Mentored Under-represented Scientist Award in Tuberculosis

Project Award Amount up to $40,000

DESCRIPTION
We are committed to increasing the diversity of researchers focused on tuberculosis (TB). With funding from an NIH Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Supplement to our Mentoring Program, we have created a mentored research award for investigators from historically disenfranchised racial and ethnic groups that are under-represented in health sciences (see below for the UCSF definition), or those with a personal or professional contextual background of economic disadvantage.

The UCSF Office of Diversity and Outreach defines Underrepresented Investigators in the Health Sciences as: African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, Native American and Asian sub-categories of Filipino, Hmong and Vietnamese. The National Institute of Health (NIH) defines Underrepresented Investigators in the Health Sciences here. Please indicate your eligibility in the application form.

The Mentored Underrepresented Scientist Award in Tuberculosis is a mentoring and training grant for Early Stage Investigators (ESI) at UCSF or UC Berkeley to conduct a TB-focused research project. These awards, granted by the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis, are intended to be used to acquire preliminary data and research skills leading toward a future grant effort. Applicants for this award must indicate a faculty research mentor who will commit to guiding the applicant throughout the duration of the proposed project. In addition to receiving research funds, the awardee will automatically be enrolled in the TB Research and Mentoring Program (TB RAMP) (http://tiny.ucsf.edu/tbramp) as a TB RAMP Scholar. Awardees are required to participate in the TB RAMP Program as they launch their independent research career. Applicants will automatically be considered for the TB RAMP program, even if not awarded this RAP award (should they be interested).

Funding for this program is up to $40,000 in total costs (see below for budget details) for one year. Any carry forward of funding is not guaranteed. Indirect costs are not allowable in a UCSF proposal budget.  However, UC Berkeley applicants may include indirect costs in their budgets not to exceed 8% of the overall award maximum (up to $3,200).

This funding opportunity is open to any TB-focused investigations including bench research; clinical research; epidemiologic research; research focused on new tools in diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines; implementation sciences; health economics; social behavioral research; health disparities research, among other domains relevant to combatting TB in high burden TB settings.

NOTE: Projects should address NIH’s TB research priority areas. Proposers are encouraged to review the NIAID Strategic Plan for TB Research.

If you are considering a study involving any international work, please email [email protected] with a brief description of your study to determine whether your proposed project would be eligible for funding through the UCSF Center for Tuberculosis.

Program Contact: Should you have any questions regarding submission or reporting procedures, please contact the program coordinator at [email protected].

ELIGIBILITY

Eligibility requirements need to be met as of date of submission; no waivers are allowed.

Applicants must be eligible investigators (see below) at UCSF or UC Berkeley. Investigators with backgrounds in clinical, basic, behavioral-epidemiological, implementation, and/or health disparities TB research are encouraged to apply.

Who is Eligible:

  • Persons who identify as underrepresented investigators in the health sciences as defined by UCSFor NIH (see above) and one of the following:
  • Postdoctoral fellows or fellows in training.
  • Current faculty in any Series (Ladder Rank, In Residence, Clinical X, Health Science Clinical, Adjunct) at the Assistant Professor or Clinical Instructor level who have not yet received an R01-equivalent award in TB.
  • Non-faculty series (Professional Research Series, Librarian Series and Specialist Series). Investigators in these series must make a strong case for their plan for becoming independent researchers.
  • Advanced Doctoral Students who have advanced to candidacy and are focusing on TB for their independent dissertation research.
  • Previous recipients of Mentored Scientist Award in Tuberculosis funded by the UCSF Center for TB are eligible to apply again for additional funding as long as their previous project was successfully completed. New projects should not be a continuation of the prior project but are not required to be a totally discrete topic. Please contact the program coordinator at [email protected] if you have any questions about this policy.

Who is NOT Eligible:
Associate and Full Professors or Staff; applicants without terminal degrees (except for the advanced doctoral students, degrees in progress), (e.g., PhD, MD); applicants with a currently active UCSF Center for Tuberculosis award that will not be completed by the time of award decisions.

Special Considerations for Current NIH T32 and K Awardees:

  • Current T32 awardees can apply for UCSF Center for TB funds provided NO salary/stipends are taken from the UCSF Center for TB award.
  • UCSF Center for TB allows current K awardees to provide complementary effort on their Mentored Under-represented Scientist Award in Tuberculosis with salary within their remaining 25% effort, if they also maintain the 75% required on the K-award as long as the specific aims differ from those on the “K” award. Please see the guide notice for details: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-17-094.html.

Submission Rules

DESIGNATION OF MENTOR

All mentored award applications require a faculty research mentor from UCSF or UC Berkeley at the time of submission (see below for the mentor’s letter of support requirements). UCSF Center for TB requires your research mentor to advise and guide the research portion of your application before submitting it to RAP.

