Archived Grant Opportunity View - GO5600

In April 2022 the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve’s Law) Act 2022 (the Act) commenced. The design and conduct of the project must be consistent with the requirements of the Act.

Consistent with the Medical Research Future Fund Act 2015 and the Act, the objective of this grant opportunity is to provide a grant of financial assistance to support one Australian medical research and medical innovation project that conducts a pilot program, including a clinical trial, for the purposes of building the evidence base to determine the safety, efficacy and feasibility of implementing mitochondrial donation reproductive technology in clinical practice settings.

In line with the Act, mitochondrial donation techniques will initially be legalised for certain research and training purposes, and for the purposes of a mitochondrial donation clinical trial to provide a pathway for impacted families to access the technology.

Applicants must have a detailed understanding of the Act. Applicants are encouraged to propose novel and/or innovative approaches and describe how the outcomes of the research will be translated into health benefits for Australians.

The intended outcome of the research funded by this grant opportunity is to improve the health and wellbeing of Australians by:

• assisting women whose mitochondria would predispose their potential children to mitochondrial disease to have a biological child who does not inherit that predisposition
• building a body of knowledge through research and ongoing monitoring of trial participants (including children born as a result of mitochondrial donation) to support future government policy decisions regarding broader implementation of mitochondrial donation reproductive technology in clinical practice in Australia.

Applications will only be accepted from MRFF Eligible Organisations. A list of MRFF Eligible Organisations is available from the GrantConnect GO Documents and from the Approved MRFF Eligible Organisations list on the NHMRC website.

Applications must satisfy all the requirements set out in the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) – EPCDR Initiative - 2022 Mitochondrial Donation Pilot Program Grant Opportunity.

The maximum project period is 5 years.

$15,000,000.00

From $0.00 to $15,000,000.00

Applicants are advised to read the Grant Guidelines thoroughly and liaise with the Eligible Organisation that will submit the application to identify any specific requirements that the Organisation might have.

Applications must be submitted electronically using NHMRC’s online granting system (Sapphire).

Minimum Data closes at 5:00 pm (ACT Local Time) on Wednesday 31 August 2022.

Questions should be submitted no later than 1:00 pm (ACT Local Time) on Wednesday 7 September 2022.