The NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Obesity and Cardiovascular Diseases, in collaboration with the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS) announce the availability of limited funds to support pilot projects focused on research examining obesity-associated diseases. Emphasis for support will be placed on pilot projects that examine the relationship between obesity and cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, COVID-19, cancer, or neurodegenerative diseases.  These pilot grants are intended to assist investigators new to this area of research to generate sufficient data to be competitive for extramural funding.

 

Funding Amount:

Individual project awards (up to $50,000 in direct costs only) will be made on a competitive basis and must be spent by July 31, 2024.

 

Eligibility:

Eligibility is limited to full-time regular, special, and clinical title faculty as well as full-time research faculty of the University of Kentucky. Junior faculty members are especially encouraged to apply.

 

Investigators in training including residents, post-doctoral fellows, and clinical fellows are not eligible to serve as PIs but may be co-investigators.

 

Timeline: Applications are due by 5:00 PM, Monday, September 25, 2023.

To submit an application, please provide in order: (1) NIH format Biosketch with other support, (2) Abstract (1 page), (3) Research Proposal (6 pages) and NIH budget form with justification. The Research Proposal should follow standard NIH format, with specific aims, background/significance, preliminary data, and experimental approach.

 

Applicants do not need IRB or IACUC approvals to submit a pilot grant application, but necessary IRB or IACUC protocols should be submitted as soon as possible upon notification of the preliminary approval of your application, in order to facilitate approval of the use of funds by the NIH (these approvals are required before NIH will release the funds).  Funds may not be awarded if necessary IRB/IACUC approvals are not obtained in a timely manner consistent with the grant award period.

 

Submit your Full Application as a single Word file to Mark.Schwarcz@uky.edu, COBRE Program Administrative Coordinator.  Please note that this is a one-step process.

 

See the COCVD website:  http://cocvd.med.uky.edu for a description of the overall COCVD program. Please read the entire Pilot Projects page on the website (including the FAQ & the links to the latest NIH forms) for additional details to assist you in developing and submitting your proposal.

 

For questions, please contact Mark Schwarcz at 201 334 2959.