SYNOPSIS AND OBJECTIVE
The Nebraska Center for the Prevention of Obesity Diseases (NPOD) invites applications for its pilot grant competition. The primary objective of this pilot grant program is to stimulate collaborative, multidisciplinary research in related to obesity and/or signaling by nutrients or bioactive food compounds, and to enhance competitiveness in securing major external (preferably federal) support. Preference will be given to teams of investigators that present compelling plans for leveraging NPOD pilot funds to secure large federal (e.g., NIH) grants.
Support: $50,000 for one year with the opportunity to request a second year of support, contingent on project progress and participation in NPOD activities.
Letter of intent: September 1, 2024 (5 p.m. CST)
Full application Due Date: September 31, 2024 (5 p.m. CST)
ELIGIBILITY
Applications from current NPOD members and non-members will receive equal consideration. Previous recipients of NPOD funding are eligible to apply, but the pilot grant project must be scientifically distinct from previous NPOD-supported projects. Collaborations across UNL and UNMC are encouraged. Only one proposal per principal investigator (PI) is permitted per competition. However, there is no limit on the number of proposals an applicant may participate in as a co-investigator. Applicants cannot receive simultaneous research support as a project leader from any other IDeA parent awards (e.g., COBRE, INBRE, IDeA-CTR). NPOD is particularly interested in projects that make use of NPOD’s research core facility, the Biomedical and Obesity Research Core (BORC; see https://borc.unl.edu/). It is expected that most pilot grant awards will be utilized for wet lab and clinical research, but applications with a focus on bioinformatics are also encouraged. All required approvals (e.g., IRB, IACUC, IBC) must be obtained before funds are released. Applicants must be tenured faculty or faculty in tenure-leading appointments.
HOW TO APPLY
The submission of a letter of intent is required by September 1st, 2024 (5 p.m. CST). The letter will state the tentative project title, contact information of the PI, names, rank and affiliation of team members and specific aims of the proposal within a single page. Submission of a full proposal will be by invitation only. Instructions will be shared with applicants selected for the submission of a full proposal in the general format of an NIH R01 proposal.
The maximum budget will be up to $50,000 direct costs per year for a maximum of two years; F&A costs are not allowed. Year 2 funding will be contingent upon satisfactory progress in the first year, a continuation request by the investigator, and availability of funds. F&A costs, salary support for faculty, and equipment are not allowed. Salary support for project personnel other than faculty is an allowable budget item.
Letters of Intent (PDF) must be submitted by email to Verona Skomski (vskomski@unl.edu) and/or Dr. Xinghui Sun (xsun17@unl.edu) no later than 5 PM CST on September 1st, 2024.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Grant recipients (faculty/PI) will become NPOD members and will be expected to attend monthly meetings and participate in NPOD events.
- A PI is required to devote at least one person-month of effort to the Pilot Project but is not named as key personnel in the COBRE award.
- PIs are expected to submit a P01 proposal or a large multiple PI grant proposal (~$500,000 direct costs per year) no later than 12 months after the end date of the pilot grant.
- PIs will present their research progress at a monthly work-in-progress seminar of the NPOD, and to the external advisory committee during NPOD’s annual review meeting (typically in September).
- PIs are required to submit a report to NPOD in time for submission of the center’s annual report to NIH (typically in February).
- A final report documenting progress, publications, and grant proposals submitted and awarded, will be due to NPOD within 30 days after the end date of the pilot grant.
- Team members are expected to acknowledge NPOD support (NIH 1P30GM154608) in publications and presentations resulting from their pilot grant.
REVIEW
The scientific merit of each proposal will be assessed by a panel of experts with no conflict of interest, convened by the Director of NPOD’s pilot grants program, Dr. Xinghui Sun. Awards will require approval by NPOD’s Director and NPOD’s advisory board. The review criteria will follow NIH guidelines with the overall scientific merit of the proposal based on overall impact, significance, innovation, approach, investigators and environment. In addition, relevance of the proposal to the mission of NPOD and the likelihood of the project leading to a P01 or an MPI award will be assessed. The review will use the NIH scoring scale of 10–90. Decisions by NPOD are final. Prior approval from NIH is required before a Pilot Project can begin.
START AND END DATES
Start date: As soon as possible after merit review and compliance checks
End date: May 31, 2025
Possible renewal: June 1, 2025