Research Strategy and Funding

Cutting-Edge Research

HDRF is the premier foundation whose mission is to fund innovative depression research based on affective neuroscience, with the goal of finding answers to the origins, accurate diagnosis, new treatments, preventions and an ultimate cure for depression.

In the past, the study of depression and its related mood and other emotional disorders has followed two traditional parallel paths:

• The field of neuroscience studied the biology of the brain, with limited consideration of the mind.
• The fields of psychology and psychoanalysis studied the subjective, emotional feelings of the sensate mind, with limited consideration of the biology of the brain.

HDRF’s research approach, based on affective neuroscience combines the study of both the brain and the mind.

HDRF’s very existence is to accelerate depression research by focusing on this progressive strategy, with the intent of finding breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of depression.

Research Institutions Funded by HDRF

To date (in just 36 months), HDRF has awarded 47 research grants at 25 research institutions.
(HDRF-Funded Publications)

Beth Israel Medical Center
Bowling Green State University
Cleveland VA Medical Center
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Columbia University
Johns Hopkins University
Kent State University
Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School
McGill University, Canada
Medical University of South Carolina
National Institutes of Health
New York University
Northwestern University
Stanford University
State University of New York at Binghamton
The Rockefeller University
Tufts University
University of Cape Town, South Africa
University of Haifa, Israel
University of Michigan
University of Pittsburgh
University of Washington
Washington State University
Wright State University
Yale University

Future Funding

The next cycle of funding will be for research projects in 2011. Applications for 2011 grants will be accepted beginning March 1st, 2010, as per the following general guidelines:

• Applications should involve novel studies based on the research perspective of affective neuroscience.
• All proposed applications are required to go through a Pre-Proposal phase.
  All Pre-Proposals for the 2011 funding cycle must be submitted by June 30th, 2010.
• If approved, applicants will receive a formal Research Grant Application (RGA) with detailed instructions.
  All RGA’s for the 2011 funding cycle must be submitted by August 31st, 2010.

For more information about HDRF research grants, please contact Adrienne Prassas, Manager of Grants and Scientific Communications at ap@hopefordepression.org