Objective:
The Parkinson's Disease Biomarker Innovation and Advancement Program accelerates the development of robust and reproducible measurement tools with defined contexts of use in Parkinson's disease. Through a continuous submission pathway, the program supports teams advancing biomarker technologies aligned with MJFF priorities.
Fast Facts
- Funding to map and measure Parkinson’s disease biology and translate priority fluid- and imaging-based biomarkers into validated, fit-for-purpose tools accessible to the broader PD research community.
- Open to biotechnology, biopharma, diagnostic, imaging and other eligible life science companies; CROs; and partnerships between academic labs + commercial assay platform provider partnerships with a clear path to commercialization and/or broader research community access.
- For academic or nonprofit-led applications, the commercial assay platform provider must have a substantive role and demonstrated infrastructure, ability and commitment to support reproducible use beyond the originating academic laboratory.
- Pre-proposals are accepted on a rolling basis to enable rapid initial exchange with MJFF on proposed work.
- Full proposal submission is by invitation only following pre-proposal review
- Multiple annual review cycles for applicants invited to submit a full proposal.
- Projects may request support for up to 24 months with funding amount contingent on program scope and development stage.
Program Exclusions
As the primary focus of the Biomarker Advancement and Innovation Program is to accelerate the development of fit-for-purpose biomarker tools for clinical implementation in Parkinson’s Disease, MJFF will not consider the following proposal types:
- Preclinical-only studies without relevant clinical data included in the proposal.
- Projects that lack a clear access plan or have intellectual property, third-party rights or restrictive licensing agreements that prevent the intended access.
- Projects that yield fit-for-purpose assays and measurement tools but lack a clear commercialization plan to make tools available to the broader PD research community.
- Medical Technology Projects (i.e. digital technologies, wearables, etc.)
Industry groups evaluating biomarkers within their own clinical trials are outside of the scope of this program and should apply through the MJFF Therapeutics Pipeline Program.
Deadlines and Review Schedules
The program uses a two-stage rolling process designed to provide a rapid initial assessment of alignment:
- Rolling pre-proposal: Applicants may submit a concise pre-proposal at any time through the MJFF Grant Portal. MJFF targets an initial review within three weeks of submission to assess priority, scope, organizational, sample, access and partnership alignment.
- Invited full proposal: Applicants selected for further consideration will be invited to submit a full proposal in the next available review cycle. MJFF staff may request a follow-up call or additional diligence regarding the science, operations, samples, milestones, budget, IP, access or validation strategy.
For questions about the application process or project suitability for this call for applications, please email grants@michaeljfox.org.
MJFF has an Open Science Policy which governs research outputs (such as preprints, journal articles, data, code and software) resulting from MJFF-funded work. This policy includes specific rules, timing and format for the return of those research outputs and requires them to be shared openly, to be free to access, and with persistent identifiers. Please contact openscience@michaeljfox.org for questions about the Open Science Policy.