ADDF-Harrington Scholar Program

Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

• Academic investigators at accredited medical centers, research institutions, and universities in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom only are eligible to apply.
• Lead investigator must have an MD, a PhD, or equivalent.
• Proposals should show potential to advance discovery into meaningful therapeutics to treat, prevent, slow, or reverse Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy Body dementia, LATE etc).
• Team should possess intellectual property (IP) or have potential for novel IP that has not yet been licensed to a for-profit entity.
• Researchers working on drug development programs that are relevant to but not presently focused on the Alzheimer’s field are strongly encouraged to apply.

Summary

The ADDF-Harrington Scholar Program is dedicated to advancing academic discoveries into medicines for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This award provides funding and project support by a team of pharmaceutical industry experts through a collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) and the Brain Health Medicines Centers of the Harrington Discovery Institute. This is a special funding opportunity separate from ADDF’s Therapeutic Funding Programs.

NOTE Funding is provided through mission-related investments that require return on investment based upon scientific and/or business milestones (see Our Research Strategy for more information).

Average Award

The award typically entails up to $600,000 over 2 years with dedicated support for milestone-driven projects from a team of industry veterans with capabilities that include medicinal chemistry, pharmacology & toxicology, and business development. The expertise of each team is tailored to the specific needs of the project during the two-year award period.

Overhead

Indirect costs are not supported for this grant. 

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

DEADLINES

Letter of Intent: June 2, 2025, 5:00 PM EDT
Full Proposal: August 18, 2025, 5:00 PM EDT

Award decisions are anticipated by March 2026.

Funding Priorities

Drug Targets
The 2026 ADDF-Harrington Scholar RFP places high priority on targets related to emerging therapeutic areas for dementia, particularly:

• Proteostasis (including autophagy, lysosomal biogenesis, proteasomal degradation, post-translational modification associated with proteostasis, protein folding/misfolding, ER stress, extracellular clearance)
• Senescence (including cells that have halted division, shifted towards a secretory phenotype, altered morphology and epigenetics, and decreased apoptosis)

Other novel targets are encouraged. These include, but are not limited to:

• Epigenetics
• Vascular pathology
• Neuroprotection
• Synaptic activity and neurotransmitters
• Inflammation
• Mitochondrial health
• Antioxidant defense
• Metabolic function and brain energy
• Brain insulin resistance
• ApoE
• Glymphatic clearance
• Postnatal neurogenesis
• Other aging targets

Therapeutic targets with a clear marker of target engagement, either established or in development will be considered of high priority.

The ADDF-Harrington Scholar Program does not support anti-amyloid approaches (e.g. Abeta vaccines, beta- or gamma-secretase inhibitors) or cholinesterase inhibitors. Approaches targeting tau will be considered if it is clearly demonstrated how they are distinct from those already in clinical development.

Stage of Discovery
The ADDF-Harrington Scholar Program supports research ranging from the hit-to-lead optimization stage through investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies. A lead structural series must already be identified at the time of application.

Applicants are asked to provide hit validation data, including dose-response curves, analog structure-activity relationship (SAR) results, and comparison data against known molecules with a similar mechanism or mode of action.

When animal model data are reported, detailed study design including rationale for choice of animal model, power analysis to determine number of animals, balanced investigation of sexes or rationale for studying only one sex, and PK data supporting choice of dosing regimen should be described.

The ADDF-Harrington Scholar Program does not support target discovery, assay development, or high throughput screening campaigns.

Additional Resources

Using RMS:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application

Support for projects involving Indigenous Research:

Support with the development of your grant application is available internally through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST). Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Support for Knowledge Engagement:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation is available internally through the Knowledge to Impact Team. Applicants can reach out by email to the KTI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information, please visit the KTI team webpage.

Support for Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@libanswers.ucalgary.com and/or visit https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/researchdatamanagement.

Support for EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice. Contact Erin.OToole@ucalgary.ca for more information.