Autism: 2011 Translational Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

 

The fellowhips will support autism
research; © Boris Franz

Autism Speaks, the world's largest autism science and advocacy organization, announced the opening of the application process for its 2011 Translational Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

Up to ten two-year fellowships may be granted which, based on their experience, may provide annual stipends up to $50,000.

“Autism Speaks' science initiatives are promoting new discoveries that have the potential for improving the lives of people with autism ,” stated Autism Speaks Chief Science Officer Geraldine Dawson. “Not only have we committed more than $160 million to research in just over five years, we have engaged more than 150 new researchers who are committed to the field of autism research, thus ensuring that our initial investment in funding such as these postdoctoral fellowships will continue to bear results for years to come.”

“The Autism Speaks Postdoctoral Fellowship in Translational Research is designed to support promising, well-qualified postdoctoral scientists in their pursuit of research training in translational research,” explained Anita Miller Sostek, vice president.

“Translational research seeks to accelerate the pace at which basic scientific discoveries are translated into novel and effective ways of diagnosing, preventing and treating conditions. We seek to encourage new investigators to enter into the field of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) translational research by providing funding for multidisciplinary training. Moreover, this fellowship will support postdoctoral training in research that seeks to move biological science ‘from bench to bedside' or from experiments conducted in the laboratory into pre-clinical or clinical trials to real world settings, including hospitals, clinics, and other community settings, with the goal of improving outcomes for individuals with ASD.”

Fellowships for 2011 will support training of new scientists and innovative projects that hold considerable promise for significantly improving the lives of persons with autism, specifically, research training that involves translation of biological discoveries toward novel and more effective methods or strategies for treating or diagnosing ASD.

Letters of intent are due March 31, 2011 and applications including letters of recommendation are due June 6, 2011. Awards will be made announced in the Fall and funding will begin winter 2011-2012. Specific details of the application process and selection criteria are detailed here.

REHACARE.de; Source: Autism Speaks