Call for proposals for Pilot Research Projects

Dear Researchers,

The Omics for TB Disease Progression (OTB) program at the Center for Infectious Disease Research is pleased to announce a call for proposals for our Pilot Research Projects initiative in the coming year.  This program is an extension of our parent award from NIH/NIAID and provides an exciting opportunity to explore high-risk, innovative approaches related to tuberculosis research.  The goal of the pilot projects is to foster the development of new and novel concepts to study infectious diseases using a systems biology approach and advanced technologies.  Each pilot project is limited to a one year duration, a budget not to exceed $200,000 (total costs), and should fit within the overall scope of the OTB program.

Examples of appropriate pilot research projects:

·         Use of proteomics and metabolomics technologies to functionally characterize M. tuberculosis from in vivo infected samples.

·         Application of novel modeling approaches to gain insights/explore regulatory networks governing immune responses to pathogens.

·         Adapting new technologies (e.g. CRISPRi) to M. tuberculosis gene expression.

·         Development of high-throughput assays to characterize and/or validate the biochemical or/and physiological role of targeted proteins or genes.

·         Development of high-throughput single cell assays that probe individual host cell responses to infection.

CALL FOR PRELIMINARY PROPOSALS (DUE DECEMBER 1, 2015)

The OTB program is permitted to submit up to three proposals for independent review and evaluation by NIAID.  Our submissions will be competitively reviewed with proposals submitted by other centers.  NIAID anticipates funding 4-6 of these pilot projects, however, there is no guarantee that any of those will be awarded to our program.  To minimize unnecessary work for researchers and put forward the strongest candidate proposals, OTB will conduct a preliminary proposal review.  The top three candidate projects will then be invited to complete full proposals for submission to NIAID with a January 30thdeadline.

Preliminary proposals should consist of:

·         A brief (no longer than two pages) description of the proposed research.  As pilot projects are limited to one year, please be sure to state what you expect can be achieved in that time.

·         Draft budget (not to exceed $200K total).  Please include the lead researcher’s effort commitment (minimum 10%), personnel expenses, any supplies (does not need to be detailed), and indirect costs.

Preliminary proposals may be submitted via email to the OTB Program Manager, Drew Dover (drew.dover@cidresearch.org).  General questions can be directed to Drew via email.  Questions regarding scientific scope may be directed to the OTB PIs, Alan Aderem (alan.aderem@cidresearch.org) and David Sherman (david.sherman@cidresearch.org), however we encourage you to first familiarize yourself with the program at the OTB website

The proposal review panel will evaluate applications on the following criteria:

·         Scientific merit and novelty of the proposed investigation.

·         Qualifications and academic potential of the investigator.

·         Potential contribution of the research to the overall infectious disease systems biology program, and the OTB research themes/objectives in particular.

·         Evaluation and development of relevant new technology.

·         The likelihood of the research leading to independently funded (R01) research.

Thank you for your interest in this exciting program!

Drew Dover

Center for Infectious Disease Research

307 Westlake Avenue N, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109

Direct:  (206) 256-7408

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