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Clinical & Translational Science Institute / Funding / Faculty Translational Science Pilot Award

Faculty Translational Science Pilot Award

These awards support projects that address a translational challenge or barrier with a primary goal to provide the groundwork for faculty to obtain subsequent funding. The UR CTSI requires that faculty awardees demonstrate academic productivity through publication of the research.

Return to: Funding Directory

Eligibility

The principal investigator (PI) on all proposals must be faculty members with a primary appointment at the University of Rochester. If there are MPIs, one of the members of the applying team must have a primary faculty appointment at the University of Rochester.  This team member will be the contact PI for the project.    

Faculty may participate as PI, MPI, Faculty Sponsor/Primary Mentor on only one submission per award category. Faculty may participate in multiple submissions per category as co-investigator or co-mentor.  Any faculty member who has a current grant with overlapping aims is not eligible to apply.  

Funding Amount

This TS01 award provides up to $50,000 for up to one year.

Important Dates

The following dates apply to the current solicitation: 

  • Initial Letter of Intent (LOI) and Specific Aims due - October 21, 2024 at 5:00 PM 
  • Notification of full proposal solicitation - December 9, 2024 
  • Full proposals due - January 27, 2025 at 5:00 PM 
  • Notifications of Award - March 24, 2025 
  • Anticipated start date - July 1, 2025 
  • Award period ends - June 30, 2026 

Apply

Solicitation and Review Process

Phase 1: Applicants submit a two-page Letter of Intent (LOI) stating their specific aims and summarizing their proposals. The UR CTSI review committee specific to each submission category will evaluate, score, and discuss the LOIs.  
 
Phase 2: A subset of applicants will be invited to submit full proposals. The UR CTSI Review Committee specific to each submission category will engage in a formal study section-style discussion and scoring meeting for proposals. Funding recommendations go to the UR CTSI Executive Team for a final review and decision on funding.  

The Pilot Studies Funding Attestation must be submitted with the initial Letter of Intent and full proposal.

Note: All animal and human subject protocols must be approved by NCATS, the NIH institute funding the UR CTSI, prior to the start date. No funds for research project costs may be released until all required human subjects and animal welfare approvals have been received.

Please note that UR CTSI awards and funding are dependent upon the renewal of grants from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

Application Selection

Projects supported by this program must address a translational challenge or barrier and meet the definition of translational science research. Translational science is the field of investigation focused on understanding the scientific and operational principles underlying each step of the translational research process.

Highly competitive applications will address a specific translational barrier using a disease or use case in a way that could convincingly be applied across multiple diseases, conditions or scientific fields.

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Contact

If you have questions regarding this RFA, please contact one of the following:

General inquiries
Karen Grabowski – ctsi@urmc.rochester.edu

Scientific and Peer Review contacts
OJ Sahler, MD - oj_sahler@urmc.rochester.edu
Edward Schwarz, PhD - edward_schwarz@urmc.rochester.edu

Financial contact
Mary Lyons - mary_lyons@urmc.rochester.edu

Awardees and Projects

Use of implementation science to adapt a community health worker model to improve outcomes among historically marginalized children with asthma.
Jessica Stern, MD, MS
Assistant Professor, Medicine M&D-Immunology/Rheumatology Division

A novel, smart "Rapid Decision" AI to bridge the major gap in adaptive radiotherapy
Dandan Zheng, PHD, MS
Professor of Radiation Oncology, and Director of Medical Physics

Understanding the kidney replacement therapy decision-making process
Suma Prakash, M.D.

Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Nephrology

Significance of symptom onset-To-angiography time in non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction
Sukardi Suba, Ph.D., R.N.
Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Rochester School of Nursing

Desmosome-nuclear lamina coupling: Implications for arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy
Eric M. Small, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine in the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute, Pharmacology and Physiology, and Biomedical Engineering

Dissecting cellular heterogeneity and cross-talk in Cam FAI and hip osteoarthritis joint synovial tissue by spatial transcriptomics sequencing
Chia-Lung Wu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics and Biomedical Engineering

Is Concentrated Insulin in Human Milk-Derived Fortifiers Linked with Increased Hypoglycemia in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit?
Bridget Young, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Pediatric Allergy/Immunology and Public Health Sciences

Using neural correlates of story comprehension to reveal mild cognitive impairment in early Alzheimer's
Andrew J. Anderson, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience

