The Clinical Nutrition Research Unit (CNRU) announces its 2007 Call for Applications for Pilot & Feasibility Research Projects.  Full time faculty and senior post-doctoral fellows at Washington University are eligible. The major objective of this program is to provide research support to test innovative hypotheses involving nutrition/metabolism-related research.

This research should involve some aspect of nutrient absorption, metabolism, or cell signaling or genetic aspects that are nutrition-related. It is hoped that a Pilot and Feasibility Award will generate enough preliminary data for the investigator to obtain research funding by conventional mechanisms (e.g., R01).

We also hope this program will encourage young investigators and more established investigators in other fields to approach problems which are relevant to our understanding of nutrient metabolism and function and increase our understanding of the basic and clinical aspects of nutrition in the prevention, etiology, pathophysiology, and therapy of disease.

Who is Eligible?

Full time faculty and senior post-doctoral fellows at Washington University including:

Young investigators who do not have current or previous NIH (or other federal agencies) research support (excluding career development awards) and who wish to establish their own independent research program.
Fellows who will have independent faculty positions at the time of completion of the P/F grant are eligible. Such fellows would need to be in the last year of their training and might include a) recipients of an NRSA individual award (F32); b) anyone supported by an institutional training grant (T32); and c) trainees who are supported by an individual NSF Fellowship grant.
Established investigators who have not been directly involved in nutrition research, but who wish to enter the field.
Established nutrition investigators who wish to initiate a new research direction within the nutrition field.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens or have a permanent visa, hold a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree, and have at least 2 years of recent relevant research experience.

Deadline and Review Process:

Applications must be submitted for review by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, June 1, 2007. Awards will be announced by September 30, 2007, and funding will start October 1, 2007. All applications will be reviewed by the Internal and External Advisory Committee members for scientific merit, originality, relevance of the work to nutrition, the potential for the project to generate data for a successful peer-reviewed grant application, and the potential for the PI to develop into an independent investigator.

Awards and Terms:

The CNRU will fund at least four awards for amounts up to $20,000 for one year. A second year of funding is often available, is a competitive process, and will depend upon progress during the first funded year. No more than two years of funding will be awarded. All applications must have appropriate institutional regulatory approvals (Human Studies Committee (HSC), Animal Studies, etc.) before funds may be released.

Grantees will be required to submit to the CNRU Executive Committee and the External Advisory Committee a brief annual progress report describing the results of their work, as well as related publications and funding. If applying for a second year of funding, a full progress report on NIH 398 form is required. All publications should acknowledge the Washington University CNRU (P30 DK56341).

It is expected that the Grantee will use the full amount of funding awarded during each one-year term of the award. All unexpended funds at the end of the term will be returned to the CNRU. Extensions or changes to the terms of the award (length of funding period and budget) will only be made in exceptional circumstances. A grantee cannot receive a second year of funding until the first year’s funding has been completely expended.

Application Instructions

Completed original application, 5 copies, and a single electronic WORD file of complete application (on CD) should be submitted to:

Susan Sparrow, CNRU Research Program Administrator
Washington University Clinical Nutrition Research Unit
Campus Box 8031
Suite 204, West Building
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Applications are due Friday, June 1, 2007.

The application packet must include the following (applicants are required to use the NIH 398 forms):

Face Page
Description, Performance Site and Key Personnel
Table of Contents
Budget pages (must provide detailed budget)
Biographical Sketch
Formatted Other Support
Resources Page
Research plan (4-page maximum, excluding references). Include 1) Specific Aims, 2) Background and Significance, 3) Preliminary Data, 4) Research Design and Methods, 5) Relevance of the Proposed Project to the Nutrition Field, 6) Anticipated use of the cores, and 7) Description of how the results of this study will lead to future investigations/grant applications. If necessary, additional materials, such as reprints or figures, can be submitted as an appendix.
Core Facilities Usage and Required Approvals Form(s)
Copy of approval letter if project involves human or animal subjects.
If applicant is a junior faculty member, a letter of support from his/her Division or Department Chairman must accompany the application. The letter must confirm that the Division/Department supports an overall plan to establish an independent research career for the applicant and that the CNRU application involves a project that will form the basis for such a career.
If applicant is a postdoctoral fellow, a letter of support from his/her Division or Department Chairman must accompany the application. The letter must clearly indicate intent to offer applicant a faculty position at the time of completion of the P/F grant, confirm that the Division/Department supports an overall plan to establish an independent research career for the applicant, and that the CNRU application involves a project that will form the basis for such a career.
Postdoctoral fellow applicants must provide a letter from his/her mentor confirming that this is an independent project, which will assist the applicant in establishing his/her own independent research career and funding.

Additional Instructions:

1. Please list the Principal Investigator’s (PI) name on the top right-hand corner of every page of the application.

2. When completing the budget page, please refer to the list of expenditures allowed and not allowed included with these instructions.

3. The following headings should be used for the research plan (A-D maximum 4 pages).

A. Specific Aims: State concisely the hypothesis to be tested and the specific aim(s) to be achieved during the grant period. The aims must be reasonable to achieve during the one-year period of the grant.

B. Background and Significance: State the relevance of the proposed project to basic, clinical or prevention and control. Discuss the use of one or more CNRU Core Facilities.

C. Preliminary Studies/Progress Report: Discuss the pertinent research findings that will help to establish the experience and competence of your project.

D. Research Design and Methods: Concisely present your experimental design and the methods to be used to accomplish your specific aims relating to that of digestive diseases and to longer term funding objectives. Also indicate how the results will be interpreted and how they will lead to future investigations. Well-known methods and standard procedures may be described very briefly or referenced, but novel experimental approaches should be outlined in more detail. The experimental design section should indicate which of the CNRU Core Facilities will be utilized.

E. Appendix:

References (maximum 1 page)
Table or Figures relevant to this proposal (maximum 2 pages)
Pertinent recent publications (maximum 3)

Allocation and Expenditure of Funds:

Expenditures Allowed:

Technical staff salary support
Research supplies and animal maintenance
Equipment costing less than $5,000. Special justification is necessary for items exceeding this amount, and permission must be obtained from the Washington University Clinical Nutrition Research Core Executive Committee for the purchase of such equipment.
Special fees (pathology, photography, etc.)

Expenditures NOT Allowed:

Principal Investigator salary support
Secretarial/administrative personnel salary support
Office equipment and supplies
Computers
Tuition
Domestic or Foreign Travel
Publication costs, including reprints
Dues and membership fees in scientific societies
Purchasing and binding of periodicals and books
Honoraria and travel expenses for visiting lecturers
Rental of office or laboratory space
Construction or building maintenance
Recruiting and relocation expenses

Core Facilities Usage Forms (are available at http://chn.im.wustl.edu/cnru/framedcnru/cnru.htm)

Core Facilities Usage and Required Approvals Form
Clinical Sciences Research Core Service Request Form
Animal Model Research Core Service Request Form
Biomolecular Analysis Core Service Request Form
Adipocyte Biology Core Service Request Form