Eligibility: Successful applicants hold an MD, PhD, or equivalent degree, are a clinical or post-doctoral fellow at an academic institution, may be US or foreign based, and do not hold a higher level faculty appointment.

2024 Basic and Translational Priority Areas include:

  • Understanding the mechanisms of epileptogenesis in Dravet syndrome
  • Development of enhanced models to study Dravet syndrome
  • Understanding of the cellular, molecular, and genetic mechanisms that contribute to the pathogenesis of Dravet syndrome
  • Revealing causes and interventions for seizures and comorbidities in Dravet syndrome
  • Understanding causes and developing interventions for SUDEP
  • Development of novel treatments and interventions that will prevent the onset or halt the progression of Dravet syndrome; this includes research that may overcome the current size and delivery hurdles for gene-therapy approaches

2024 Clinical Priority Areas include:

  • Research that helps better characterize the natural history of Dravet syndrome across the patient lifetime, including identifying patient trends, characteristics, epidemiology, or other clinical aspects of Dravet syndrome and/or its comorbidities
  • Research that develops or refines outcome measurements that can fully reflect meaningful improvements in patient symptoms and quality of life
  • Research that helps to understand, predict, and prevent SUDEP
  • Research that will encourage the development of novel therapies to prevent onset or halt the progression of the Dravet syndrome

Applications are due by Friday, August 23, 2024. 

Please email Veronica with any questions.

Application Instructions

Applications which do not include the following materials and meet the specified page limitations will be returned unprocessed, or will be deferred until a subsequent application cycle.

  • Please use size 11 font or larger with margins of at least 0.5 inches.
  • Please submit all documents as PDFs labeled with the section titles below.
  • Applications must be received by 11:59pm (US Pacific Time) on the specified due date.
  1. Grant Application, found here
    Fillable PDF form that must be signed by applicant and an institutional grants program official. Includes applicant and mentor information, a lay abstract, and scientific abstract. 

  2. Letters of Support – Two letters of support are required; one letter of support from your direct supervisor/mentor and one letter of support from another senior investigator/clinician familiar with your expertise, experience, and potential.

  3. CV/Biosketch – Not to exceed 4 pages each
    An example can be found here.

    Please submit a CV/Biosketch for the postdoctoral applicant and a CV/Biosketch for the direct supervisor/mentor.

  4. Budget- 1 page
    Please include a simple budget page indicating the amount of the award to be used towards postdoctoral salary and plans for any remaining funds (conference travel, support technology, etc).

    Indirect costs are not allowed for DSF Postdoctoral Fellowship awards.

  5. Hypothesis and Specific Aims – 1 page

    Please use a single page to lay out the hypothesis and rationale for the proposal including the specific aims to be accomplished.

  6. Research Plan – Not to exceed 5 pages
    This should include background, any preliminary data, experimental approach, methods, expected outcomes and discussion of potential pitfalls and alternative approaches.

  7. Bibliography – no page limit
    Please provide citations in NIH format (listing all authors)

Application Review Process

Applications undergo a rigorous NIH-style scientific review process and final decisions are made by the DSF Board of Directors, ensuring projects funded by DSF meet high scientific standards and align with the most pressing needs of the patient community. DSF takes integrity around our grant review process seriously, carefully avoiding conflicts of interest for scientific grant reviewers and panels and bringing in additional reviewers from relevant research fields when necessary to avoid conflicts of interest and ensure reviewers have the appropriate expertise to evaluate the submissions.

Applicants will be informed of the status of their application by late November, following scientific review and final decisions by DSF’s Board of Directors. Awardees are then announced publicly at the annual DSF Research Roundtable that is held just prior to the American Epilepsy Society Meeting.