Bright Focus Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The Bright Focus Foundation funds early career and established researchers studying Alzheimer’s disease, macular degeneration and glaucoma.
IP TAKE: For each disease that the Foundation invests in, the foundation offers support for early-career and established researchers whose work shows promise, but is not yet at a stage to secure NIH funding.
This is a multi-year funder that hopes to make it’s grants stretch for it’s grantees in order to maximize potential success in areas of research that take many years to see productive results. Since grants are generally disbursed over a period of two to three years, this is a competitive grant space that doesn’t permit space for many newcomers; however, some new grantees appear each year.
This accessible foundation accepts proposals through the Proposal Central application portal, but due dates vary by program.
PROFILE: Based in Clarksburg, Maryland, the Bright Focus Foundation was established in 1973 as the American Health Assistance Foundation. Its early mission was to “to fund critical research to find cures for the most pressing health problems.” Today the foundation works globally to support research “to defeat Alzheimer’s, macular degeneration and glaucoma.
Grants for Brain Research, Diseases and Public Health
The Bright Focus Foundation runs separate grantmaking programs for each of its target diseases. The Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program supports researchers anywhere in the world “pursuing pioneering research leading to greater understanding, prevention, and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.” Standard Awards offer funding to in-progress investigations that require additional data before they can obtain funding from governmental or other sources. Standard awards are generally awarded in the amount of $300,000 for a three-year period. The Alzheimer’s program also awards Postdoctoral Fellowships to early-career researchers “in their final stages of mentored training” at an established institution. Fellowships are awarded in the amount of $200,000 for a period of two years.
The foundation’s Macular Degeneration Research Program maintains the broad aim of funding research “leading to greater understanding, prevention, and treatment of age-related macular degeneration.”
This program runs a Postdoctoral Fellowship program for early-career researchers who are mentored at established institutions and pursuing research on “biological causes and/or new clinical treatment of macular degeneration.” Two-year fellowships are awarded in the mount of $200,000.
This program also awards Innovative Research Grants for established researchers engaged in “high-risk/high-gain age-related macular degeneration research.” Three-year research grants are awarded in the amount to $600,000.
Finally, the foundation awards Postdoctoral Fellowships through its National Glaucoma Research Program. These fellowships are geared toward early-career or established researchers whose work shows exceptional promise but is not at a stage at which it would secure NIH funding. The foundation currently prioritizes research “to create tools that would benefit all investigators in the field, including animal models of disease, or cell lines.” Grants are awarded in amounts of up to $200,000 for a maximum of two years.
Important Grant Details:
BrightFocus made over $13 million in research grants in a recent year. Grants range from $100,000 to $500,000 in set amounts based on grantmaking program. Grants are most often disbursed over a period of two to three years.
While this funder does not set geographical restrictions to its grantmaking, its grants generally support leading universities and research laboratories in the U.S.
Past grantees include individual researchers working at Emory University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the University of Southern California, among others. To get a sense of the foundation’s past grantmaking, see its Recently Funded Research page.
BrightFocus accepts proposals for all its grantmaking programs via the Proposal Central portal. Guidelines, eligibility and due dates vary by program. For general inquiries, contact the foundation’s staff via email or telephone at 800-437-2423.
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