NOTE: The mentor is allowed but not required to have supervisory authority over the applicant during the project period. The mentor should be recognized as an accomplished investigator in TB research and should be able to demonstrate past success in training/mentoring independent investigators. The mentor’s role is to provide oversight on the planning, direction, and execution of the proposed research. In addition, the mentor must commit to mentoring the applicant throughout the duration of the research project.

AWARD RESTRICTIONS

  • Clinical Trials: NIH has revised the definition of Clinical Trials in 2018: ‘If your study involves one or more human subjects, involves one or more interventions, prospectively assigns human subjects to interventions and has a health-related biomedical or behavior outcome.’ If yes, please contact the program coordinator with a brief description of your study at [email protected] to determine whether your proposed project would be eligible or not eligible for funding through the UCSF Center for TB.
  • Studies with Foreign Components: Studies with an international component are allowed. If you plan on having expenditure of funds from this award for any foreign expenditures (including travel expenses, flights, hotel, visas)  please contact the program coordinator with a brief description of your study at [email protected] in advance. Subcontracts to a foreign institution are not allowed.
  • Human Subjects: New investigators should visit the UCSF CHR website for details on when and how to apply for CHR approval at http://irb.ucsf.edu. Information on training, including online training resources, can be found on the CHR website at http://irb.ucsf.edu/citi-human-subjects-training.

CRITERIA FOR REVIEW / EVALUATION OF APPLICANTS

Completed applications which meet eligibility requirements will be evaluated for scientific and technical merit by an appropriate review committee convened by the UCSF Resource Allocation Program in accordance with NIH review criteria: 1. Significance, 2. Approach, 3. Innovation, 4. Investigator, 5. Environment. Each of these criteria will be addressed and considered in assigning the overall application score.

The proposal will be evaluated based on the following questions: click here to view the review form for this grant mechanism.

SELECTION OF AWARDEES

UCSF Center for Tuberculosis makes funding decisions based on several factors – scientific review score, potential of the proposal to enable the PI to become an independent investigator, applicant’s proposed engagement in the TB RAMP mentoring program, whether the applicant has received prior UCSF Center for Tuberculosis funding, and alignment with other requirements set forth in the RFA.

TO APPLY:

STEP 1) Complete the electronic application form.  Please note there are several pieces of information that need to be provided directly via the electronic application form (selecting the appropriate grant mechanism, providing demographic information, uploading an abstract, etc.).

Click here to preview an inactive template of the electronic application form.

STEP 2) Upload your proposal as a SINGLE PDF that includes all the things listed in numeric order in the instructions below.

Instructions for Proposal PDF

Proposal Length: Maximum 6 pages, including figures and tables, excluding table of contents, literature cited and community engagement component (if applicable).

Format Requirements: Arial font; 11 pt; minimum 0.5 inch for all margins; no appendices; include page numbers and table of contents.

RESUBMISSIONS
Definition of Resubmission: same research topic with an amended application or research plan rather than a new research topic and new research plan. One resubmission is allowed.
Requirements: Please use up to one extra page to introduce your revised proposal, addressing the issues raised in the review, and any additional changes to your proposal. Make sure the new edits are highlighted in bold or italic font so the reviewers can easily see where and how the proposal has changed. Do not use "track changes". A new letter of support from the Department Chair or other Unit Head is required in all cases.

1. Investigator Name; only one application is permitted per cycle.

  • Country of citizenship
  • Country of permanent residence

2. Project Title

3. Proposal - (maximum 6 pages: including figures and tables; excluding literature cited, mentoring plan, TB RAMP Scholar plan, additional investigator background, and additional human-subjects information).

Sections included within the 6-page limit:

  • Aims (list at least two aims). Do not submit an application that describes an idea that is the same or similar to one used in a previously funded RAP grant. If it is a similar idea, describe how the new proposed research is uniquely different.
  • Feasibility: Describe what steps you are taking to ensure the proposed project can be completed within the one-year project period for this grant (approximately 300 words max).
  • Background and Significance
  • Preliminary Studies
  • Experimental Design and Methods (include timetable): a) Hypothesis, b) Rationale, c) Experimental approach, d) Interpretation of results
  • Explain how this pilot project is important for your career goals, e.g., leads to future funding, etc. (1-2 paragraphs)

Not included within the 6-page limit:

  • Mentoring Plan. Describe the plan for oversight of this project by your mentor(s) including the specific role of your primary mentor named in this application. One primary mentor must be identified, up to 3 total can be included in this application. (200-words max)
  • TB RAMP Scholar plan. Discuss your motivation for joining the TB RAMP Program as a Scholar and specifically what goals you have for the mentoring program. (200-words max)
  • Additional Investigator Background. Explain the career impact of your personal or professional contextual background involving economic disadvantage, gender or underrepresented investigator status. Also explain any life experience, positionality, or perspective that may strengthen the application or make you uniquely qualified to conduct the research. (300 words max)
  • Protection of Human Subjects description ()
  • Inclusion/Enrollment Table (if applicable for studies proposing human subjects, including existing resources) https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/phs-inclusion-enrollment-report.html
  • Literature cited

4. Detailed Budget - The maximum award amount per proposal is $40,000 in direct costs for a one-year project period; round up to the nearest thousand (e.g., instead of $39,869 list $40,000).

