National CTSA Consortium

Accelerating Discoveries Toward Better Health

Visit CTSACentral.org for information about the national CTSA program.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences funds the CTSA program.

Brain Research Foundation Scientific Innovations Award

The Brain Research Foundation has invited the University of Rochester to nominate one (1) senior faculty member to submit a Letter of Intent for the 2013 Scientific Innovations Award. The objective of this grant program is to support projects that may be too innovative and speculative for traditional funding sources, but still have a high likelihood of producing important findings. It is expected that investigations supported by these grants will yield high impact findings and result in major grant applications and significant publications in high impact journals. The award will total $300,000 over two years ($150,000 per year).

Eligibility Requirements

  • Applicant must be a tenured professor or associate professor at an invited US institution (Assistant professors and professors emeritus are not eligible.).
  • Applicant must work in the area of studies of brain function in health and disease.
  • Current major NIH or other peer-reviewed funding is preferred, but evidence of such funding within the past three years is essential.
  • The grant is not to be used as a source of bridge funding.
  • Applicant may not hold another Brain Research Foundation grant concurrently with the SIA award.

Research Interests

  • Studies should be related to either normal human brain development or specifically identified disease states. This includes molecular and clinical neuroscience, as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning in health and disease.
  • The grant must detail a new research project that is not funded by other sources.
  • There are no protected time requirements.

Internal Application Instructions

The Provost has requested one recommendation each from the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the School of Medicine and Dentistry.

River Campus faculty who wish to be considered for nomination must e-mail their expressions of interest to Debra Haring (dharing@admin.rochester.edu) by May 1, 2012 with the words “Brain Research Foundation SIA” in the subject line. Interested faculty at the Medical Center must e-mail their expressions of interest to Catherine Muzytchuk (Catherine_muzytchuk@URMC.rochester.edu) by May 1, 2012 with the words “Brain Research Foundation SIA” in the subject line.

The expression of interest must include:

          (1) a Chair’s letter recommending the candidate

          (2) the candidate’s biosketch or CV

          (3) a brief, three-page abstract of the proposed research

URMC faculty must use the attached forms, including the cover page. Faculty with questions about deadlines or eligibility criteria should contact Dr. Paul A. Spengler, Director of UR Foundation Relations, at 276-2955 or pspengler@admin.rochester.edu.

The deans will review the expressions of interest; their recommendations will be reviewed by the Provost, who will then select the final nominee. The Provost’s Office will notify the candidates on or about May 22nd.

The UR nominee should contact Dr. Paul Spengler to obtain the required electronic Letter of Intent (LOI) form and for assistance with the LOI and final application.

Per university policy, the UR nominee must provide Foundation Relations with a final copy of the application for review by June 19, 2012. The application must be submitted to the foundation by June 26, 2012.

The Brain Research Foundation will review the applications submitted and invite full proposals from faculty whose research is of interest to the foundation by August 15, 2012. The full proposal deadline has not yet been announced.

For more information, the complete program solicitation can be found here.

 

NIH Funding Acknowledgement ** Important ** All publications resulting from the utilization of CTSI resources are required to credit the CTSI grant by including the NIH FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT and must comply with the NIH Public Access Policy.