Research
Funding
FamilieSCN2A accelerates research by directly funding grants and projects and by sharing information on other grant opportunities. Learn about all of our grant recipients!
With generous donor support, the FamilieSCN2A Foundation is excited to provide robust research funding opportunities through three different programs.
Read about them here, then scroll down to read about all of the Foundation's current and previously-funded research projects.
If you are interested in funding research, please contact us!
The Park Family Grant
Formerly known as the Hodgkin-Huxley Grant, the goal of this program is to address fundamental gaps in the basic and translational science of SCN2A-related disorders (SRDs) and to accelerate the development of therapies to clinical trials.
Eligibility: We welcome Letters of Intent from established research scientists at accredited universities worldwide that aim to develop treatments or cures for SCN2A-Related Disorders.
For applications received in 2025, priority will be given to:
1. Novel therapeutic approaches for SRDs, including but not limited to: gene therapies, ASOs, RNA-based therapies, small molecules, and peptides.
2. Development and validation of SCN2A biomarkers for disease progression and/or diagnosis.
3. Development and validation of potential SRD clinical trial endpoints.
Unsolicited, year-round LOIs accepted on a rolling basis. LOIs may be submitted using the template from the link below.
LOIs that are submitted with incomplete or missing information, or do not follow the template, will be returned without review.
The FamilieSCN2A Action Potential Grant
Through our investigator-initiated grant program, the FamilieSCN2A Foundation hopes to accelerate the development of therapeutic treatments and disease-modifying advancements for those living with changes in the SCN2A gene. This grant program is designed to facilitate preliminary investigations that will potentially lay the groundwork for subsequent grants from the government, industry, or other funding sources, including the FamilieSCN2A Foundation.
The FamilieSCN2A Foundation is interested in supporting research that advances understanding of the cellular, molecular, genetic, and systems-level mechanisms of SCN2A-related disorders. However, priority will be given to innovative projects which could potentially lead to therapeutic treatments or a cure for those with SCN2A-related disorders.
A maximum of 10% indirect costs (IDC) can be requested. The total amount requested, inclusive of IDC, cannot exceed $75,000.00.
There is funding in 2025 to support one $75,000 Action Potential award.
The FamilieSCN2A Accelerator Program
The FamilieSCN2A Accelerator Program is an investment program in which funding is invested in a for-profit company on a competitive basis for drug development projects. The program is designed to address commercial funding gaps by de-risking therapeutic development for SCN2A Related Disorders. We fund projects that show promise for subsequent commercial development.
A Letter of Intent may be submitted by any scientist working at a for-profit company based in the US. An invitation to submit a full application will be made to the most promising and programatically appropriate LOIs. The applications will go through a rigorous, confidential review process for scientific merit. The applicant’s company and intellectual property portfolio will also be confidentially assessed.
LOIs for the 2025 Accelerator Program are due 1 April 2025, 11:59 PM ET. To access the LOI template, click the link below. Send your completed LOI as a PDF file to research@scn2a.org with the subject line "Accelerator."
Additional Funding
FamilieSCN2A hopes to accelerate the development of therapeutic treatments and disease-modifying advancements for those living with changes in the SCN2A gene by partnering with AES to fund young investigators.
Our requests for applications (RFAs) serve a critical function in helping us fulfill SFARI’s mission (“to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance”). These open calls for scientific proposals are SFARI’s opportunity to consider some of the research community’s most creative and impactful ideas.
Our Requests for applications (RFAs) serve a critical function in helping us fulfill Charles A. King Trust’s mission (to “support and promote the investigation of human disease and the alleviation of human suffering through improved treatment”.) These open calls for scientific proposals are Charles A. King Trust’s opportunity to consider some of the SCN2A research community’s most creative and impactful ideas.
The Whitehall Foundation aims to support scholarly research in the life sciences that is not heavily supported by federal agencies or other foundations with specialized missions. The foundation is focused on supporting young scientists at the beginning of their careers and productive senior scientists who wish to move into new fields of interest. The foundation invites LOIs for two grant programs:
Research: Grants of up to $100,000 per year for two to three years will be awarded to established scientists working at accredited institutions in the United States. Grants will only be awarded to investigators who have received or expect to receive substantial support from other sources, even if it is for an unrelated purpose.
Grants-in-Aid: One-year grants of up to $30,000 will be awarded to researchers at the assistant professor level who experience difficulty in competing for research funds because they have not yet become firmly established. Grants-in-Aid can also be made to senior scientists.
From 2022 to 2024, the FamilieSCN2A Foundation participated in the MDBR. At that time, the ODC secured philanthropic donations that were used to match, dollar‐for‐dollar, the funds raised by cyclists, but the matching program ended after 2024. It is a wonderful event and we hope to participate again at some future date. If you have any interest in organizing a team please contact us at info@scn2a.org.
The scientific leadership of the ODC and its extramural advisors review the applications and grant awards to those of the highest scientific merit which address the specific topics outlined in the RFA. The ODC disperses the money to grantees and manages the progress of the science and spending on the award.
Research Funded by
The FamilieSCN2A Foundation
2025 Hodgkin-Huxley Awardees
Aislinn Williams
University of Iowa
Chris Ahern
University of Iowa
Theanne Griffith
University of Iowa
2023 Hodgkin-Huxley Awardees
Kevin Bender
Bender Lab, UCSF
Yang Yang
Yang Lab, Purdue University
Rikke Steensbjerre Møller
Danish Epilepsy Centre, Filadelfia; University of Southern Denmark
2025 Accelerator Program Awardee
2025 Action Potential Grant Awardee
Morgan Robinson, PhD
Purdue University
Past Action Potential Grant Awardees
Michael Coulter, MD, PhD
UCSF / Loren Frank Lab
Iria Gonzalez-Dopeso Reyes & Ye-Eun Yoo
Kremer Lab, Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier; Yang Lab, Purdue University
Kathryn Salvati, PhD
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Megan Abbott, MD
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Roy Ben-Shalom Ph.D., Assistant Professor
UC Davis MIND Institute / UC Davis Health Department of Neurology
Chenyu Wang, MS
UCSF / Bender Lab
Yuliya Voskobiynyk & Vivianna Denittis
& Vivianna Denittis
Xiaoling Chen, PhD & Jingliang Zhang, PhD
Purdue University
Sunita Misra, MD, PhD
Northwestern University; Lurie Children’s Hospital
Caitlin M. Hudac, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Center for Youth Development and Intervention (CYDI); Department of Psychology; Brain Research Across Development (B-RAD) Lab
Muriel Eaton
College of Pharmacy, Purdue University; Yang Lab
Eduardo Pérez-Palma, PhD
Genomic Medicine Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Chile
UPenn Orphan Disease Center Million Dollar Bike Ride Pilot Grant
Paul M. Jenkins, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School
Samuel Young, Jr, PhD
Professor and Vice-Chair of Research, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Iowa
Jennifer Kearney, PhD
Associate Professor Department of Pharmacology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University