Mitochondrial genetics and oxidative function as determinants of bone health
Roman Eliseev, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Orthopaedics and Pharmacology and Physiology 

Role of the Alternative Complement Pathway in Systemic Sclerosis Associated Pulmonary Hypertension (SSc-PAH)
Benjamin Korman, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology

Preventing Premature Death among Patients with Serious Opioid Related Infection
Marc Swogger, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Kenneth Conner, PsyD, MPH
Professor of Emergency Medicine

Predictors of Functional Impairment in Older Adults with Head & Neck Cancer
Ronald Maggiore, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Hematology/Oncology

Targeting Vitamin D Receptor for Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer
Rakesh Singh, M.D., MPhil
Research Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Piloting Interventions to Improve Adherence to Cervical Cancer Screening in ED
David Adler, M.D., MPH
Professor of Emergency Medicine, Pediatrics and Public Health Sciences

Cardiac Biomarkers for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy
David Auerbach, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute

Patient-specific simulated procedure rehearsal for minimally invasive surgery
Ahmed Ghazi, M.D., MSc
Assistant Professor of Urology

Developing Social-Network Measures of Medical Staff Interactions in Nursing Homes
Orna Intrator, Ph.D.
Professor of Public Health Sciences

Sensitivity to Envelope Structure in Children with Otitis Media and Hearing Loss
Margo McKenna Benoit, M.D.
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Otolaryngology

Targeting of small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of myelogenous leukemia
Benjamin Frisch, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor of Hematology/Oncology

Effect of Statin therapy in combination with QT prolonging drugs
Coeli Lopes, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Aab Cardiovascular Research Institute

MeTC7 a novel Vitamin-D receptor antagonist for immunotherapy of ovarian cancer
Rakesh Singh, Ph.D., MPhil
Research Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Assessment of Forteo as a Therapeutic to Treat Knee Osteoarthritis
Emily Carmody, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic

A Pilot Study of Mexiletine for Muscle Cramps in Charcot Marie tooth Disease
David Herrmann, M.D.
Professor of Neurology

Vitamin D Kinetics During Pregnancy
Eva Pressman, M.D.
Chair and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Identification of the Effective Vascular Progenitors for Bone Repair and Regeneration
Xingping Zhang, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Orthopaedics

Improving Mitochondrial Function in Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Accelerate Fracture Repair in Aging
Roman Eliseev, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Center for Musculoskeletal Research

Chemoprevention of bladder cancer through estrogen receptor modulation
Elizabaeth Guancial, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Hematology and Oncology)

Role of the Gut Microbiome in Preventing Allergic Disease
R. John Looney, M.D.
Professor of Medicine (Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology)

Exosomes from bladder cancer patients can serve as biomarkers of disease progression
Edward Messing, M.D.
Professor of Urology

Novel microRNA Based Therapy to Improve CD4+ T-cell Responses to Vaccination
Craig Morrell, DVM, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Medicine

The Role of Microparticle-Derived Thy-1 (CD90) in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus
Sherry Spinelli, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Quantifying Tumor Diversity to predict and target Cancer progression
W. Richard Burack, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Osteoblastic Function in Human Leukemia
Laura Calvi, M.D.
Associate Professor, Medicine (Endocrinology)

Inhibition of G protein beta/gamma signaling as a therapeutic approach to treatment of lupus
Alan Smrcka, Ph.D.
Professor, Pharmacology and Physiology

Improving Platelet Storage and Transfusion Outcomes with PPARγ Ligands
Neil Blumberg, M.D.
Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

High throughput sorting of rare cells from blood using Microbubble Arrays
Lisa DeLouise, Ph.D., M.P.D.
Associate Professor, Dermatology

Characterization of antifibrotic effects of CDDO, a small electrophilic compound
Ajit Kulkarni, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Medicine (Pulmonary/Critical Care Division)

Therapeutic targeting of CXCR7 in malignant glioma by small molecule antagonist
Yang Liu, BM, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Neurosurgery

Comparative Effectiveness of practice-based diabetes prevention programs
Nancy Bennett, M.D., M.S.
Director of the Center for Community Health

Protease activated cytokines: a novel methodology for the delivery and activation of cytokines
John Frelinger, Ph.D.
Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

Microparticle miRNAs as transcellular messengers in diabetes and vascular disease
Sherry Spinelli, Ph.D.
Research Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine