirect costs, for each year of funding over a period of three (3) to four (4) years. The budget for Collaboration projects, regardless of the number of labs included, may not exceed an annual maximum of $900,000 (and a four-year maximum of $3,600,000). As with all Simons Foundation funded projects, it is at the foundations discretion to modify final budgets as needed. Recognizing that different stages of a project may have different personnel and financial requirements, the primary PI may adjust PI membership during the funding period to reflect scientific needs, with SFARI approval.
4. Abstract and Keywords Tab: Investigator Abstract: Abstract of your SFARI-supported research (~300 words in length). This abstract is intended for a scientific audience and should contain sufficient details so as to be informative about your planned studies [i.e. the specific model(s)/ cohorts(s) that you plan to use should be included in the abstract (eg. FMR1 knockout mice)]. It should be written in the third person. Citations (maximum of 3) can be included. Abstracts may be edited for Simons Foundation style and will be posted on sfari.org and potentially other Simons Foundation websites and publications if the project is funded. Example abstracts are listed below:

   http://bit.ly/SFARI-abstract-sample1
   http://bit.ly/SFARI-abstract-sample2

   (For multi-site applications, this tab is visible in the Spokesperson PI’s application only.)

5. Publications & Other Support Tab:
   1. Publications: Publications can be added by clicking the ‘Assign publications for this proposal’ button. Note that publications will be used to determine conflicts of interest (COIs) for the review of your proposal; including a list of your publications over the last seven (7) years will expedite the review process.
   2. Other Support: Follow instructions for providing other support information for all key personnel on the project.
      1. If using a PDF upload, use the NSH, NIH or SciENcv format.
6. Organization Assurances: Indicate if the application has organizational assurances, including IRB and/or IACUC. If so, click the “Add/Modify Assurances” button to add the assurance type, status, approval date, expiration date, and protocol number. There is a “pending” option for assurances that are in process, and to-be-determined dates can be left blank.
7. Check Application Progress: Click the Check Application Progress button at the bottom of the screen to check for any missing required information or files. All missing required information will be listed at the top of the screen and must be corrected before the application can be submitted.
8. Send for sign-off (one institution, or multiple institutions listed as subcontracts): When the application is complete, click on the “Send for sign-off” button to send to your signing official for signature. The Signing Official added to the application will see the application in the “Applications to Review” section when they log in and will be responsible for signing and submitting the application to the Simons Foundation.
9. Send for sign-off (multi-site applications paid separately): Multi-site applications for institutions paid separately have an additional step for final submission. Once all linked applications have been signed by each institution’s signing official as described above, the Spokesperson PI will receive a notification that the application package is ready for submission. The Spokesperson PI should click on “Submit Application Package” to finalize and submit the application package including all components from multiple sites.

Confirmation of submission: A confirmation page will appear on the Signing Official’s SAM page once the application is successfully submitted. Please note that you will not be able to submit an application if the deadline has passed.