DoW Vision, Translational Research Award

The Vision Research Program Translational Research Award is a federal funding opportunity administered through the Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity under the U.S. Department of War as part of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Vision Research Program. The funding opportunity supports translational vision research intended to move promising discoveries toward new drugs, medical devices, or clinical practice guidelines that are ready for definitive testing in clinical trials during or by the end of the award period. The program was established to improve prevention, diagnosis, mitigation, and treatment of visual system trauma associated with military exposure, including ocular injury and visual dysfunction caused by traumatic brain injury. Congress initiated the Vision Research Program in 2009, and appropriations from fiscal years 2009 through 2024 totaled approximately $204.95 million. The fiscal year 2026 appropriation for the Vision Research Program is $10 million. The Translational Research Award supports preclinical studies, clinical research, and pilot clinical trials, but does not support full-scale clinical trials. Applications must address at least one program focus area, including understanding and treating eye injury or visual dysfunction related to military exposure, diagnosing and stabilizing eye injuries in austere or prolonged care environments, or restoring visual function after military exposure-related vision loss or severe visual impairment. The funding opportunity specifically encourages multidisciplinary collaborations among academic institutions, industry, the Department of War, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal agencies. Applications developing new drugs or medical devices are required to include personnel with expertise in regulatory approval processes. If applicable, projects should support submission of an Investigational New Drug or Investigational Device Exemption application to the Food and Drug Administration or an equivalent international regulatory agency during or by the end of the performance period. The funding opportunity provides an estimated total program allocation of approximately $1.6 million to fund one award. The maximum total cost per application is $1.6 million over a maximum three-year period of performance. The opportunity includes an optional Partnering Principal Investigator structure that allows two principal investigators to submit coordinated applications. Under this arrangement, one investigator serves as the Initiating Principal Investigator and the second serves as the Partnering Principal Investigator. Separate awards are issued to each investigator’s organization, but the combined budget across both awards must remain within the $1.6 million cap. The program permits budgeting for travel to Department of War-sponsored meetings, scientific conferences, subject compensation, and collaborative travel. Cost sharing or matching funds are not required for eligibility or award consideration. Eligible applicants include extramural and intramural Department of War organizations, domestic and foreign organizations, nonprofit and for-profit organizations, public and private entities, and independent investigators affiliated with eligible organizations regardless of citizenship or nationality. Awards are made to organizations rather than directly to individuals. The application process requires active registrations in SAM.gov, eBRAP, and Grants.gov before submission. All applicants must first submit a required pre-application through the Electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal. The pre-application includes a one-page preproposal narrative, references cited, abbreviations list, and key personnel biographical sketches. Applications selected during pre-application screening will receive invitations to submit full applications. The full application process requires extensive submission materials including a project narrative, supporting documentation, technical abstract, lay abstract, statement of work, impact statement, military relevance statement, post-award transition plan, and additional materials depending on whether the project involves animal studies or pilot clinical trials. Pilot clinical trial applications must also include human subjects acquisition and safety procedures and a detailed regulatory strategy. Reviewers evaluate applications using criteria including research rationale, innovation, feasibility, statistical rigor, regulatory strategy, impact on vision injury research and patient care, qualifications of personnel, and the quality of the post-award transition plan. Programmatic review also evaluates military relevance, alignment with Vision Research Program priorities, and contribution to the overall research portfolio. The fiscal year 2026 funding cycle requires submission of pre-applications by July 28, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Full applications are due November 12, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, and the verification period ends November 17, 2026. Peer review is expected in January 2027, followed by programmatic review in March 2027. Awards are anticipated to be made no later than September 30, 2027. The program announcement identifies the opportunity as an annual federal funding mechanism within the Vision Research Program, indicating an expected recurring cycle. Technical assistance is available through the eBRAP Help Desk at help@eBRAP.org or 301-682-5507 and through the Grants.gov Support Center at support@grants.gov or 800-518-4726. The funding opportunity emphasizes rigorous scientific design, reproducibility, regulatory preparedness, and military health impact throughout the application and review process.

Clearly demonstrate how the project translates a promising discovery toward clinical testing readiness; align the proposal with at least one VRP focus area; include strong preliminary data and regulatory expertise when developing drugs or devices; emphasize reproducibility, rigorous study design, and military health relevance; provide a realistic transition and commercialization strategy for post-award development.