1. Criteria for Investigators
2. Nature of Work to be Supported
3. Institution Requirements
4. Annual Meeting of Awardees
5. Indirect Costs
6. Award Budgets
7. Scientific Reporting and Review of Progress
8. Change in Direction of Work
9. Change of Institution
10. Funding of Awards
11. Acknowledgment and Open Access Publication
12. Partners In Research
13. Intellectual Property and Unique Research Resources

In supporting basic research, the Program seeks to break new ground. To this end, it is particularly interested in attracting investigators from outside the field to apply their expertise to the study of asthma. Prior research in asthma is not required. Investigators from within the field are eligible for awards, but they must demonstrate that their proposed work represents a departure from their current and past research. Because the Program seeks to develop new paths in asthma research, innovation and risk are strongly encouraged. The Program supports basic research at two levels:

Senior Investigator Awards. Senior Investigators will have well-established research programs and an international reputation for their research. They will usually hold a full-time academic appointment as Professor, Associate Professor, or the equivalent. Senior Investigators will receive US$250,000 per year for three years.

Early Excellence Awards. Qualified Investigators will have already established an independent research program. They will usually hold a full-time academic appointment as an Assistant Professor, early Associate Professor, or the equivalent, and will have national-level, independent funding. Early Excellence Awards are not intended as start-up funds for investigators at the outset of their careers. Rather, they are intended to support investigators who have demonstrated exceptional early accomplishment as independent investigators, permitting the expansion of their work into the field of asthma. Recipients of Early Excellence Awards will receive US$150,000 per year for three years.

The number of awards each year is not fixed, and the proportion of Senior Investigator and Early Excellence Awards may vary.

The proposed work should be directed towards uncovering basic mechanisms in the pathogenesis of asthma. The ultimate goal is to find new approaches to prevent, treat and cure asthma. We wish to support work from a broad range of investigative fields. Studies may involve laboratory or clinical investigation, including genetic and epidemiological studies, but the Program will not sponsor therapeutic trials. Studies involving human materials must be approved and governed by the sponsoring institution.

Investigators may apply from nonprofit research organizations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Sweden or the United Kingdom that will provide the necessary facilities and infrastructure for the research, will accept the conditions of the Award, will assure compliance with the prevailing national guidelines for animal and human studies and will provide proper oversight of the Award funds.

Sponsoring institutions must safeguard the rights and welfare of individuals who participate as subjects in research activities by reviewing proposed activities through an Institutional Review Board (IRB) as specified by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office for Human Research Protections, DHHS OHRP (http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/). Approval by the sponsoring institution's Committee on Human Research must be received in the Research Program office prior to Award activation (i.e., July 1). Furthermore, sponsoring institutions must adhere to prevailing national guidelines regarding financial conflict of interest, recombinant DNA, research misconduct, and vertebrate animals. The Awardee's institution must assure appropriate governance of animal studies as well as human studies.

An important objective of the Program is to promote scientific interaction between Awardees. To facilitate this, Awardees are required to attend the AAF Annual Meeting, which promotes scientific exchange among the Awardees as well as experts in the field. The meeting is held each May in San Francisco and runs for 2½ days. Awardees are strongly encouraged to bring a fellow or a collaborating investigator to the meeting.

No funds may be used for institutional indirect costs or for renting space.

Budgets are not required at the time of application. Successful applicants will be asked to submit a budget annually early in June. All expenses must be in direct support of scientific work. The following restrictions apply:

Investigator salaries. The sum of salaries for investigators (not including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or technicians) is limited to US$50,000/year plus fringe benefits. Individuals are generally considered to be investigators if they are appointed in a faculty series and/or are eligible to apply for unmentored grant support. Salaries should be proportionate to percent effort.

Travel. The budget must include the cost of yearly travel to the AAF Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Other travel costs are limited to US$4,000 yearly.

Awards outside of North America. For reasons relating to U.S. Tax Code, AAF funds awarded to institutions outside of North America may not be spent in the United States or for travel to the United States. For Awards made outside North America, the cost of travel to the AAF Annual Meeting will be paid by the AAF, separate from the Award, with a corresponding reduction in the Award.

Administrative support and computers. Up to 10% of the budget may be used in support of administrative costs that are under the direct signatory authority of the Principal Investigator, such as office supplies for the laboratory and salary for administrative personnel under the direct supervision of the Investigator. Administrative costs may include up to US$5,000 over the duration of the Award for office computers to be used in support of the project. The purchase of any additional computers (e.g., for use with laboratory equipment) must be fully justified.

Subcontracts to other non-profit institutions are allowed, but they must meet the above restrictions, including the lack of institutional indirect costs.

