Means : Following expert opinion by the Scientific Council or expert committees, the AFM supports nearly 400 projects originating from 4 calls for proposals. Composed of volunteer researchers and clinicians, the Scientific Council’s role is one of advice and proposal. It is responsible for determining priority research orientations, proposing them to the AFM board of governors and for issuing the corresponding calls for proposals. It assesses the quality and suitability of the research programmes proposed and monitors the quality of the work a posteriori. It may call upon national or international scientific experts. The reports with the opinion of the Scientific Council are submitted to the scientific commission of the board who give their opinion and pre-validate the projects. The final validation of financial commitment is given by the Executive Committee or the board, depending on the scope of the projects.  

AFM calls for proposals in 2007 :

          • “Fundamental myology and development of therapeutics” applied over two sessions : 245 subsidies and 102 study grants.
          • “Proteic interactions in neuromuscular physiopathology”: financing 10 projects.

Joint calls for proposals in 2007 :

          • “Décrypton” (AFM-CNRS-IBM) : 7 genomic and proteomic projects using grid computing technologies.
          • “Avenir” (AFM-Inserm) : 3 financed prizewinners

Requests for subsidies to finance genomic or post-genomic research may be re-routed either to the PHRC (clinical research hospital programme of the Ministry of Health) or the NGC (National Genotyping Centre).

Budget in 2007 : 11,7 million euros.

Partners : Research organisations and public authorities (Inserm, CNRS), industry (IBM).