DoW Tick-Borne Disease Idea Development Award

About this funding opportunity

Summary: The intent of the fiscal year 2026 (FY26) Tick-Borne Disease Research Program (TBDRP) Idea Development Award (IDA) is to support conceptually innovative research that could lead to impactful discoveries or significant advancements that will accelerate progress toward reducing the burden of Lyme disease and/or other tick-borne diseases and conditions, and improving patient care and/or the quality of life. Applications should propose research that is conceptually innovative, introduces a new concept or question, challenges existing paradigms, approaches issues from a new perspective, or exhibits other uniquely creative qualities; and should not merely be a next logical step or an incremental advance on published data or ongoing research.

Distinctive Features: A Career Development Option is available to eligible early-career investigators who propose to conduct impactful mechanism-relevant research under the mentorship of an experienced tick-borne disease researcher(s). Applications submitted under the IDA, Career Development Option (IDA-CDO) will be reviewed using separate, career development-specific evaluation criteria by a separate, dedicated peer review panel; and are subject to a lower cost limit than those submitted under the standard IDA.

https://cdmrp.health.mil/pubs/press/2026/tbdrppreann

Topic areas: General and Cross-cutting R&D, Life Sciences and Health, Security and Defense.

Funding amount

This grant provides Varies in funding.

Deadline

Applications are due Oct 22, 2026. Confirm the exact closing time on the official program page before applying.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to the following applicant types:

• Open to all applicant types

Eligibility

The program did not publish a separate eligibility statement. See the official opportunity page for the full eligibility criteria.

Agency

DoW Tick-Borne Disease Idea Development Award is administered by Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA (AMRAA), listed via Grants.gov.