In 1997, Domenico Pratico, a third year University of Pennsylvania postdoc, was seeking funding for his molecular research on brain aging and neurodegeneration. For nearly three years, his lab had worked on developing a specific, sensitive new assay to measure oxidative stress in a patient's brain. The results were promising, but he knew he didn't have enough data for an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
There are many alternative funding sources, says Gila Budescu, Director of Sponsored Research and Program Development at Rockefeller University. But, it's "difficult to convince people to apply to them," she says. Researchers "look mostly at NIH because they are already familiar with those procedures and feel they understand them to some extent." However, funders "need applicants as much as applicants need sponsors," she says.
Pratico, who searched for grants on his own, eventually found the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR). ...
