2025 – AEA Edward Arditte Community Seed Grant Program

 

Funded by the Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance, Inc. (AE Alliance)

IMPORTANT DATES

Call for Applications Announced: January 2025

Application Deadline:  April 2025

Award Notification: June 2025

 

The AE Alliance looks forward to announcing the call for applications for the 2025 AEA Edward Arditte Community Seed Grant Program.  This is our fifth annual AEA Community Seed Grant Program to support research focused on the diagnosis, management, and outcomes of individuals with autoimmune encephalitis (AE).

This year, multiple grants of $???? will be awarded. Based on donation stipulations, at least one grant will be awarded to a project focused on seronegative AE. While applications pertaining to clinical, basic, and/or translational research will be considered, proposed studies must have direct implications for patients with AE.

 

REQUIRED COMPONENTS

• Application (four pages maximum), including background, specific aims, impact/relevance, research plan, supporting preliminary data/figures, expected outcome for ONE year project and a budget overview (formal budget not required).  Explicitly discuss the implications that the study will have for patients with AE.
• References are not included in the four page limit.
• Submission Cover Page (Click to download – AEA Edward Arditte Community Seed Grant Cover Page_2024)
• Applicant’s NIH Biosketch
• Mentor’s NIH Biosketch (if the applicant is a student, trainee, post-doc, and/or junior faculty)

Submit all application documents (as PDFs) prior to the deadline by email to: research@aealliance.org.  (NOTE:  Documents not submitted as PDFs will be returned for re-submission.)

 

REVIEW PROCESS

Applications will be reviewed by the AE Alliance Special Grants Review Committee, which includes members of the Research Sub-Committee of the AE Alliance’s Medical Advisory Board. Applications will be scored based on their scientific rigor, impact, and alignment with the AE Alliance Mission (as noted above). Committee members with a potential conflict of interest with the applicant or project will recuse themselves from the review of that application. Following the review of all applications, the committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Directors of the AE Alliance, which will have the final approval for funding.

 

EXPECTATIONS OF AEA COMMUNITY SEED GRANT RECIPIENTS

Communication with Seed Grant Funders (The AEA Community):

• Introduction Post: Provide photo & brief written interview to introduce researcher(s) and project to the AEA Community (video if possible)
• Presentation of Project:  All grant recipients present at AEA Community event via Zoom

Project Duration: The project duration is no longer than 12 months (i.e. Project Start Date: August 01, 2025 – Project End Date: August 01, 2026)

Reporting: Recipients must submit a final report to AE Alliance no later than 30 days following the end of the award period

Manuscripts: All manuscripts (including meeting abstracts and research papers in review) that result from this research project are to be submitted to the AE Alliance once they are accepted for publication. Publications should acknowledge support with the phrase: This project was financially supported by the Autoimmune Encephalitis Alliance.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION
Meg Poe, Director of Patient Support, Programs and Administration

Email: research@aealliance.org

 

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Our 2024 AEA Community Seed Grant Winners

Validation of a new (patient-reported) outcome measure for encephalitis

Dr. Juliette Brenner – Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

 

Postacute Management of Anti-Seizure Medications in Autoimmune Encephalitis-Associated Epilepsy

Dr. Julien Hebert – University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

 

Capacity, Endurance, and Physical Activity in Children with MOG+ Encephalitis

Dr. J. Nicholas Brenton – The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

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Our 2023 AEA Community Seed Grant Winners

Investigating the role of complement activation and antibody subclasses in anti-LGI1 and anti-CASPR2 encephalitis: a pilot study

Dr. Alessandro Dinoto – University of Verona – Verona, Italy

 

Automated detection of autoimmune encephalitis using artificial intelligence

Dr. Helena Ariño Rodríguez – Vall d’Hebron Institut de Recerca (VHIR) – Barcelona, Spain

 

Seronegative autoimmune encephalitis: exploration of clinical and neuropathological characteristics

Dr. Robin van Steenhoven – Erasmus MC University Medical Center – Rotterdam, The Netherlands

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Our 2022 AEA Community Seed Grant Winners

Cognitive teleRehabilitation in patients with Encephalitis of AutoIMmune etiology: CoRE-AIM study

Dr. Matteo Gastaldi – C. Mondino National Institute of Neurology Foundation, IRCCS – Pavia, Italy

 

Predictors of Cognitive Outcomes in Children with Anti-NMDA Receptor Encephalitis

Dr. Leigh Sepeta & Dr. Elizabeth Wells – Children’s National Hospital – Washington DC, USA

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Our 2021 AEA Community Seed Grant Winners

Development of optimal clinical approaches in seronegative autoimmune encephalitis

Soon-Tae Lee, MD, PhD  – Seoul National University Hospital – South-Korea

 

Patient Reported Outcomes while Manipulating the Immune System in autoimmune Encephalitis

Juna de Vries, MD, PhD – Erasmus University – The Netherlands

 

Subclinical activity in anti-LGI1 encephalitis: diagnostic tests and prognostic implications

Amaia Muñoz Lopetegi, MD – Hospital Clinic of Barcelona – Spain