Grants to USA, Canada, and International researchers affiliated with IHEs or research institutions for studies related to uncommon forms of epilepsy. Applicants are required to submit a letter of intent prior to a full grant application. Funding is intended to support collaborative research between the investigator and rare epilepsy advocacy groups.

CURE Epilepsy’s grant programs seek to accelerate promising research leading to new treatments and cures for people living with epilepsy. CURE Epilepsy prioritizes innovative projects that address its mission, affirming CURE's core belief that the only acceptable final goal is “no seizures, no side-effects.”

Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award will support the development of necessary research tools, techniques, model systems, and data collection platforms to stimulate and accelerate research on rare epilepsies. Each award will be co-funded by CURE Epilepsy and one or more of the rare epilepsy advocacy groups (partners) identified in the Request For Proposals. Applications must focus on one or more of the specific rare epilepsies that are represented by each group as well as address CURE Epilepsy’s mission to cure epilepsy.

Applications must clearly identify the rare epilepsy(ies) that the research is directed towards. General priority areas for this program include:

• Development of rare epilepsy-specific cellular models including but not limited to patient-derived stem cells, iPSC lines, 3D organoid models or fused organoid models.
• Development of appropriate genetic animal models.
• Development of novel in-vitro or in-vivo assays or techniques, for example, drug screening platforms, to enhance research in rare epilepsy.
• Development of research tools and novel techniques to enhance understanding of the cellular, molecular, genetic, and systems-level biology that leads to rare epilepsy, as well as facilitate the investigation of disease-modifying or preventative strategies.
• Supporting registries to better understand the natural history of one or more rare epilepsies or to look across rare epilepsies to identify common therapeutic targets and/or pathways. Projects utilizing existing registries or databases are allowed and must clearly articulate the specific rare epilepsy that will be studied. Use of registry platforms that ensure patient access to their data and when appropriate integrate with existing data collection platforms to enable data sharing with researchers and patient advocacy groups is strongly encouraged.
• Use of Electronic Health Record data to better understand the disease burden of rare epilepsy and develop therapeutic strategies.
• Development of technologies that will accelerate accurate diagnoses for rare epilepsies. 

An overarching goal of this funding mechanism is to develop resources and data that will be made available to the research community to accelerate research on rare epilepsies. For partner-specific research priorities, see: https://www.cureepilepsy.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-CURE-Rare-Epilepsy-Partnership-Guidelines_FINAL.pdf#page=4

Budgets may include salary support for the Principal Investigator (PI), technical staff and/or co-PIs, supplies, animal costs, vendor costs, limited equipment cost, and travel to an epilepsy-related conference only if the PI is presenting his/her CURE Epilepsy-funded research.