December 1, 2020 Research Bulletin

Dear Research Community Colleagues,

With the holiday season upon us, I wanted to say thank you. With our collective efforts and the precautions we are taking, we have been able to continue our research mission in the midst of an ongoing pandemic.  

Next week we will be presenting our inaugural State of Research Address. I encourage you all to attend virtually if your schedule allows. Please know that it will be recorded and the link will be uploaded to the State of Research webpage.

Please visit our Research Administration Hub or email ResearchAdminComm@CUAnschutz.edu if you have any questions or suggestions regarding our communications channels.

Looking forward to talking more and highlighting the variety of research collaborations next week.

Thanks to all those that have already registered for the State of Research Address on Tuesday, Dec 8 at noon. More details are below.

Sincerely,

Thomas Flaig, MD
Vice Chancellor for Research
University of Colorado Denver | Anschutz Medical Campus

Featured Funding Opportunities

• Due 12/17: RWJF: Health Data for Action Program
  
• Due 1/14: Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Postdoctoral Enrichment Program for URMs
  
• Due on or after 1/19: NIDCR: Pilot Projects Enhancing Utility and Usage of Common Fund Data Sets
  
• Due 1/22: Global Medical Grants: Rheumatology Competitive Grant Program
  
• Due 2/1: Sarcoma Foundation of America: Research Grants
  
• Due 2/1: Sjogrens Syndrome Foundation, Inc.: High Impact Research Award
  
• Due on or after 2/2: NIMHD: Treatments for Lewy Body Dementias—Exploratory Clinical Trial
  
• Due 2/5: Leukemia Research Foundation: New Investigator Research Grant Program
  
• Due 2/8: North American Spine Society: Research Grants
  
• Due 9/8/22: NHLBI: Use of Predictive Analytics to Accelerate Late-Stage Implementation Research to address heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders

Additional December Featured Funding Opportunities

NIH Funding Announcements

Limited Funding Opportunities

In the Fall, we can see an increase in the number of limited institutional grant opportunities in which we can nominate a single applicant from our institution. Due to the short turn-around time we will have a modified and shortened process for these types of grant opportunities.

For the limited institutional grant opportunities below, please submit a brief summary (one page or less) and biosketch by the date indicated.

American Honda Foundation

American Honda Foundation supports youth education with a specific focus on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in addition to the environment. Institutions are limited to one funding request in a 12-month period.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 11, 2020
  
• Full Application deadline: February 1, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 11, 2020.

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation has announced this year’s Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Awards Program. Institutions are allowed one nomination for this program.

The Award supports the research and teaching careers of talented early career faculty and is open to academic institutions in the States, Districts, and Territories of the United States of America that grant a bachelor’s or higher degree in the chemical sciences, including biochemistry, materials chemistry, and chemical engineering.

Nominees must hold a full-time tenure-track academic appointment, and are normally expected to have been appointed no earlier than mid-year 2015. Awardees are from Ph.D. granting departments in which scholarly research is a principal activity. Undergraduate education is an important component.

The award provides a $100,000 grant that is normally expended over five years.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 11, 2020
• Full Application deadline: February 4, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 11, 2020. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released a Request for Applications titled “Promoting the Importance of Infant and Childhood Vaccination Among Pregnant Women by Prenatal Care Providers”

RFA-IP-21-001*

*Institutions are limited to one application.

The purpose of this notice of funding opportunity is to investigate the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of promoting infant immunization during prenatal care visits, leading parents to vaccinate their children confidently. Prenatal care providers, including obstetricians and midwives, are trusted sources of information for pregnant women, yet many feel uncomfortable providing information or discussing concerns about infant vaccination, likely because they consider this to be outside their area of expertise.

This represents a significant missed opportunity to provide important information to pregnant women from a trusted source, at a critical time, when research suggests maternal opinions about childhood vaccination are forming.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 11, 2020
  
• Letter of Intent: January 5, 2021
  
• Full Application deadline: February 2, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 11, 2020.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Center for Global Health “Strengthening Public Health Research and Implementation Science (Operations Research) to Control and Eliminate Infectious Diseases Globally”

RFA-GH-21-006*

*Institutions are limited to one application.

