Funding Opportunities

The Community Engagement and Research (CEAR) core of the Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) at the University of Pennsylvania is making pilot grant funding available for research with public and community health relevance. We are especially interested in proposals that address cancer risk and cancer prevention.

This call for proposals is open to faculty and postdocs with significant public and community health-related experience at Penn and is intended to:

• Foster interdisciplinary research in public health at Penn that will have meaningful results at the community level.
• Assist in garnering external support for large-scale studies in the field of public health.
• Encourage additional faculty and staff at Penn to become involved in public health research.
• Identify the innovative methodologies in the field of public health that have the potential of informing local, state, and national policy and programming.

CEAR Call for Proposals.

All applications must be submitted electronically using the ITMAT Pilot Grant application system: https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/itmat/pg/.

Applications are due April 7, 2023 for a June 1, 2023 start date. Awarded grants will be in the range of $5,000 to $20,000. Any questions should be directed to Krista Scheffey (krista.scheffey@pennmedicine.upenn.edu) or Collin Kather (collin.kather@pennmedicine.upenn.edu)

The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT), the Penn Center for Precision Medicine, the Abramson Cancer Center (ACC) and the Department of Radiology plan to support pilot grants in the area of Human Phenomic Science (HPS).

• Grants to support research that avails of the facilities of the Center for Human Phenomic Science (CHPS) are available to registered members of the ITMAT and the ACC as well as Associate Members who hold Instructor A or Research Associate positions.
• Examples of the types of such research include (i) deep phenotyping studies designed to parse variability of response to therapeutic interventions; (ii)deep phenotyping n=1 studies of patients receiving investigative drugs on the basis of compassionate use; (iii) studies that interrogate multi-system disease to determine individual susceptibility such as cardiac complications of chemotherapeutic agents; (iv) studies that elucidate how environmental perturbations influence drug response such as studies of chronopharmacology or drug – diet interactions and (v) studies of multimodal combinatorial therapies.
• All proposals are due by April 30, 2020 at noon for a project start date of June 1, 2020.

HPS Budget Template
HPS Submission Requirements

There are many internal and external funding opportunities available for faculty and students. These opportunities can be viewed via the School of Medicine’s portal and via the University’s U@Penn Research Portal. This new feature, which is part of U@Penn, provides a single portal for investigators and administrators that is aimed at facilitating accessibility to research information.

The proposals must be interdisciplinary and translation in nature and bridge the pediatric to adult divide.  All proposals must have at least two Co-Principal Investigators, including at least one from the University of Pennsylvania and at least one from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.  The proposals are due by Thursday, June 3, 2021 at noon for a proposal start date of July 1, 2021.  Please note that the attached PDF document contains all of the documents required for submission via our Pilot Grants system.

• MHB Instructions (pdf) 
• MHB Application
• MHB Budget Template

MHB 2016-2017 Awardees (pdf)

The ITMAT-CTSA Program in Comparative Animal Biology (PICAB) announces a pilot grant program between the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) and the Perelman School of Medicine (PSOM) aimed at better understanding of the mechanisms of pathology in animal diseases that are appropriate models for human diseases.  The purpose is to facilitate interdisciplinary investigations between comparative and human medical scientists to advance understanding of diseases.

The project must have one co-PI from the School of Veterinary Medicine, and one co-PI from the Perelman School of Medicine. Additional faculty may be part of a proposal as co-investigators. Projects may be in any area of zoonotic organisms. Two pilot grants of up to $30,000 each is available start date of February 1, 2023. Grants are due at noon on Wednesday, December 7th, 2022.

Investigators who would like advice on potential partners in the other school may contact Dr. John H. Wolfe via Emily Benenhaley at 215-590-7030 or ebenen@vet.upenn.edu.

•  PICAB Instructions
•  PICAB Application
•  PICAB Budget Template

 PICAB 2015-2018 Awardees (pdf)

CTSA SPIRiT Call for Proposals

SPIRiT, the Sharing Partnership for Innovative Research in Translation, is pleased to announce a new funding program that supports pilot research projects representing collaborations between investigators from at least two of the SPIRiT sites. The SPIRiT Consortium members supporting this program include Johns Hopkins University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Pittsburgh, Washington University in St. Louis, and Yale University – all members of the NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program. The investigator(s) from each of the participating sites must have a significant, defined role in the research project.  Although the participating investigators may have collaborated in the past, the research project proposed must be novel and not part of an ongoing project.  In other words, the proposed research must represent a new collaboration between investigators from at least two (2) SPIRiT sites OR a new project conducted by existing collaborators from at least two (2) SPIRiT sites. Proposed projects may address any aspect of clinical and translational science.

Available Funding

The maximum budget for a SPIRiT Collaborative Pilot Project Award is $25,000 direct costs, per institution involved. The budgeted funds for each SPIRiT site in the project may not exceed $25,000 in direct costs. Funds are not transferable across institutions. Budgets should be well-justified and commensurate with the substantive work to be conducted at each site.