The budget may include consultant costs, equipment, supplies, travel to perform the study or to present findings from the study, and other expenses. Travel, along with all other costs, must be fully justified. Expenditures cannot be made on any kind of international costs.
Please contact us for assistance with your budget and/or sub-contract if you have any questions.

Use the NIH PHS 398 form “Page 4: Detailed Budget for Initial Budget Period” (http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/fp4.doc) to prepare your budget.

 

Allowable

Not Allowable

PI Salary

X

 

Post Doc Salary

X

 

Network Recharge Rates

X

 

Administrative Support

 

X

Program Supplies

X

 

Equipment

X

 

Software

X

 

Personal Computers*

X

 

Mailing

X

 

Tuition

X

 

Travel**

X

 

Research Staff Support (e.g., RSA; Lab. Technician)

X

 

Patient Care

 

X

Other Expenses****

X

 
Publication fees; max $5K  X  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Budget Preparation Resources:

General Guidelines:

*The NIH base salary cap applies. PIs are required to list their effort whether it is paid or in kind.

PI partial salary support should be well-justified with respect to project activities. Due to their small size, RAP grants are designed for project support and are not intended to provide PI salary support unrelated to the project.  PI salary amounts greater than ~10% of the requested award amount (e.g., $5,000 of a $50K award proposal, not 10% FTE) must be well justified and it should reflect work done by the PI to conduct specific scientific tasks on the project (e.g. data collection, computation) and not merely general supervision of project goals and personnel. 

NOTE: Indirect costs are not allowable in a UCSF proposal budget. However, UC Berkeley applicants may include indirect costs in their budgets not to exceed 8% of the overall award maximum (up to $3,200).

  • The 10% limit on salary support is a guideline and includes SALARY & FRINGE BENEFITS.
  • Update: General Automobile and Employee Liability (GAEL) are NOT allowable costs.
  • The award amount is DIRECT COST ONLY. 

* Computers are only allowable when essential to the conduct of the proposed research. If the computer is planned to be used for other projects/responsibilities in addition to the proposed project, we require that the cost of the computer be shared with those other project budgets, in accordance with the amount of use anticipated by each project.

** Travel for awardees is allowed only if required to conduct the study or to present findings from this study at a conference (not simply to attend a conference).

**** Refer to the UCSF Charging Practices and Guidelines of allowable Expenses
https://controller.ucsf.edu/quick-reference/contracts-grants-accounting/cost-accounting-standards-cas-guidelines

Note: If chosen for an award, applicants must adhere to NIH policy specifying that the collection of salary support from UCSF Center for TB NIH funds while simultaneously collecting salary support from an NIH T32 award is unallowable.

6. Budget Justification: Clearly and fully justify all costs. Budget Overlap - If the proposed study is closely related or a sub-study of existing funded research listed in the applicant’s bio sketch, clarify the relationship between the two projects and confirm that there is no overlap in funding.

For all personnel, clearly identify any discrepancies between the actual effort (i.e. real percent time) the individual will contribute to the project, versus the amount of salary effort they are requesting.  This is particularly important for personnel/PI's who expect to contribute project effort with little or no salary, such as those whose salary is above the NIH base salary cap.

Recall: PI salary amounts greater than ~10% of the requested award amount must be well justified.

NOTE: If your Other Support references projects that may appear to have scientific or budgetary overlap with this proposal, please clearly identify and explain why this proposal is unique and non-overlapping.

7. NIH BioSketch of Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator(s) and UCSF Faculty Mentor(s) (if applicable), (5 page format):

·         Use Form Version H at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch-blank-format-rev-10-2021.docx
·         Include bio sketches for both PIs of a multi-PI application
·         Only NIH Bio sketch version H will be accepted with RAP applications this Spring 2024 Cycle.

Other support pages of Principal Investigator(s) and Co-Investigator(s) and UCSF Faculty Mentor(s)
​Use form at https://grants.nih.gov/sites/default/files/other-support-format-page-rev-10-2021.docx

8. Letters of Support – Department Head and Mentors

  1. Department Head or Unit/Division Head (should indicate support for the application)
  2. Mentor’s Letter of Support: Include a letter of support from all research mentors you include in your proposal (up to 3) that includes the information outlined below:
    • Specific areas in which mentoring will be provided/mentor’s role in the project
    • Mentor’s background in mentoring
    • Describe how the project fits with the mentor’s research agenda and mentee’s career development
    • Describe mentor’s working relationship (previous and/or current) with applicant