Awardees will 1) Conduct and monitor epidemiologic and laboratory-based science, surveillance, and research related to COVID-19 and other global public health threats in Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), including, but not limited to, assessments of the extent of pathogen exposures or transmission based on serologic testing, improved understanding of immune responses to infectious pathogens, and assessments of various approaches to collecting and analyzing the results of serologic testing; and, 2) Incorporate the results of these public health activities into operational disease detection, prevention, and response or control programs in regions noted above, strengthen public health capacity as outlined in the Global Health Security Agenda, and disseminate findings across the region, with partners, and globally.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 11, 2020
  
• Optional Letter of Intent: January 20, 2021
  
• Full Application deadline: February 26, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 11, 2020.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases “US Enhanced Surveillance Network to Assess Burden, Natural History, and Effectiveness of Vaccines to Prevent Enteric and Respiratory Viruses in Children”

RFAIP-21-002*

*Institutions are limited to one application.

The goal of this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) is to support a network of US institutions to develop and implement standard research protocols to conduct prospective active surveillance for: a) acute gastroenteritis (AGE) due to norovirus, rotavirus and other enteric viruses; b) acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) due to respiratory viruses including, but not limited to, influenza, RSV, parainfluenza viruses, human metapneumovirus, rhinoviruses, enteroviruses (including EV-D68), adenoviruses, and coronaviruses (including SARS-CoV-2); and c) acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) syndrome and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) among pediatric patients seeking healthcare at medical institutions.

The network should also provide accurate estimates of the effectiveness in this population of influenza, rotavirus, COVID-19 and other vaccines against respiratory or enteric virus-associated illnesses projected to become available during the period of performance (e.g., RSV, norovirus).

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 18, 2020
  
• Optional Letter of Intent: January 7, 2021
• Full Application deadline: February 8, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 18, 2020.

NIAID released a Notice of Change indicating this opportunity will now allow institutions only one application to support a Coccidioidomycosis Collaborative Research Centers (CCRC) program 

This new initiative will establish highly collaborative, multi-disciplinary research teams to conduct translational and clinical research for the improved diagnosis, treatment and prevention of coccidioidomycosis (Valley fever).

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 18, 2020
  
• Letter of Intent: January 18, 2021 (30 days prior to deadline)
  
• Full Application deadline: February 18, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 18, 2020.

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) has released a Request for Applications (RFA) titled “Understanding the Cellular and Molecular Mechanisms of Gastroparesis in Adults and Children (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

RFA-DK-20-030*

*Institutions are limited to one application

Since its establishment in 2006, the Gastroparesis Clinical Research Consortium (GpCRC), a multi-center coalition created and funded by NIDDK has made major advances to our understanding of the pathophysiology of Gastroparesis (Gp). Through the establishment of the largest gastroparesis tissue repository in the United States, combined with detailed phenotypic data, the GpCRC is ideally suited to accelerate insights into the underlying cellular and molecular pathophysiology of the gastroparesis with the ultimate goal of developing therapeutic target(s).

This RFA invites investigators from several disciplines, including basic and translational research in areas of neurosciences, immunology, microbiology and physiology, to contribute new insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms of Gastroparesis.

Examples of scientific topics that would be responsive to this announcement include, but are not limited to research on Gastroparesis that include:

• Multi-omic approaches using methods of genetics, genomics, epigenetics, proteomics, lipidomics, immunology, metabolomics and microbiome studies using patient-derived samples or cell systems such as patient organoids in order to discover new pathways of disease and targets for diagnosis and treatment.
  
• Physiological studies of potentially relevant cells types and systems, such as Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC), enteric neurons, glial cells, smooth muscle cells and other cell types of the digestive system.
  
• The role of immune and inflammatory mechanisms in tissue injury.
  
