Spastic Paraplegia Centers of Excellence Research Network (SP-CERN)
Grant number: U54 NS148312-01 
Principal Investigators
Lead Institution: Boston Children's Hospital
Diseases Studied
- Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP)
- Spastic Paraplegia 4 (SPG4)
- Spastic Paraplegia 3A (SPG3A)
- Spastic Paraplegia 47 (SPG47)
- Spastic Paraplegia 49 (SPG49)
- Spastic Paraplegia 50 (SPG50)
- Spastic Paraplegia 56 (SPG56)
- Spastic Paraplegia 83 (SPG83)
- GPT2 deficiency
Funding Opportunities
Career Enhancement Fellowship Program
The Spastic Paraplegia Centers of Excellence Research Network (SP-CERN) - RDCRC, part of the NIH-funded Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), invites applications for the SP-CERN Career Enhancement Fellowship Program. These competitive fellowships aim to train the next generation of clinician-scientists and clinical trialists in Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) and related neurogenetic disorders.
Fellows will receive individualized, mentored training across SP-CERN’s eleven academic centers, developing expertise in clinical research design, translational neuroscience, natural-history studies, and clinical-trial readiness for rare neurological diseases.
We invite applications for the Advanced Clinical Trial Training Program: This 12-month fellowship provides a stipend of $80,000 for salary support.
Pilot Project Grant Program
The Spastic Paraplegia Centers of Excellence Research Network (SP-CERN) - RDCRC, part of the NIH-funded Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), invites applications for the SP-CERN Pilot Project Grant Program. This program is part of the SP-CERN Pilot Project / Feasibility Core, directed by Craig Blackstone, M.D., Ph.D. (Massachusetts General Hospital) and Marie Davis, M.D., Ph.D. (University of Washington), and aims to support innovative projects that advance the diagnosis, clinical trial readiness, management, and treatment of Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP) and related disorders.
Each pilot project will receive up to $50,000 in direct costs for a one-year period, with the possibility of a second year of support for projects that demonstrate significant progress and potential for continued impact.
Projects should align with SP-CERN’s mission to accelerate translational research and clinical trial readiness for HSP and are expected to generate preliminary data supporting future extramural grant applications or larger collaborative studies.
Funding Statement
The Spastic Paraplegia Centers of Excellence Research Network (SP-CERN) is part of the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) through its Division of Rare Diseases Research Innovation (DRDRI). SP-CERN is funded under grant number U54NS148312 as a collaboration between NCATS, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). This website is hosted by the network’s Data Management and Coordinating Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, which is funded by NCATS and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) under grant number TR002818.