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Foundation Research Grant Program

Thank you for your interest in the Jack McGovern Coats' Disease Foundation Research Grant Program! The Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation Research Grant is offered by the Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation to support medical research specific to Coats’ Disease and other retinal diseases, which may lead to a cure or improve treatments and understanding of the pathophysiology for Coats’ Disease. The Foundation encourages research and, when applicable, collaboration among researchers working in the area of Coats’ Disease. We support clinical or basic research. Examples of research focus include, but are not limited to: screening for Coats’ Disease; treatment to prevent vision loss from macular exudation; pathophysiology of vascular pathology in Coats’; vision protection and rehabilitation; assessment of vision loss in children with Coats’; and vision restoration.

Proposals will be considered by the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) based on scientific merit and the alignment with the goals and priorities of the Foundation.  Proposals will also be accepted from Postdoctoral Fellows and Junior Researchers.

While we have reached our current grant funding capacity, we are excited to offer future Research Grants. If you would like to be notified when the call for proposals is reopened, please complete this brief form and we will contact you then. Thank you!

  • • Size of Grants: Annual Grants will be up to $35,000.

    •Grants will be for one year. Renewal is possible for grants showing substantial progress to Coats’-related work and will be considered for up to two years.

    • Measurability/Accountability: Six-month progress reports are required to receive the second installment of the funding in the first year. Subsequent funding, if requested, will be determined based on these progress reports.

    • Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation must be acknowledged in abstracts, presentations, poster sessions, papers and publications resulting from Foundation-funded research.

    • Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation adheres to the NIH salary cap for principal investigator(s) for the current year.

    • Funds from the Foundation may not be used for overhead costs. No costs will be funded by the Foundation for University or School of Medicine or departmental costs.

    • If utilizing a sub-contractor, you must include this in the budget. No overhead costs will be paid to the subcontractor.

  • Title Page which must include:

    • Title of the Research Project

    • Name, address, phone number and email address of the Principal Investigator

    • Applicants’ University/Hospital affiliation and brief description of the Organization

    • Name, address, phone number and email address of the Grants Officer

    • Name and address to be placed on the check, if awarded

    • Federal Tax ID number of the institution, if awarded

    Design of the Study which must include:

    • No more than 3 pages excluding references, single-spaced, Arial font 11 pts. minimum, one-inch margins

    • Purpose or question to be asked by the study

    • Rationale/Background or relevance

    • Methodology

    • Design and data analysis procedures

    • Proposed duration of the project with timeline

    • For clinical studies, please also include a detailed description of the project including (if applicable):

      • Number of participants

      • Criteria for inclusion/exclusion of participants

    In addition to the three-page limit, please submit:

    • Itemized Budget with justification of all anticipated expenses. Include explanation of how costs were determined. Overhead costs will not be funded.

    • How is this research going to impact research in Coats’ or how will it impact your future work on Coats’ Disease?

    • Lay summary (250 words maximum)

    • A literature review of related research with bibliography

    • Other current or anticipated sources of funding

    • CV of the Principal Investigator

  • Payments will be made in two equal installments – the first when the grant is approved and the second after receipt of the six-month, mid-term progress report has passed review.

The Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation is proud to currently fund the following research projects:

University of Minnesota Twin Cities

This research project will focus on a potentially pathologic signaling pathway involved in a related condition, FEVR [familial exudative vitreoretinopathy], and similar in interest to previous research projects with Genentech.

Duke University

This research project focuses on using optical coherence tomography imaging in Coats’ Disease.

UC Davis (Partnership Grant with Macula Society)

The Jack McGovern Goat’s Disease Foundation and Macula Society Research Grant (JMCDF/MSRG) Partnership Grant supports medical research specific to Coats’ Disease and other retinal diseases which may lead to a cure or improve treatments and understanding of the pathophysiology for Coats’ Disease.  Currently, we are funding a $30,000 research project at UC Davis.

Project Focus
The goal of our research is to employ a new technology called single-cell RNA sequencing that can analyze the complex network of many signals coming from many different retinal cells in mice that develop abnormal vessel growth and leakage similar to Coat's disease. Our study could provide a roadmap to identify unique pathologic signals from specific types of cells that can be targeted with future therapies that are more precise and safer for patients. 

L V Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI)

The Jack McGovern Goat’s Disease Foundation is currently supporting a research project by L V Prasad Eye Institute , a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for the Prevention of Blindness, located in Hyderabad, India

Project Focus
To date, the cause of Coats' disease remains unclear; however, it is well known that retinal leakage is an important pathological change in Coats' disease. Histological findings revealed typical destruction of retinal vessels in Coats' disease, which causes a breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier and increases the vascular permeability, leading to the leakage of a lipid-rich exudate into the retina. This study will help to identify the role of lipid-laden macrophages in the inflammatory pathogenesis of Coats' disease as well as study the lipidomic analysis of the subretinal fluid, which can be a valuable tool in understanding disease pathogenesis and identifying biomarkers for early disease diagnosis and prognosis. 

Genentech

GENENTECH STUDY IS ANALYZING THE DNA OF OVER 150 SAMPLES OF COATS’ PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES

Many diseases in the human body result from changes in our DNA, and follow patterns of transmission from parent to offspring known as Mendelian genetics. Gregor Mendel was the Austrian monk who studied genetics in plants and realized that some genes are transmitted in a dominant or recessive fashion. Since that time, other forms or patterns of transmission have been discovered including sex-linked, and mitochondrial DNA patterns.

Coats’ Disease is much more difficult to study because it follows NONE of these patterns. For instance, even though doctors know that Coats’ Disease happens far more often in males than females, a gene on the XY chromosome has not been found. There has never been a large study looking for possible genetic reasons in a large population of individuals. The reason for this is due to how rare Coats’ Disease is compared to other diseases like diabetes or macular degeneration. The other reason is that Coats’ can sometimes be confused for other pediatric diseases.

Thanks to our collaboration with Genentech, the Jack McGovern Coats’ Disease Foundation launched Phase One, helping 7 leading pediatric retina specialists collect DNA from confirmed Coats’ Disease patients. There were a total of 173 samples collected, 61 of those being from Coats patients, with parents and siblings DNA collected if available. Genentech, as part of their commitment to rare diseases research, is analyzing the entire DNA code also known as genome for any possible Coats’ associations. This is what many would consider the first step in understanding Coats’ Disease.

We are excited to be moving forward with Phase Two of this study.

Research Presentations

Visit our Video Library for the expert presentations on the latest Coats’ Disease Research.

Research Articles