DartCF 2020-2021 Pilot Project Program RFA
(PDF version of text below)
The Dartmouth Cystic Fibrosis Research Center (DartCF) Pilot Project Program (P3) seeks innovative pilot projects that address important issues in CF disease progression and treatment. Topics of interest for this RFA will focus on any topics related to CF with relevance to airway disease, intestinal disease or whole body disease, including projects related to infection, immunity/inflammation, immune cell biology, gut microbiota, kidney, pancreas, CF-related diabetes, cell biology and protein trafficking, gene therapy, computation, therapeutics and any other topics related to airway disease in CF. Approaches may include wet bench and/or computational. Clinical trials cannot be supported by this mechanism. For more information on the research priorities of the CF Foundation go to https://www.cff.org/Research/Researcher-Resources/Awards-and-Grants/Key-Research-Priorities-for-Applicants/. If research will include the use of cells and pathogens, they must be from people with CF (pwCF) and appropriate non-CF donors. Pilot project awardees will have free access to all DartCF Cores: https://sites.dartmouth.edu/dartcf/. Successful applications will include the use of core services.
The goal of these awards is to attract Dartmouth researchers to the field of CF-related research. Faculty at all levels are eligible. Including those with current extramural funding. Successful applications will propose high-impact basic, translational, or clinical research with the ultimate goal to leverage extramural funding opportunities.
We expect to fund up to 3 pilot awards. One at $80K/yr. for translational research and two at $40K/yr. for basic research. Initial support will be for one year, with a renewal possible for a second year, which is dependent on significant progress. Successful applicants will be required to attend the weekly DartCF seminar (Wednesday 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM), to present a talk in the DartCF seminar series each year, and to provide a yearly written progress report.
Deadline for proposals: February 1, 2021.
**IMPORTANT:
All interested applicants are expected to first contact George O’Toole
or Bruce Stanton (PI of the CF RDP) ASAP to discuss the research before they submit an application.
Mechanisms: The following mechanisms of support are available:
1. Mentored Pilot Awards. Eligibility: PIs must be Dartmouth junior faculty members (assistant or associate professors with PhD and/or MD degrees). The project must identify at least one experienced CF researcher as mentor.
2. Collaborative Pilot Awards. Eligibility: PIs must be Dartmouth faculty members (assistant, associate or full professor with PhD and/or MD degrees). The proposal must involve faculty from at least two distinct disciplines.
3. Innovative Pilot Awards. Eligibility: PIs must be Dartmouth faculty members (assistant, associate or full professor with PhD and/or MD degrees). The proposal must represent a highly innovation, new area of CF research for PIs with a track record in CF research.
Note: The target mechanism should be specified at the time of submission.
Proposals should contain all of the following elements:
• A two-page document with:
> Name(s) and department(s) of applicants.
> Proposal Title (200-character limit).
> Proposal Type (Mentored, Collaborative, Innovative)
> Abstract (30 lines). This section should describe the central hypothesis of the application, research overview, specific aims and potential positive impact on the CF knowledge base or patient impact.
> Research Description following general NIH format (background and significance, approach). References do not count towards the page limit.
> Budget with justification.
> Present a funding strategy for extramural CFF or NIH funding (not included in two-page limit, but limited to 30 lines of text).
> NIH biosketch(es) for the PI, key personnel and senior faculty mentor(s), if appropriate.
> Submit as a single PDF [named “lastname_RDPPilot”] by email to George O’Toole
by February 1, 2021.
Review: Proposals will be reviewed by the DartCF Executive Committee and the External Advisory Committee, who will rank applications relative to the criteria described below. Decisions will be made on or about March 1, 2021 and funding will commence on July 1, 2021.
Review criteria:
P3 projects should support our mission as a nationally recognized center of excellence in CF. The most competitive proposals will:
• Address a basic, translational, and/or clinical research problem in CF;
• Present high-quality, high-impact science. Scientific excellence is a prerequisite for funding;
• Incorporate interdisciplinary, cross-programmatic, collaborative, or innovative approaches. Demonstrate a strong potential to carry out the proposed research (NIH Investigator criterion);
• Interact strongly with DartCF, including usage of the scientific cores (Airway Cell Biology Core; Translational Research Core; Applied Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core;
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/dartcf/ and select Research Cores and CF RDP).