Project Funding

Catalyst grants for matched projects

Eligibility

Principal investigators must be members of the AFGN Researcher Registry and affiliated with an Australian public or private institution that is able to formulate a funding agreement with the AFGN.

Project proposal submissions

If you are identified as a suitable candidate, you will be emailed an expression of interest survey containing confidential information about the gene and clinical case.

Interested research teams will be asked to complete a 2-page project proposal that outlines the potential studies to be undertaken and associated milestones, budget, and timeline.

Project proposal form

Proposals must be submitted to the AFGN via email to functional.genomics@mcri.edu.au within two weeks of receiving the invitation.

Selection process

Project proposals will be evaluated at the monthly SRC meeting against the following criteria:

  1. Quality of the experimental strategy
  2. Adequacy of experimental controls
  3. Ability to assess functional consequence of the variant
  4. Appropriateness of the proposed cost/timeline
  5. Capability of the investigator/s to deliver the project

Project scope

STREAM 1

Assessing the impact of variants in known or novel disease genes

Project proposals to assess variants from Stream 1 should focus on determining pathogenicity of the variant(s) and causality of the disease phenotype.

Stream 1 projects are eligible for catalyst funding in quanta of $15,000 up to $60,000.

STREAM 2

Investigation of multiple VUS in a single known disease gene

Projects in this Stream should be designed to establish systems to functionally assess multiple variants in a single gene in parallel.

Stream 2 projects will be eligible for funding relative to the number of variants that require modelling.