Pilot Grant RFA

The Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) announces the availability of pilot grant funding for research project development.

CCTS Pilot Grant Program Goals:

• To foster outstanding new clinical and translational science projects at UIC that support research development to address urgent questions or to develop preliminary data that can be used to launch new NIH or other externally-funded research proposals;
• To encourage interdisciplinary teams of investigators that span across Colleges and campus to develop collaborations or new research avenues;
• To promote interactions between basic, clinical, community, and social scientists;
• To support research collaborations with community partners and organizations; and
• To advance health equity through research.

Funding Amounts, Duration and Start Dates:

• These pilot grant awards will be for one-year, up to $25,000
• Funding will start Summer 2025
• We anticipate funding 4 to 6 proposals and will consider a range of potential research ideas across the full translational spectrum.

At the end of the 12-month grant cycle is that awardees will have generated preliminary data, or data that helps respond to prior submitted proposal critiques, that will be used in an external (e.g., NIH) grant proposal. The Pilot Grant Program submission needs to include concrete proposal submission plans (including dates) and publication plans.

This pilot grant opportunity focuses on translational science projects only, and as such, all applications must involve human participants, facilitate human participant investigations, establish infrastructure related to human participant investigation, or concern disease mechanisms with clear, near-term implications for therapeutics or prevention. Pilot funding aims to support key aspects that will lead to a successful, extramurally funded research programs.

The PI and other key personnel will be expected to also participate in CCTS Research in Progress sessions, with the expectation for each funded team to present at least once over the course of the funding year. Awardees will also be encouraged to make use of other CCTS supports, including Research Ally.

Pilot proposals must address a clinical translational science problem. We adopt the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Clinical Translational Science (NCATS) definition of clinical translational science: Translational science “is the field that generates innovations that overcome longstanding challenges along the translational research pipeline. These include scientific, operational, financial, and administrative innovations that transform the way research is done, making it faster, more efficient, and more impactful” (NCATS, NIH). The CCTS Pilot Grant Program will focus on projects that may fit one of the following characteristics:

• address unmet scientific, patient, or population health needs
• produce generalizable solutions for common and persistent challenges – that is, develop innovations that address persistent challenges to advancing translational progress that are found across multiple research initiatives or projects, or span research on multiple diseases or conditions
• emphasize innovation in research design and implementation in pursuit of advancing research across multiple diseases and conditions; or that emphasize innovation in research team interactions that facilitate and support the quality and impact of research
• leverage cross-disciplinary team science
• enhance the efficiency and speed of translational research by implementing evidence-informed practices and scientific and operational innovation
• prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility to produce research outcomes that are relevant to the full diversity of the population

Although applications are welcome in the broad domains of clinical translational research, we are especially interested in applications covering the following priority areas for 2025 funding:

• Clinical translational science; that is projects that focus on the process of turning research results into real-world applications to improve health
• Methods to improve the clinical translational research process
• Innovative Implementation Science methods that promote the uptake of research findings into routine healthcare in clinical or policy contexts
• Innovations in chronic pain management, including pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches especially to reduce opioid use (see NIH HEAL initiative)
• Health disparities/health equity issues
• Community-based participatory research approaches
• Local community-identified health and social issues
• Use of Chicago Health Atlas data
• Leveraging Health Chicago 2025 and Chicago Health Equity Zone priorities
• A lifespan, critical period perspective

The full application scoring will occur based on the 9-point NIH scale and will evaluate the following factors:

• Relevance to Clinical Translational Science: Does the project address a barrier in clinical translational science? Might the results lead to generalizable lessons learned and be applicable to more than one specific disease or disorder?
• Significance: Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?
• Approach: Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility and will particularly risky aspects be managed?
• Investigators: Are the PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If early-stage investigators, new investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance, and organizational structure appropriate for the project?
• Innovation: Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
• Collaboration: To what extend does this project encourage interdisciplinary teams of investigators that spans across Colleges and campus to develop collaborations or new research avenues; promote interactions between basic and clinical scientists; and / or support research collaborations with community partners and organizations?
• Feasibility: Can the study feasibly accomplish the proposed aims within given time-frame? Is the requested budget appropriate for the proposed research?
• Community Impact: To what extent, does this research have the potential to improve human health, either in the near or distant future?
• Future Funding Potential: How likely is this research to be successfully submit and receive funding for an R-level or similar external grant application within one year of completion?
• Future Publications: What is the probability this research will result in future publications within one year of completion?
• Overall Impact: Reviewers will provide an overall impact score to reflect their assessment of the likelihood for the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the research field(s) involved, considering the above review criteria.

Principal Investigators MUST submit their own applications. Principal Investigators must be clinical, research, or tenure track UIC faculty or Senior Scientists at UIC. Although adjunct faculty cannot serve as PIs, they may serve as named investigators, collaborators, or key personnel. Post-doctoral fellows may also serve as key personnel but cannot be PIs.

We highly recommend that applicants attend the Pilot Informational Sessions and/or request a consultation to ensure their proposal meets eligibility criteria and addresses translational science. We also recommend drawing upon other CCTS/CTSA resources and our Research Ally consultation service.

The grant application process is divided into two phases: the Letter of Intent and Full Application phases. Letters of intent are required and will be reviewed. Only applicants who have submitted a letter of intent and who are invited to apply for the full pilot or planning grant will be eligible. Applications will ONLY be accepted via electronic submission in the Awards system.

• PHASE 1: Letter of intent submission. Applicants will be required to submit a summary of specific aims and scientific plan, in addition to explaining how the proposed project addresses a clinical translational research barrier, extends collaborations, develops new areas of research, and/or prepares for future grant submissions. The review committee will review and score these; a selected group will then be invited to submit for Phase 2.
• PHASE 2: Full Application to be submitted only by those invited from Phase 1. The full application includes a lay summary, research plan, milestones, biosketch, budget, letter of support, and additional documents.

• RFA release date: Monday, September 30, 2024
• LOI Information Session: Monday, October 14, 2024, 1:00 – 2:00 PM CDT via Zoom
• LOIs due: Friday, November 1, 2024 by 5:00 PM CST
• Invitations for full application:  Monday, December 16, 2024
• Full applications due: Friday, March 21, 2025 by 5:00 PM CST
• Award notification: May 2025
• Award start date: Summer 2025

We encourage applicants to utilize Research Ally and access CCTS’s team of peer scientists, who are ready to collaborate on strategies and solutions for translational science challenges. During a Research Ally consultation, investigators select from a list of research needs that help us understand your study’s unique challenges. CCTS Research Navigators use this information to convene a collaborative team of peer scientists with the expertise to address your specific needs.

Contact Mary Murray, Pilot Program Coordinator, Center for Clinical and Translational Science, at mcampb22@uic.edu.