Research

Research Grant Program

NORD’s Research Grant Program provides seed money in small grants to academic scientists studying new treatments or diagnostics for rare diseases. The clinical researchers supported by NORD’s research grants provide preliminary data indicating that a treatment (drug, device, or medical food) may be safe and effective when used for a larger number of patients. Researchers can then use the preliminary data to apply for larger multi-year government grants or to attract a commercial sponsor who will manufacture an orphan product and get it approved for marketing by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

Rare disease research funding opportunities being made available through NORD.

Rare disease research funding opportunities being made available through NORD Member-Organizations.

Read NORD's Research Program Policy to learn how NORD helps individuals, families, groups, or organizations sponsor research.

NORD Awards 14 Research Grants

NORD has awarded 14 grants during 2005. The researchers, their institutions, and the titles of their projects are as follows:

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma
Maher Nabil Younes, MD; University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, "Molecular Targeted Therapy for Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma"

Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia
Partha Sen, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, "Recruitment of New Families and Histochemical Studies on the Lung Specimens of Patients with Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia"

Cat Eye Syndrome
John M. Graham, MD, ScD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, "Clinical-Molecular Correlations and Natural History of Cat Eye Syndrome"

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome
Margret L. Casal, Med.Vet., PhD; University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School, "A Canine Model of Autosomal Dominant Ehlers-Danlos"

Anton V. Persikov, PhD, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, "Establishing Molecular Basis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome by Bioinformatics and Biophysics Approaches"

Erythromelalgia
Joost PH Drenth, MD, PhD, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, The Netherlands, "Identification of a Second Erythromelalgia Susceptibility Gene"

Giant Hypertrophic Gastritis
John Kao, MD, University of Michigan Medical School, "Somatostatin in the Pathogenesis of Giant Hypertrophic Gastropathy"

Andrea Todisco, MD, University of Michigan, "Mechanisms of Growth Factor Actions in the Stomach"

Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation
Susan J. Hayflick, MD, Oregon Health & Science University, "Dynamics of Brain Iron Distribution in PKAN"

Olivopontocerebellar Atrophy and Related Diseases
Didier Devys, Institut de Genetique et de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, College of France, "Mechanisms of Transcriptional Alterations Induced by Mutant Ataxia-7"

Christopher M. Gomez, MD, PhD, University of Minnesota, "Molecular Pathogenesis of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 6"

Bruce A. Hamilton, University of California at San Diego, "Does RORa Mediate Purkinje Cell Damage in Spinocerebellar Ataxia?"

Parvoneh Poorkaj Navas, PhD, University of Washington, "BAC Transgenic Mouse Models of Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 14"

Tyrosinemia Type I
Glenn S. Gerhard, MD, Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Health Systems, "Zebrafish Model of Tyrosinemia Type I"

NORD Research Grants are made possible by donations to NORD for research on specific diseases. Typically, these grants are in the range of $30,000 and provide funding for one year.

Each year, requests for proposals are published in medical journals and posted on NORD's Web site in the late winter. Any researcher who would like to be added to the mailing list for notification of funding opportunities may contact NORD at orphan@rarediseases.org or call (203) 744-0100.