CTSI provides peer-reviewed pilot funding opportunities for investigators to explore new therapies, treatments, or technologies (or established technologies that are new to them) that can enhance translational research and promote new research partnerships.
Where appropriate, pilot funding is coupled with relevant educational programs to help applicants learn the skills needed to incorporate new techniques into their ongoing research.
Here are current sources of CTSI pilot funding.
The CTSI and Small Molecule Biomarker Core (SMBC) Pilot Program supports projects to generate the early data needed to strengthen applications for extramural funding from federal or not-for-profit sources. A partnership of the CTSI and SMBC, the program does not apply to industry or for-profit supported investigations. Pilot funds may be used to produce preliminary data on biomarkers for which there are established experimental protocols. If no experimental protocols have yet been established, the feasibility of developing the assay must be evaluated by SMBC Director Samuel Poloyac, Ph.D., Pharm.D., prior to the awarding of program funds.
The Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratories Pilot Program gives translational and clinical investigators an opportunity to design and conduct experiments using genomics or proteomics technology and to explore new avenues for research based on these early results, as well as to obtain preliminary genomics or proteomics data to support requests for additional external funding. The program is designed primarily to assist investigators who are unfamiliar with genomic or proteomic data generation to become acquainted with these often vital research tools.
- VMI and CTSI Pilot Project Program in Hemostasis and Vascular Biology (P3HVB)—With this program for investigators new to the fields of hemostasis and vascular biology, the Vascular Medicine Institute (VMI) and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) will seed innovative research projects that offer the potential of opening new avenues in the following areas: transfusion medicine; transfusion-related lung injury; hemostasis and platelet biology; hemophilia; and integrative vascular biology with emphasis on the role of red cells, platelets, and hemostatic factors.
- Basic to Clinical Collaborative
Research Pilot Program (BaCCoR)—This program supports studies that bridge basic and clinical research. The
project can begin with a basic science observation for which a researcher is seeking the clinical
consequences; conversely, it can start with a clinical observation for which an investigator wants to
explore the underlying biological basis.
As they become available, other pilot funding opportunities are publicized in CTSI News of Interest on the main page of the Research Site, on the Office of Research, Health Sciences home page, and through the online database maintained by the Office of Research, Health Sciences (go to “Opportunities by Category” and select “Targeted Pilot Funding”).
What is a pilot study?
Pilot studies are small-scale studies for which at least one of the following is true:
- Preliminary testing of a new hypothesis is involved or preliminary data for a larger study are collected.
- An investigator performs experiments to learn a new technique (either a novel technique or an established technique new to the investigator).
- Experiments are performed that use newly developed technologies.
- Multidisciplinary teams work together to establish parameters for interactions among team members.
- An investigator engages in activities that define requirements for larger scale studies (as might typically be the case for a clinically oriented pilot study).
