Director, USAMRAA, 820 Chandler St, Fort Detrick, MD 21702-5014

A -- DOD NEUROFIBROMATOSIS RESEARCH SOL CBD-NFR-0699 DUE 091599 POC Craig D. Lebo, Contracting Officer The Fiscal Year (FY) 1999 Defense Appropriations Act provides funds to continue the Department of Defense Neurofibromatosis Research Program (NFRP) administered by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP). Approximately $9.3 million will be available to fund neurofibromatosis research. The central theme of the NFRP is the support of peer-reviewed innovative research working toward the understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of neurofibromatosis as well as enhancing the quality of life for persons with the disease. The USAMRMC is challenging the scientific community to design innovative research that will foster new directions for, address neglected issues in, and bring new investigators into the field of neurofibromatosis research. As in previous years, the central goal of the NFRP is to support research with a strong potential to improve treatment of neurofibromatosis. The programmatic strategy for the FY 99 NFRP is to fund proposals in four Research Award categories. These consist of Idea Awards, New Investigator Awards, Investigator-Initiated Awards, and Clinical Trial Awards. The intent of both New Investigator and Idea Awards is to stimulate and reward creative research efforts that may be viewed as speculative but have the potential for high payoff. The CDMRP is particularly interested in preparing new scientists for careers in neurofibromatosis research and presenting an opportunity to move established investigators into the neurofibromatosis field. The intent of the Investigator-Initiated Research Awards is to sponsor basic research relevant to neurofibromatosis. Finally, the USAMRMC is currently soliciting the submission of Clinical Trial Award proposals of phase I or phase II clinical trials for NF1 or NF2. Significant execution milestones for this year's program are: Release of the NFRP Announcement -- early June, 1999; Proposal receipt -- September 15, 1999; Notification of awards -- beginningin January 2000; Award negotiations completed by September 30, 2000. The NFRP Announcement can be downloaded from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs' website, http://cdmrp.army.mil on its release date. The announcement can also be requested by fax, at (301) 682-5521, or by phone, at (301) 682-5517, ext. 101. Posted 06/01/99 (W-SN337485). (0152)

Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0007 19990603\A-0007.SOL)