Carryover of funds. Up to 40% of the annual award allocation may be carried from one year to the next, including carryover of funds into a fourth year, without restrictions beyond those listed above. Carryover funds from each year must be spent during the subsequent year, and these funds may not be banked. Larger amounts may be carried over with approval from the Research Director. Carryover of more than 40% of yearly funds from the third year into a fourth year is subject to review by the Scientific Review Board. If more than 40% of the yearly funds are carried into a fourth year, the Principal Investigator may be required to attend the Annual Meeting in the fourth year, in addition to the first three years. When funds are carried into a fourth year, the US$50,000 limit on combined salaries for Investigators continues, and the combined salaries may not exceed 30% of the amount carried over.

Awards are for a period of three years, but yearly renewal will require satisfactory progress. This will be assessed by written report, due annually in March, and presentations to the Scientific Review Board at the Annual Meeting in May.

The Program wishes to encourage innovation and flexibility, but any substantive change in the direction of work should be reviewed in advance by the Research Director.

Awards may be transferred to another institution that can provide adequate support for the research and that will accept the Award under the policies of the Program. Permission to transfer an Award to another institution must be obtained from the Research Director. The Principal Investigator shall retain the option to transfer any major equipment (costing US$5,000 or more) purchased with AAF funds to the new institution.

Awards will be funded by the American Asthma Foundation, following the recommendations of the AAF Scientific Review Board. The Research Program office will assure compliance with Program policies and will be responsible for all administrative matters involved in the funding of Awards. The AAF, their administrative programs and their Board, Scientific Advisory Board and Scientific Review Board members do not assume responsibility for the conduct of the investigation or the acts of the Principal Investigator, since both are under the direction and control of the Principal Investigator’s institution and are subject to the institution’s medical and scientific policies.

Publications should acknowledge support from the American Asthma Foundation. To expand support for our mission, we also require that Principal Investigators credit the American Asthma Foundation in publicity resulting from their Awards.

AAF Investigators are encouraged to publish in the Public Library of Science (PLoS) or other open-access journals. The Program will pay publication expenses for articles in PLoS journals stemming from the Award, provided that this is done through direct billing to the Research Program office by PLoS. Otherwise, the publication costs should be paid from the Award.

Some AAF Awardees may be invited to participate in the Partners in Research Program of the American Asthma Foundation. The Program is designed to match high-level donors with preeminent scientists involved in asthma research, based on the relevance of the scientific work to the donors’ interests. Donors will have their names directly associated with individual Awardees whom they sponsor. Partnered scientists agree to prepare short updates yearly for their philanthropic partners and to meet with them at the AAF Annual Meeting, should the donor choose to attend. Participation in this program is optional but encouraged.

The American Asthma Foundation does not claim rights to patents on discoveries sponsored by AAF Awards, but all relevant disclosures, publications and publicity regarding the work should acknowledge support from the American Asthma Foundation. Prompt disclosure of discoveries to the public is required after measures have been taken to ensure protection of any patentable, copyrightable or trademarkable intellectual property, if appropriate.

Unique research resources developed with funds from the Award must be made available rapidly to the research community, after publication, for further research, development, and application, in order to advance the research enterprise and to accelerate the development of products and knowledge that are of benefit to the public. Unique research resources include synthetic compounds, model organisms, cell lines, viruses, cell products, and cloned DNA, as well as DNA sequences, mapping information, crystallographic coordinates, and spectroscopic data. Model organisms are not restricted to mammalian models, and they include genetically modified or mutant organisms and embryos, as well as relevant protocols and genetic and phenotypic data for mutant strains.

To facilitate the availability of unique research resources developed with funds from the Award, investigators may distribute the materials through their own laboratory or organization or may submit them to external repositories. Principal Investigators are expected to submit unique biological information, such as DNA sequences or crystallographic coordinates, to the appropriate data banks so that they can be made available to the broad scientific community. When distributing unique resources, investigators should include pertinent information on the nature, quality, or characterization of the materials.

AAF expects the Principal Investigator to use modest sums from the Award to distribute resources and/or to charge a reasonable amount to defray costs associated with sharing materials or transferring these materials to appropriate repositories. If the costs of distributing materials cannot be met, this should be addressed with the Research Program office. Principal Investigators are encouraged to confer with their technology transfer office and/or office of sponsored programs for guidance.

In their annual evaluation of progress, AAF Scientific Review Board will consider, as part of the criteria for continued funding, adequate progress in sharing unique research resources developed with funds from the Award, as well as a demonstrated willingness to make research resources developed during the project widely available to the research community.