Research Plan

Teams that respond to this solicitation must submit one overall Research Plan. The research plan must include the sections described in A-D. Note: sections A-B must not exceed five (5) pages. Sections A, B and C should be uploaded as one PDF under “Research Proposal”. Section D should be uploaded under “References”.

A. Specific Aims and Research Strategy: Concisely state the hypothesis to be tested and the Specific Aim(s) to be achieved during the award. Include a clear statement as to the aspects of the study that require or will be enhanced by participation of each SPIRiT institution. Meaningful collaboration from each site must be demonstrated. The Research Strategy should include: 1) Significance, 2) Innovation, and 3) Approach sections.

B. Team Collaboration: Describe the team that has been assembled across the SPIRiT sites. If investigators from any SPIRiT sites are active collaborators, or have been in the past, briefly describe the collaborative research. The roles and administrative, technical, and scientific responsibilities for the project should be delineated for the Site PIs.

C. Milestones Table: Provide a table listing the project milestones, time frame for completion, and responsible Site PI(s) for each. This table must be no more than one page.

Review Criteria

Primary review criteria:

• scientific feasibility and scientific merit of the project
• potential to lead to more comprehensive studies
• project is novel and is not simply a next logical step in ongoing studies
• clearly defined and significant scientific roles for investigators from all participating sites

Timeline

Applications Due: November 30, 2018 (5:00 p.m. EST)
Award Decisions: March 2019
Award Start Date: April 1, 2019

•  SPIRiT Instructions (pdf)
•  SPIRiT RFA (pdf)
•  SPIRiT Site Face Budget Pages
•  SPIRiT Application

 SPIRIT 2017 Awardees (pdf)

The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) invites proposals from ITMAT Members and ITMAT Associate Members in the Research Associate or Instructor A category. It is not too late to become a Member or an Associate Member if you would like to apply for the grant and meet membership criterion. If you are interested, please visit the membership section of our website for details.

The proposals must center on the translational space – from proof of concept in cells or model systems through to mechanistic studies in humans elucidating human physiology or mechanisms of disease or, in drug development, parsing sources of variability in drug response and/or understanding mechanisms of drug action in humans in Phase II. Programs that plan to progress within that space and which deploy technologies and approaches conventionally segregated from each other within the traditional boundaries of academic medicine will be especially favored. Proposals that focus on translational therapeutics or on bridging the pediatric to adult divide are particularly encouraged.

The proposals are due by December 8, 2022, for a proposal start date of February 1, 2023.

• TAPITMAT Instructions
• TAPITMAT Excel
• TAPITMAT Application 

Link to funding opportunities: https://www.itmat.upenn.edu/funding-opportunities.html

• TAPITMAT Awardees

Application or Funding Questions

Please direct any questions to Andrea Albelda aalbelda@pennmedicine.upenn.edu, or Charles Molli, cmolli@upenn.edu

The CT³N invites PENN and CHOP researchers to submit competitive proposals for Pilot Grants by Monday, August 14, 2023. The goal of these Pilot Grants is to support early‐stage experimental preclinical studies in targeted therapeutics and thus assist investigators in obtaining key data to seek extramural funding. Proposals will be evaluated based on their relevance to CT³N’s areas of interest, the interdisciplinary and collaborative character (including use of PENN and CHOP core facilities, such as for instance the Chemical and Nanoparticle Synthesis Core), and innovation and translational potential. The grants will be for $50,000 for one year, starting October 16, 2023.

Please refer to the detailed grant instructions and document templates provided below.

Scope:
Preclinical (animal, cell culture and in vitro) experimental studies focused on the design of systems for targeted delivery of therapeutics and/or imaging agents and the identification of molecular targets for site-specific medical interventions. Proposals in the realms of both adult and pediatric biomedicine, and especially bridging the adult/pediatric medicine divide, are welcome.

Eligibility:
Applicants must be based in the University of Pennsylvania and be a full‐time faculty of PENN/CHOP. Joint proposals by co‐PIs from PENN /CHOP and CT³N members from other institutions (Drexel, Temple, Jefferson, PSU) will be considered. Applicants must be members of ITMAT and CT³N, and be willing to present their work at ‘work‐in‐progress’ seminars. Researchers are allowed to be included on the team of more than one project submitted to CT3N, but their participation in the role of PI or co-PI is limited to one submitted proposal. Faculty members from all ranks and tracks are eligible to apply. Investigators in the rank of Senior Investigators and Research Associate may apply on the condition of providing approval letter from the Department Chair and a letter from the faculty member PI of the lab, assuring that a Research Associate’s project represents an independent new extension of the research area of this lab.

•  CT³N Application (doc)
•  CT³N Budget (excel)
•  CT³N Instructions (pdf)

The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) invites proposals from ITMAT Members and ITMAT Associate Members in the Research Associate or Instructor A category.  It is not too late to become a Member or an Associate Member if you would like to apply for the grant and meet membership criterion.  If you are interested, please visit the membership section of our website for details.

