Pilot Research Projects

Yerkes NPRC 2016 Request for Pilot Research Projects

The Yerkes National Primate Research Center is seeking proposals for new Pilot Research projects that will be funded from the upcoming year of the P51 base grant.  We expect to make 2–3 awards.

Funding

These Pilot Research awards will provide one year of support, up to $70,000 in direct costs. Although the awards are open to all investigators, the ORIP guidelines require the direct involvement of a Center Core Scientist, either as principal investigator or sponsor (with another qualified scientist leading the conduct of the project). We especially encourage applications from early career investigators and applications that propose translational research projects.

Eligibility

The projects will be judged in part on their potential to generate high-impact preliminary data that will result in peer-reviewed, research project grants from outside sources, and on how well they meet the five major review criteria per the ORIP NPRC and the NIH Office of Extramural Research guidelines, specifically—Significance, Approach, Innovation, Investigator and Environment (note, please do not include descriptions of available facilities or equipment unless important to the evaluation of the merit of the proposal).

Requirements

For this year’s Pilot Projects, we invite short research proposals that strictly adhere to the requirements below.  All text should be in Arial 11 pt font, using 0.5” margins.  Include a header with the PI’s name and a footer with page numbers in the bottom center.  Proposals should use the following section headings, with space allocated to each section as needed:

• A face page that provides the project title, principal investigator and proposed direct costs (a template is attached to this announcement).
• A brief research plan of no more than 3 pages total that includes:
  • A brief summary of the proposed project and specific aims
  • Significance
  • Innovation
  • Approach
  • Note:  the research plan should specifically address how this project meets the NPRC criteria for Pilot Research projects and how the project will lead to future funding (or other outcomes)
• Literature cited (no more than 1 page); this section is not included in the 3 page limit for the research plan.
• Budget (personnel, animals, assays, services, etc.)  Please use the PHS 398 page 4 form (“Detailed Budget for Initial Project Period”) and include only direct costs.
• Budget justification (≤1 page), including brief descriptions of investigators and their roles.
• Other support for the PI and Core Scientist; potential overlap of the proposed project with existing funding should be explicitly addressed.

The project must be largely conducted on site at Yerkes and should focus on use of nonhuman primate models or, if other species are involved, show a clear connection to future primate studies. Per ORIP policy, these awards are explicitly not to be used for interim support for established projects or for investigations funded from other sources.  Please be mindful of all the stated requirements—proposals that do not meet all of the requirements noted above will not be reviewed.  When developing the proposed research plan, applicants proposing to use NHPs should be cognizant of the time required to obtain IACUC protocol approval as well as the time required for animal identification, quarantine, and final assignment.  These potential time constraints should be incorporated into the duration of the proposed study.

An investigator is allowed to apply for one proposal per funding cycle and can receive no more than one pilot project award every 2 years.

Timeline:

• Proposal submitted as a single PDF to Denise Wardlow, assistant to Dr. Johnson, via e-mail (dwardlo@emory.edu) by 5 pm, Friday, April 8, 2016.  Late applications will not be accepted!
• Projects will reviewed by the Yerkes National Scientific Advisory Board, selected, PIs notified, and funds awarded with an effective start date of May 1, 2016.