The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation and Spinal Research have partnered to fund biomarker research for traumatic spinal cord injury in support of the mission of both organizations.
A downloadable PDF of the Biomarker Request for Applications Overview & Guide is available here as a PDF. Visit the portal to access and review the guide in full.
Request for Application (RFA) Overview
Biomarkers are increasingly important tools for advancing both preclinical and clinical spinal cord injury (SCI) research. By providing objective measures of injury biology, disease processes, recovery, and response to intervention, biomarkers can complement traditional behavioral, neurological, and functional outcomes. In preclinical research, they can strengthen injury characterization, mechanistic studies, and assessment of target engagement and therapeutic response. In clinical research, biomarkers can improve characterization of injury heterogeneity, prognosis and patient stratification, and assessment of biological and therapeutic responses. Development and validation of robust biomarkers therefore have the potential to increase the rigor, precision, and informativeness of SCI research and accelerate the development of effective therapies. Currently, there are no FDA qualified biomarkers for SCI.
Our goal is to promote the discovery, development, quantification, validation and qualification of translational biomarkers at both preclinical and clinical stages of development.
Deadlines
Please note: Applicants are encouraged to apply early in the event of administrative issues with the submission process. Program staff will be unable to respond to queries in the two days prior to an application deadline; all queries must be sent prior to that time. Please do not request updates from program staff prior to timelines delineated above.
Informational Webinar
An informational webinar will be held on October 21, 2026 at 11:00 ET to clarify and explain the goals of this RFA and answer applicant questions. The webinar will be available to view on-demand after the live air date. Please register here.
A biomarker is defined as a characteristic that is measured as an indicator of a normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or biological responses to an exposure or intervention, including therapeutic interventions. There are no FDA qualified biomarkers in SCI, nor any widely accepted/utilized biomarkers.
This RFA will be a two-stage process with an initial LOI submissions and review, followed for an invitation only full grant application process.
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