A research network that once again proves itself solid and increasingly international: 51 projects have been presented at the 2024 FFC Ricerca calls
At midnight yesterday, Wednesday 31st January, the 2024 edition of the calls promoted by the Italian Cystic Fibrosis Research Foundation for Italian and foreign researchers came to an end. The aim of the calls is fostering and funding advanced scientific research on cystic fibrosis, the most widespread severe genetic disease in Europe,
A total of 51 research proposals were presented, 42 of which were for the 2024 FFC Ricerca traditional call and 9 for the Gianni Mastella call, dedicated to the late co-founder and scientific director of FFC Ricerca. As part of the GM call, 7 researchers under the age of 40 presented a project within the third edition of the GM Starting Grant, and 2 in the GM Research Fellowship, now at its second edition and dedicated to researchers under the age of 33.
Regarding the 2024 FFC Ricerca traditional call, most of the projects presented are multi-centre projects (32 out of 42) and involve a total of 86 researchers, which include 42 principal investigators and 44 partners from Italian and foreign institutions. When it comes to the geographic distribution of the applications: 39 are from Northern Italy, 26 from Central Italy, 13 from Southern Italy and 8 from foreign institutions, both European and North American. 60% of participant are women and the average age is about 50 years old.
Likewise, the Gianni Mastella call also saw female researchers presenting a proposal outnumbering their male peers (6 out of 9); moreover, 8 asked to conduct their research in Italy and one abroad.
Overall, the proposals coming from the two calls cover all the priority areas in the fields of cystic fibrosis: 12 concern research on the CFTR basic defects, 6 on personalised therapies, 19 on airway infections in CF, 10 on inflammation and 4 clinical studies.
The traditional call envisages funding for a duration ranging from one to three years and funding worth 70 thousand, 130 thousand and 200 thousand Euros respectively. In 2023 participants were allowed for the first time to present a three-year project with a maximum budget of 200,000 Euros, which was the most popular option in this edition. There are in fact 19 three-year proposals, 18 two-year proposals and 5 one-year proposals.
The GM Starting Grant and the GM Research Fellowship, on the other hand, are 3-year options, the former with a maximum budget available worth 180,000 Euros, the latter worth 100,000 Euros, with both covering the salary of the researcher in charge.
Now the first administrative assessment phase of the projects as well as an internal one conducted by the Foundation’s Scientific Committee will begin: it will select the projects that are most relevant to the calls’ priority criteria and, at the same time, guarantee the greatest feasibility and attainment of the envisaged objective. It will then be followed by the peer review phase, with foreign scientists assessing the various matters covered in the projects, who will be asked to offer a third-party opinion that will guide the subsequent development of the final assessment.
Finally, the FFC Ricerca Scientific Committee will convene in late June to decide on the allocation of the funding. In early September the projects will be presented to our supporters to be adopted.
