Research Advisory Committee Grant

Department of Surgery
Internal Research Support Competition

DEADLINE: DECEMBER 1, 2009

Objectives and Eligibility Criteria

The Department of Surgery has support available to fund meritorious, basic and translational research and to assist Surgery faculty in pursuing extramural funding. Objectives of this program include helping new investigators initiate projects and enabling established investigators to pursue new areas of interest.

The Principal Investigator must:

have a primary appointment in Surgery and
have been a faculty member for at least one year prior to the submission of a grant application.

Funding decisions are made on scientific merit, need, and the potential for extramural funding; there are no limits or quotas of funding per section. The program is not intended to provide funding for multiple projects for one investigator or to provide start-up funds for new faculty members.

It is expected that new faculty members have received a commitment for research support independent of the internal funding application. The Committee should be in the position of judging the scientific merit of the application without concern for the start-up needs of the faculty member

Investigators should submit their most important projects, ones which have the greatest potential to develop into long term focal research programs with a high chance of extramural funding. Basic science and translational research are specifically encouraged as clinical research based grants are now funded through MICHR.

Application Procedures

*** New this year, applicants must provide a description of how the results of the proposed research could lead to extramural funding. This should be addressed in part E. of the application, and should include potential funding sources and a timeline for submission.***

Applications are available for download here.

The Department of Surgery's Research Advisory Committee has the charge of advising the Chairman on requests for research funds. The application is assigned at least two reviewers with expertise in the field. The Committee members also review the applications and the reviewer comments. The recommendations are based on the reviews, scientific merit, the relative need and availability of funds. Basic science and translational projects are both strongly encouraged. Applicants will receive written evaluations of each application submitted.

Applications must contain information regarding all current funds (i.e., Section, University, extramural) available to the researcher and pending proposals.

The maximum award possible is $35,000 for one year. A second year of funding can be requested by competitive renewal based on progress of the first year of funding. The funds requested for the second year should be based on need and on what was expended in the prior year; the budget may be reduced by the unencumbered funds from the first year.

The Advisory Committee utilizes NIH standard application format. Note that the Face Page has been modified for use locally by the committee. The remainder of the pages should be completed in accordance with NIH instructions. This includes a full justification of all budget items requested. Other Support should include all currently active and pending Federal, Non-Federal, Commercial or Institutional research funds held by the applicants. Application form must also include Biographical Sketches of all Key Personnel. Each Biosketch must be no more than two pages.

Requests for supplies, small equipment, and technical support are acceptable budget components. All awarded funds will be expended in accordance with the budget request on the application and subsequent budget revisions.

The following costs will not be supported from this research fund: faculty salary support (percent of faculty effort to be left blank on budget page), construction, travel, training, hosting and already incurred cost overruns.

For the Research Plan, items A - D are restricted to a total of 6 pages. Applications that exceed this page limit will be returned for revision.

The application must be completed using a font with the following characteristics:

Minimum size is 10pt
Maximum number of characters per inch is 15.
A 1/2 inch margin must be maintained on the right and left sides of the page.

Applications that do not conform to these instructions will be returned to the investigator.

All applications must be submitted by 5 PM on December 1, 2009 to the Surgery Research Office, A560 MSRB II/Box 0654.

An original application and 10 copies should be submitted.

Applications that do not conform to these instructions will be returned.

Post Award

Once an application is funded, the Surgery Business Office will establish a separate account number for the project. The project director is to charge items directly to that account. Monthly account reconciliation is the responsibility of the investigator or his/her designee. Copies of the SOA will be distributed to the Surgery Research Office on a monthly basis for review. The Surgery Research Office will review the appropriateness of the expenses and advise the Section Administrator when the project is complete. After each year of funding, a progress report will be required. The progress report will include: an abstract of the project; a restatement of the original specific aims and objectives; details of the methodology; a description of the accomplishments to date and expectation of future accomplishments; a list of applications which were submitted or funded as a result of the project; and publications, presentations, posters, exhibits or films which resulted from the project. In addition, brief progress reports will be periodically requested in an effort to monitor the accomplishments of individual projects and the internal grant program.

If external funding is received while an internal grant is active, the remainder of the internal grant funds will be returned to the Department.

Close Out

Once the project has been completed or if the principal investigator leaves, the Section is responsible for closing out the account. Any positive balance is to be transferred back to the Department; deficits are the responsibility of the Section. If the Section decides to use the account number for another purpose, then the Surgery Research Office needs to be notified.

For further information, contact the Surgery Research Office, A560 MSRB II/Box 0654, 936-7995. Please forward complete applications to the same address.