The concomitant problems of under-enrollment, selective enrollment and retention in randomized clinical trials (RCTs) often plague efforts to evaluate medical interventions. These problems often arise due to unexpected impediments to participant recruitment, which represents one of the largest costs of conducting RCTs. In recent decades, behavioral economics has provided considerable insights into how people make decisions, blending findings from economics and psychology to generate better descriptive and normative models of behavior. The goal of this pilot program is to help investigators at UPENN develop more successful strategies to increase the efficiency of clinical trial enrollment and retention across a range of different types of interventions.

The proposals are due by Wednesday, March 25, 2020, at noon for a project start date of June 1, 2020.

•  CHIBE Improving Enrollment Instructions (pdf)
  • Please note that the attached PDF document contains all of the documents required for submission via our Pilot Grants system.

 CHIBE Enrollment 2016-2018 Awardees (pdf)
Budget template (excel)

The Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) and the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics (CHIBE) invites proposals from ITMAT Members and ITMAT Associate Members in the Research Associate or Instructor A category.  It is not too late to become a Member or an Associate Member if you would like to apply for the grant and meet membership criterion.  If you are interested, please visit the membership section of our website for details.

The proposal must center on novel approaches to testing and delivering interventions to improve health outcomes or health behavior for people at high risk for poor health outcomes. The purpose of this RFA is to support research teams to do quick turnaround studies focused on improving the management of population-based health within either clinical or non-clinical settings. While we will accept and consider all applications, applications focusing on reducing the risks from opioid addiction or atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and applications investigating the use of behavioral phenotyping in behavioral interventions are particularly encouraged and will receive special consideration.  These pilots are designed to be relatively short-term projects to create a cycle for rapid learning and iterative improvement, with a planned intervention duration for each pilot of 3-6 months.   Proposals are encouraged to use the Way to Health platform.  Way to Health is an integrated research platform that integrates information from wireless technologies, communications tools, and other applications to allow investigators to test ways of improving health behaviors and helping people keep on track to better health. Please see the attached document for more information.

The proposals are due by Friday November 22, 2019 at noon for a project start date of January 1, 2020.

•  CHIBE Connected Health Instructions (pdf)
  • Please note that the instructions PDF document contains all of the documents required for submission via our Pilot Grants system.

 CHIBE Connect Health 2016-2018 Awardees (pdf)

The Translational Biomedical Imaging Center (TBIC) was established under the leadership of the ITMAT in part “to broaden and accelerate translational imaging research through the development of a center to bring together investigators with diverse backgrounds that contribute to various aspects of imaging science and who share a vision of contributing to the advancement of clinical medicine.” Among the approaches adopted by the TBIC to promote the use of imaging technology to facilitate translational research are the support of core facilities, collaborative imaging scientists, and retreats/seminars. Building on this foundation, the TBIC announces a new collaborative pilot grant program to help catalyze collaborations between primary imaging scientists and primary biomedical/clinical researchers that integrate novel imaging approaches to enhance translational science and medicine.

These proposals require at least two Co-Principal Investigators, one investigator whose primary research focus is in imaging methodology development and another investigator whose research is focused on biomedical science. At least one of the co-principal investigators should have a primary appointment in the School of Medicine. The TBIC adopts a broad definition of imaging science and seeks proposals that focus on anatomic or functional imaging approaches that span from the microscopic to in vivo regimes. Proposals that include a broad range of imaging methods including image acquisition techniques, image analysis, imaging probe development will be considered. Funding will be based on scientific merit, potential downstream clinical impact and the likelihood that the project will generate independent funding to sustain the effort. Post-pilot award outcomes will be surveyed. The deadline for applications is December 6, 2022, for an award start date of March 1, 2023.

For additional information, please visit our website or contact Drs. David Mankoff at David.Mankoff@uphs.upenn.edu, Mitchell Schnall at mitchell.schnall@uphs.upenn.edu, or James Gee at gee@upenn.edu.

•  TBIC Application (doc)
•  TBIC Budget (excel)
•  TBIC Instructions (pdf)

 TBIC 2016-2018 Awardees (pdf)

Penn Genetics, in partnership with the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT) and the Penn Center for Precision Medicine (PCPM), invites proposals to fund Translational Genetics Initiatives (TGIs).

We are seeking applications for TGIs from interdisciplinary groups of scientists and clinicians who propose innovative, translational team approaches to the diagnosis, subphenotyping, risk assessment, prevention, and/or treatment of specific genetic diseases (both Mendelian as well as complex genetic disorders). To be considered translational, the proposed TGIs should consist of highly integrated and interdisciplinary programs with the ability to move scientific discoveries into the clinic, and with the potential for an impact on patient care and outcomes. In addition, the project must make use of the Penn Medicine BioBank in some capacity.

Funded projects will receive up to $300,000 for the first year, and an additional $300,000 will be made available for a second year based on reaching stated milestones and subject to approval by the Executive Steering Committee. An important final milestone is to show convincing progress towards the utilization of human genetics in the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of disease within the Penn Health System.

All proposals are due by March 23, 2020 at 12 PM for a project start date of July 1, 2020.

• TGI Budget Template (excel)
• TGI Instructions (PDF)