Pilot Program:

Funding for New Initiatives in Translational and Interdisciplinary Research

YCCI has invited applications from its faculty for new initiatives in translational interdisciplinary research. The goal is to foster new projects that bring together investigators from diverse disciplines to study important problems in clinical medicine and human disease. YCCI invites applications from its faculty for new initiatives in translational and interdisciplinary research that focus on important aspects of human disease. The goal is to foster new projects that bring together investigators from diverse disciplines to study important problems in clinical medicine. It is anticipated that funds will be used to assemble teams and generate preliminary data that will result in programs that are competitive for extramural funding.

Scope:

Applications must propose new initiatives that combine Yale investigators from different disciplines to work on specific problems relevant to human disease. It is expected that teams will typically include laboratory and clinical investigators from more than one department and that human subjects will be involved. The study must ultimately translate to treatment of a health problem or to improving community health. Studies should allow clinical and translational researchers to generate preliminary data for submission of a research grant application.

Eligibility requirements:

Full-time Yale faculty may submit interdisciplinary proposals. Participation by more than one investigator from different disciplines is required. Multiple Principal Investigators are strongly encouraged. Pre-clinical studies must include collaboration with clinical faculty who help with the ultimate application of the research to human disease. The project must move from studies in the animal model to testing in humans or test translation to the community.

Review Process:

Important elements in the review process will be:
• Scientific merit: Is the research proposed important and innovative?
• Interdisciplinary nature: Does the research meet the criteria for being a new interdisciplinary disease-oriented program?
• Funding: Is the research likely to establish the basis and rationale for a larger project and to result in a successful application for extramural funding by this larger project? Could the research be accomplished without funds from this RFA?

Selection criteria and process:

Reviews will be discussed at a meeting of the entire Pilot Grant Review Committee along the lines of an NIH Study Section. Criteria for selection include innovation, recognition of clinical opportunities, good basic science behind a truly interdisciplinary project, and ultimate translation to the community to benefit human beings. Candidates MUST use the application and budget templates.  Element of the application are included below:

Submission Process

Application Form

Budget Template

Additional Requirements:

The abstracts and names of all investigators funded through the Pilot and Collaborative Studies Program will be posted on the national CTSA website. In addition, all investigators must provide a progress report to the YCCI, and acknowledge the YCCI CTSA base operating grant in any publications resulting from the supported studies. The YCCI also requires that results of studies supported through the program be posted on the Yale YCCI website once the data have been published.

 

2007 Awardees for Translational & Interdisciplinary
PI	Department	Project	Amount Funded	Award Dates
Patty Lee	Pulmonary & Critical Care	Emphysema:  The Inter-related Roles of Toll-like Receptors, Smoking and Age.	$150,000	8/1/07-7/31/09
Linda Mayes	Yale Child Study Center	Neural Circuitry of Parent Attachment in Substance Abuse	$150,000	8/1/07-7/31/09
Joanne Weidhaas	Therapeutic Radiology	MicroRNAa Signatures in Basal-like Breast Cancer:  Predicting Outcome and Targets	$150,000	8/1/07-7/31/09
Total Translational & Interdisciplinary			$450,000