Temporarily Discontinued

Project Award Amount $25,000

Description
The CTSI-Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Program will provide funds to support planning activities or pilot studies leading to the development or validation of novel methodologies or technologies for performing or supporting clinical or translational research.

Appropriate topics might include, for example,

• the identification of novel biomarkers for clinical studies,
• developing new phenotyping methods that are more objective and quantifiable,
• new bio-imaging methods for clinical studies,
• new high-throughput methods for functional genomics,
• research into clinical trial designs, clinical informatics for longitudinal studies,
• home-based research devices and methods,
• predictive toxicology or pharmacogenomics for use in clinical trials,
• methods for evaluating the impact of clinical and translational studies.

Traditional sources of major funding for development of novel methodologies and technologies having application to clinical research are limited, particularly for the most innovative methods at their nascence. Funding from NIH is generally based on testing specific hypotheses, and justifying methodological research with hypothesis testing may be awkward and contrived, particularly when the methods are being developed independent of a specific application. Technology development is typically given lower priority than hypothesis-driven research as well. Peer review may be particularly unkind to approaches that are very innovative and not previously validated. SOS, working with other CTSI programs, will provide funds for pilot and planning grants designed to lead to further funding and development of novel clinical/translational methods and technologies. The proposed research must be clearly justified as being on the path to potential benefit to humans.

Successful proposals will describe development or validation of novel methodologies or technologies for performing or supporting clinical or translational research. In the case of new technologies, recipients are required to make the resulting technology available to the UCSF community by having the new technology developed in or transferred into existing research cores or the clinical laboratory. This, plus a plan for how cost sharing will be managed in the future (e.g. recharge, grant, departmental support), must be described within the proposal.

If equipment purchase is proposed, it is expected that cost for large pieces of equipment should be shared among several sources, including departmental funds, individual research grants, and Academic Senate.

Eligibility

Who's Eligible: UCSF faculty in any series, including adjunct and professional research series may apply: Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor.

Preference will be given to faculty at Junior ranks (Assistant and early Associate).

Who's Not Eligible: Residents, Fellows/Postdocs, & Specialists. CTSI-SOS cannot fund K scholars.

Criteria for Evaluation of Applications
These proposals will be evaluated with respect to whether the project, if funded, will lead to the development or application of transforming methods in clinical and translational research.  Proposals with the greatest potential to broadly impact clinical and translational research, beyond a specific disease area, will receive the highest scores.

Note: Clinical and translational research includes bench to bedside/laboratory to human (T1) translational research, clinical research, and bedside to the community/evidence to practice (T2) research.

Award Administration

Projects are for one year and are not renewable. To determine what is and is not allowable, please refer to the instructions.

All funding agencies require progress reports if an award is received. The number and timing of those reports varies between the agencies. Detailed information about this will appear in the respective funding agencies Award Letter.

CTSI-SOS cannot fund any international projects or expenses.

For application and review process questions, please contact:
Emanuela (Emy) Volpe
RAP - Program Manager
Ph.: 415-866-0229
E-mail: [email protected]

For grant specific questions, please contact:
Katie Nelson
CTSI-SOS Program Coordinator
Ph.: 415-514-6206
E-mail: [email protected]

Instructions

Please write your proposal following the instructions listed below:

Proposal Length: Maximum 6 pages, including figures and tables, excluding table of contents and literature cited.
Format Requirements:  Arial font; 11 pt; minimum 0.5 inch for all margins; no appendices; include page numbers and table of contents.

Please create one single PDF file including all of the following information:

1. Grant Mechanism
2. P.I. Name(s) - Optionally, you may apply with two PIs. If choosing that option, include all information for both PIs (PI1 and PI2); if funded, PI1 will be the primary contact for the award set up and management.

• Title
• Department/Affiliation
• Email address
• Phone

3. PI 1 (contact PI) Grant Administrator (Indicate a post-award financial analyst in your Dept. that will help you manage this grant and be our main contact if you are awarded)

• Titles
• Department/Affiliation
• Email address
• Phone

4. Research Mentor(s), if applicable

• Titles
• Department/Affiliation
• Email address
• Phone

5. Specify if you have been funded as a PI or as a co-investigator in the past 5 years by any of the following UCSF agencies: List titles of grants in detail. Include enough information to allow RAP to understand their content. Specify dollar amounts awarded and source of funds.

• CTSI-SOS
• REAC
• CFAR
• ARI
• Cancer Center-MZHF
• NCOEWH
• Academic Senate
• Departmental Startup Funds
• Other UCSF (explain _____)

6. Project Title
7. Amount Requested: $
8. Abstract (one paragraph only, max 300 words)
9. Proposal (maximum 6 pages, including figures and tables, excluding literature cited)

• Specific aims
• Description of the novel methodology or technology. Describe the proposed new method or technology, its need, significance, and suitability for use by other investigators. Include a description of other competing approaches and why this new method or technology adds significantly to our ability to do clinical and translational research
• Preliminary studies
• Experimental Plan for methodology or technology development (include time table)
• Management. Explain how the new methodology or technology will be made available to the campus community.
• Research Areas. Include a brief (1 paragraph) description from each of the co-investigators describing how their research program will benefit from the new methodology or technology.
• Literature cited (not included in page limit)

10. Co-Investigator(s) (max five)

• Titles
• Department/Affiliation
• Email address
• Phone

11. Human Subjects.  Indicate if Human Subjects will be used or not. Supply the following:

• CHR (IRB) date of approval
• CHR (IRB) approval number
• Specify if pending

12. Human Stem Cells.  Indicate if Human Stem Cell will be used or not. Supply the following:

• GESCR date of approval
• GESCR approval number
• Specify if pending

13. Animal Subjects.  Indicate if Animal Subjects will be used or not. Supply the following:

• IACUC date of approval
• IACUC approval number
• Specify if pending

14. Budget ($25,000 maximum per proposal)
    Use the following form: PHS 398 Form Page 4, "Detailed Budget for the Initial Period":
    http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html
    Add the network recharge rates to your budget.

*NIH base salary cap. Fully justify all requests. Generally PI partial salary support should not exceed 10%. Multiple PIs can decide how to distribute that 10% salary support among them (e.g., 5%/5% or 6%/4%).

Administrative support, mail, travel, and personal computer purchase must be required specifically by the research project proposed, and must be clearly justified.

CTSI-SOS cannot fund any international projects or expenses.

15. Budget Justification: Clearly justify all costs fully.
16. NIH Bio-sketch of Principal Investigator(s) and Co-Investigator(s) and UCSF Faculty Mentor(s) (4 page maximum): Use Form "PHS 398/2590" from the NIH grant applications (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/biosketch.doc) with other support pages. Include active, pending, and planned proposals. Include percent effort, total direct costs (current year) and potential overlap with the current proposal. Include bio-sketch for both PIs of a multi-PI application.
17. Letter of support: Provide a letter of support from the department chair or other unit head. In addition, for junior investigators, department chairs/unit heads should comment on the independence of the applicant and availability of research space and other resources for the proposed research. Include the letter of support at the end of your PDF proposal and address it to the RAP Committee. If there are multiple (two) PIs, a letter of support is required for both PIs. If PIs are in the same department, the chair can vouch for both PIs in a single letter.