DoW Spinal Cord Injury, Translational Research Award

The Defense Health Agency Spinal Cord Injury Research Program Translational Research Award is a federal funding opportunity administered through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs under the Defense Health Agency Research and Development office. The program is intended to accelerate translational spinal cord injury research that can move promising scientific discoveries toward practical clinical application for individuals living with spinal cord injury, including military Service Members, Veterans, family members, and care partners. The opportunity supports translational studies across the continuum from preclinical intervention development to clinical studies involving human subjects, tissues, or data. The award mechanism is designed to bridge the gap between discovery science and implementation into standards of care. The funding opportunity emphasizes clinically meaningful outcomes, translational feasibility, and direct alignment with one or more FY26 SCIRP priority areas, including Acute Injury Intervention, Secondary Health Effects, Psychosocial Well-Being, and Rehabilitation and Regeneration. Applicants must clearly explain the current state of the field, the expected advances resulting from the project, and the next translational step after project completion. The SCIRP Translational Research Award includes a standard Single Principal Investigator option and an Early-Career Partnership Option that permits two principal investigators collaborating on a shared project. Under the partnership option, at least one PI must qualify as an early-career investigator with at least three years but no more than seven years of research experience beyond a terminal degree within a first faculty appointment or equivalent independent position. Applications must include at least one spinal cord injury community partner, such as an SCI lived-experience consultant or representative of a community-based organization, who will provide ongoing consultation during project planning and implementation. Community-informed research and equitable collaboration with individuals affected by spinal cord injury are mandatory program elements. The opportunity strongly encourages multidisciplinary partnerships involving academia, industry, the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal entities. Collaborative research models such as community advisory boards, participatory action research, and integrated knowledge translation are encouraged to ensure practical applicability and improved patient-centered outcomes. The program anticipates allocating approximately $8.32 million in FY26 funding to support roughly four awards. Applications submitted under the Single PI option may request up to $2 million in total costs over a maximum performance period of three years. Applications submitted under the Early-Career Partnership Option may request up to $2.16 million in combined total costs across both PI awards. Funding may support research personnel, collaborative engagement costs, participant compensation and reimbursement, data sharing activities, multi-institutional collaboration travel, and limited scientific meeting travel for dissemination of project findings. Cost sharing is not required. Applications proposing pilot clinical trials are permitted only when the clinical testing represents a limited component of the broader translational research effort intended to establish feasibility or refine future clinical trial design. Projects consisting entirely of clinical trials or purely foundational research are discouraged under this mechanism. Animal studies are permitted when justified with clear relevance to human spinal cord injury, but painful research involving domestic cats or dogs is prohibited except for studies related to military or service animals. The application process uses a mandatory two-step submission system. Investigators must first submit a pre-application through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal. Only invited applicants may later submit a full application through Grants.gov or eBRAP depending on organization type. The pre-application package includes a two-page preproposal narrative addressing rationale, specific aims, translational potential, impact, and military relevance, along with references and abbreviations. Full applications require extensive documentation, including a project narrative, supporting documentation, technical and lay abstracts, statement of work, impact statement, community collaboration plan, translation statement, long-term implementation strategy, and additional plans for animal studies, pilot clinical trials, or partnership submissions where applicable. Applicants must also provide inclusion enrollment plans, data and resource sharing strategies, regulatory documentation where needed, and letters of support confirming institutional commitment and community participation. The program announcement specifies strict formatting and submission rules, and failure to provide required attachments may result in administrative rejection or withdrawal. Applications will undergo a two-tier review process consisting of peer review and programmatic review. Pre-applications are screened for alignment with the funding mechanism, scientific rationale, translational potential, impact, and military relevance. Full applications are evaluated according to translational potential, study design and feasibility, scientific impact, patient impact, long-term implementation strategy, personnel qualifications, and where applicable, pilot clinical trial strategy. Additional unscored criteria include regulatory readiness, research sharing plans, institutional environment, and budget appropriateness. Applications are expected to demonstrate rigorous and reproducible research design, consideration of sex as a biological variable, appropriate use of SCI common data elements, and meaningful integration of community stakeholder input. Successful applications are not selected solely on scientific scores but also on programmatic relevance and portfolio balance relative to SCIRP priorities. The funding opportunity was released as an initial FY26 announcement under funding opportunity number HT942526SCIRPTRA and Assistance Listing Number 12.420. The pre-application deadline is August 3, 2026, with invitations for full applications expected by September 18, 2026. Full applications are due November 12, 2026, followed by a verification period ending November 16, 2026. Peer review is anticipated in January 2027 and programmatic review in March 2027, with awards expected no later than September 30, 2027. Applicants are advised to establish and maintain active registrations in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and eBRAP before beginning submissions because activation may require several weeks. Questions regarding submission requirements or technical assistance may be directed to the eBRAP Help Desk at help@eBRAP.org or 301-682-5507, while Grants.gov support is available at support@grants.gov or 800-518-4726. The opportunity is expected to recur annually as part of the ongoing SCIRP funding portfolio.

Clearly demonstrate translational potential by defining where the field currently stands, what the project will achieve, and the next step toward clinical implementation. Integrate meaningful SCI community collaboration throughout planning and execution because this is a required review focus. Align the proposal directly with at least one FY26 SCIRP priority area and associated near-term goal. Emphasize rigorous study design, feasibility, military relevance, and realistic pathways toward adoption into standard of care.