• Novel approaches to quantify or image physiologic changes that define the syndrome, including development of non-invasive diagnostic tests and biomarkers
  
• Mechanistic studies of tissue homoeostasis breakdown and repair processes
  
• Approaches to discovery of environmental triggers or contributing factors
  
• Development of screens for targeted functional studies in cellular models derived from human patient populations (e.g., induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells), to identify alterations in cellular processes associated with Gastroparesis and GI motility disorders; and
  
• Studies to evaluate brainstem vagal and myenteric ganglia neurons in animal models that may increase understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying delayed emptying in idiopathic and diabetic Gastroparesis.
  

Collaboration with investigators in the GpCRC is not required but encouraged when the proposed study benefits from the clinical insight and or data/specimens available throughout the GpCRC.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 18, 2020
  
• Letter of Intent: February 3, 2021
  
• Full Application deadline: March 3, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 18, 2020.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Outstanding New Environmental Scientist (ONES) Award 

RFA-ES-21-001

This award is intended to identify the most talented Early Stage Investigators (ESIs) who intend to make a long-term commitment to research in the Environmental Health Sciences and assist them in launching an innovative research program focused on understanding the effects of environmental exposure on people’s health.

This opportunity limits individual schools and colleges within the University to one applicant each per competition.

The ONES Program is specifically targeted to Early Stage Investigators and program goals include career promotion as well as the scientific project proposed. Applications for the ONES program differ from standard R01 applications in that applicants must describe plans for the active participation of an external advisory committee to provide consultation and feedback on the research and career guidance, commitment by the institution to actively support the research program development of the Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI), and a plan for career enhancement which will provide a strong foundation for future research endeavors.

PD(s)/PI(s) must be NIH defined Early Stage Investigators and this eligibility must be included in the NIH Commons record prior to the review of the application.  In addition, PD/PI's must have faculty appointments which are tenure track or equivalent, generally at the level of Assistant Professor, Research Assistant Professor, and have demonstrated outstanding abilities in basic, clinical, quantitative, or population-based research. Individuals must have established research independence from a mentor, and have dedicated, independent laboratory space or access to the clinical, population-based and/or public health research resources which will allow them to conduct the research proposed in the grant application as the lead, independent PD/PI.

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 18, 2020
  
• Full Application deadline: February 26, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 18, 2020.

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) has released a program announcement for the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) (T32 – Clinical Trial Not Allowed) 

PAR-21-025*

*Eligible institutions are limited to one application.

The goal of the Initiative for Maximizing Student Development (IMSD) program is to develop a diverse pool of scientists earning a Ph.D., who have the skills to successfully transition into careers in the biomedical research workforce. This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) provides support to eligible, domestic institutions to develop and implement effective, evidence-informed approaches to biomedical graduate training and mentoring that will keep pace with the rapid evolution of the biomedical research enterprise. NIGMS expects that the proposed research training programs will incorporate didactic, research, mentoring, and career development elements to prepare trainees for careers that will have a significant impact on the health-related research needs of the Nation.

This program is limited to applications from training programs at research-intensive institutions (i.e., those with NIH Research Project Grant funding averaging greater than or equal to $7.5 million in total costs (direct and F&A/indirect) per year over the last three fiscal years).

• Materials due to Internal Review Committee: December 18, 2020
• Full Application deadline: February 26, 2021
  

Interested candidates must send a one-page summary of their research proposal and their biosketch in pdf format to Garrett Steed by December 18, 2020.

Junior Faculty Funding Opportunities

CCTSI K to R Transition Program

The CCTSI K to R (KTR) Transition program is now accepting applications for review.

The K to R program is a pre-submission mock grant review process for faculty who are submitting their first R-level application. This CCTSI program provides the opportunity for anyone to submit their R-type grant proposals for internal review prior to submission to the NIH or other funding agency.

Letter of Intent Due Date: Friday, December 18, 2020
Application Due Date: Friday, January 1, 2021
In-Person Grant Review: Friday, January 15, 2021 (1-4pm)
NIH Deadline: February 5, 2021

For more information, please contact KTR Program Director: Maggie Wierman, MD or Galit Mankin for uploading/format issues.

This bulletin is distributed on the 1st & 3rd Tuesday of the month for the CU Anschutz Research Community.   

Past Research Bulletins can be found here.

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