Learn about research opportunities at PD&MDC

Applications Due: June 15, 2025; anticipated date of award, pending availability of funds: Aug 1, 2025. 

Submit, by email, a PDF of the full proposal to: Kathy Jedrziewski, jedrzmk@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. Please note that your application is for the Jim and Jeannie Morris Interdisciplinary Project Program. 

More information about this exciting opportunity is below:

University of Pennsylvania Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center 

Jim and Jeannie Morris Interdisciplinary Parkinson’s Disease Research Announcement 

The University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center (PDMDC) will fund up to two awards in the 2025-2026 academic year, to support basic, translational or clinical research on Parkinson’s Disease and related disorders. Successful applications will advance therapeutics and foster interdisciplinary collaboration between scientists at Penn. Studies should address Parkinson’s disease and/or related disorders with synuclein pathology including Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Pure Autonomic Failure, Multiple System Atrophy, and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, as well as clinically related disorders such as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy and Corticobasal Degeneration. Advancing therapeutics refers to a broad range of research including basic studies that elucidate disease mechanisms or seek to identify therapeutic targets, development or validation of tools for therapeutic evaluation, and small or early-stage clinical trials including trials that re-purpose approved drugs. Studies of phenomenology or physiology without a therapeutic connection will not be considered. Interdisciplinary and collaborative research refers to participation by members of different departments within the School of Medicine or between School of Medicine and other Schools within the University. If you are not sure whether your proposed research is within scope, please check with us before applying. 

Each project will be funded for a total of up to $75,000 for direct costs. Funding is available through the Jim and Jeannie Morris Fund. Projects should be completed within one year. The following are excluded from project funding and cannot be included in the budget: tuition costs, costs associated with dissertation research, equipment and instruments. 

The mechanism is open to faculty at all levels, but priority will be given to projects that include mentored junior investigators, generally Assistant Professor faculty, but consideration will also be given to Instructors and postdoctoral fellows. Evidence of mentoring by mid-career or senior investigators is a requirement of a successful application. The Principal Investigator (PI) for these projects should reside in the Penn School of Medicine, but collaboration with any of Penn’s 12 schools is encouraged. Applicants must ensure that the PI for the project commits a percent effort to the project, as reflected in the budget. 

These grants are intended to assist investigators in obtaining preliminary data to serve as the basis of a grant application to the NIH or another public or private agency. Funding decisions are based on scientific merit and the likelihood the project will lead to additional independent funding to continue the research beyond the end date of the project. Investigators are eligible only once for a project. 

Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of the vast resources available through the Penn and PD resources outside of Penn. Penn resources include the clinical practice of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center, the MIND initiative (https://www.med.upenn.edu/mind/), Penn Biobank and Brain Bank. Data from these resources is stored at the Penn Integrated Neurodegenerative Disease Database (INDD) which can be found on the Penn ADRC website: https://www.med.upenn.edu/adcc/. External resources include the Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (https://www.ppmi-info.org/), The NIH Parkinson Disease Biomarker Program (https://pdbp.ninds.nih.gov/) and the Global Parkinson Genetics Program (https://gp2.org/). 

Application Process: 

Applications should be formatted in the style of a NIH PHS 398 application. However, a title page should be substituted for the NIH face page. The one-page title page should include: 1) grant title, 2) name and affiliation(s) of PI, 3) contact information for PI including email address, telephone number and address and 4) an abstract of the proposed project using language that an educated lay audience can understand. 

Page 2 

Specific Aims and Research Strategy (items #5 and #6 below) combined must not exceed 3 pages. 

Organization of the application: 

1) Title Page (see instructions above) 

2) Budget 

3) Biosketch – applicants are encouraged to provide language that explains how either the investigator or the project will advance diversity in the paragraph that describes qualifications if applicable 

4) Other Support 

5) Specific Aims 

6) Research Strategy (Significance, Innovation, Approach) 

7) Literature Cited 

If applicable, include the following: 

8) Human Subjects Information (if applicable and protocol may be pending) 

9) Vertebrate Animals Sections (if applicable and protocol may be pending) 

10) Letters of Support (if applicable) 

11) Consultants (if applicable) 

12) Consortium Contractual Arrangements (if applicable) 

Project awardees must provide a brief progress report (one page) 6-7 months after the start date to provide updates and any unexpected barriers. A brief final report, as well as annual updates regarding publications and funded grants stemming from the project award, is required after the project end date. In addition, awardees will be asked to present their work, after completion, in the form of a short talk at an annual retreat to be held on Penn’s campus each fall. 

For more information, contact Kathy Jedrziewski, ADRC Director for Administration, at (215) 898-2445 or e-mail: jedrzmk@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.