PILOT RESEARCH AWARDS FOR JUNIOR INVESTIGATORS IN BASIC AND CLINICAL/TRANSLATIONAL SCIENCES.

Project Award Amount $30,000

Description of Grant Area
These pilot projects are intended to support a wide range of biomedical research, including fundamental basic science, clinical/translational science, and population science. Several funding sources are sponsoring these projects including CTSI-SOS, REAC, and Cancer Center/CIRP. However, irrespective of funding source, the review process is common and centralized.

The degree to which the research is translational, on the path to use in humans, should be clearly described in the proposal. Each pilot project will have a maximum budget of $30,000. Partial investigator salary support may be requested, but alternative use of funds should be included in case PI salary support is not approved.

Pilot projects are for one year and not renewable. A progress report is required at the end of the funding period and one year following the funding period, identifying resulting publications and subsequent funding obtained to support the expanded/extended projects. Any resulting publication must directly cite the funding agency (e.g., SOS-CTSI, REAC, etc.).

Note: For Pilot Awards, priority is given to applicants who have never received funding in this category; except as noted Fogarty International Training Awards in HIV/AIDS and International Mentored Scientist Award Program in HIV/AIDS.

Eligibility
UCSF and CTSI associated institutional Junior Faculty (Assistant/Instructor) in all series may apply.
Note: For some grant mechanisms, new faculty at the associate level may apply. For grants targeted to the Cancer Center, the PI must either be a Cancer Center Member or be sponsored by a Cancer Center Member. If the proposal is assigned to REAC then no PI salary is allowed.

Designation of Research Mentor
All pilot award applications from individuals at Asst. level or below require the designation of a faculty mentor. This should be an individual who has primary responsibility for overseeing the research career development of the applicant, and therefore advises the applicant on the formulation and writing of the application, as well as implementation of the project. Ideally this should be someone already assigned through the applicant's department. If no such person has yet been named, the applicant must arrange this before submission of the grant proposal. Please note that the decision on funding, along with the grant reviewers' comments, will be communicated to both the applicant and mentor.

Criteria for Review/Evaluation of Applications
Projects will be evaluated based on the strength of the proposal, the potential of the proposal to lead to a fully funded independent research grant, and the quality and potential of the applicant and the research team.
For CTSI funding, the proposal must meet CTSI criteria of translational science: "T1 translational research" or "T2 translational research."

Pilot projects that involve human subjects will require human research committee approval before funding is released. Research conducted in a foreign country will require separate ethics approval in that setting and the direct participation of in-country co-investigators.

More on individual funding agencies
(Please note, this is provided for informational purposes only since the review process is centralized).

• CTSI-SOS funds pilot projects using human subjects, tissue, or clinical data to address questions related to disease pathogenesis, diagnosis, or management meeting the criteria of Translational Science. This research should be conducted by multi-disciplinary investigator teams representing clinical, basic, and/or population sciences. Pilot research should collect data for publication and to acquire successful subsequent funding by other mechanisms. Faculty from all schools and CTSI associated institutions qualify for these funds.
• REAC funds pilot projects ranging from basic to clinical and translational. Pilot research should collect data for publication and to acquire successful subsequent funding by other mechanisms. Only School of Medicine faculty qualify for REAC funds.
• Cancer Center/CIRP (funded by the Mt. Zion Health Fund) provides seed funding to encourage clinical and clinical translational scientists, especially those at the beginning of their research career or established investigators wishing to embark on a new area of study, to initiate promising new projects in cancer research that may enable them to compete successfully for federal research grants. Targeted areas are innovative pilot, phase I/II therapeutic studies and other projects in clinical, health policy, health services, psychosocial and behavioral research that have direct application to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Pre-clinical or laboratory correlative studies that demonstrate a direct path to the clinic will also be considered. Applicants must be a Cancer Center member or be sponsored by a Cancer Center member.
• The Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center is supporting two awards ($25,000 each for one year) for promising pilot projects. This exciting program aims to promote novel dementia-related basic biomedical and patient-oriented research at UCSF. Applications will be evaluated based on their relevance to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders, innovation, and scientific rigor. In April 2004, the UCSF was designated as a national Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). The Memory and Aging Center, is the central coordinating site for the ADRC. Funded by the NIH, this large collaborative project involves multiple institutions and locations. It is designed to integrate basic science and clinical resources in order to investigate the clinical, molecular, neuropathological and neuroimaging features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), non-AD dementias, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The ADRC has two overarching aims:
• To bridge the gap between laboratory and clinical studies in dementia and aging
• To explore the unique and overlapping symptoms seen in various neurodegenerative diseases
The ADRC uses standardized and novel methods to examine patients and biological specimens, so that new hypotheses can be tested regarding the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of dementia. The ADRC brings together investigators who are leaders in basic science and clinical research related to dementia.

If awarded by the ADRC please know that the money will be allocated
in April 09.

Contact:
Emanuela (Emy) Volpe
Ph.: 415-514-0301
E-mail: rap@ucsf.edu