Pilot and Feasibility Projects
West Coast Metabolomics Center - Pilot and Feasibility Projects
One goal of the West Coast Metabolomics Center is to rapidly advance metabolomics research by providing funds to support novel projects and challenging ideas proposed by scientists throughout the United States, in particular along the West Coast.
The call for proposals for the 2012 / 2013 budget year has now been closed!
Submission due date was March 01, 2013. Project reviews have been completed by the Center steering committee and external reviewers. Funding recommendations have been sent in April to the NIH national metabolomics alliance executive committee. Funding will decided by that committee on May 31st with a project start date of June 01, 2013.
The next call for proposals will be opened for the 2013/2014 budget year in fall 2013.
We will use very similar criteria and details as we had for the past round of pilot projects. Please, start working with the WCMC on your metabolic aims and service budgets for your 2013/2014 early in the process to avoid being triaged for non-compliance reasons.
The following criteria and details are important to note for P&F application submissions.
Download the submission template here.
- Submissions for maximum of $50,000 in metabolomic services.
- One year maximum funding period
- No salary support for investigator or investigator staff is permitted
- Consult with WCMC advanced laboratories about budget estimates.
- Budget for WCMC advanced service laboratory staff will go in increments of 1-person months plus consumables needed to perform the project.
FAQ on writing the budget part of the application:
How does the funding actually work? Would it come through the applicant's institution?
Answer:
No. Please, think about writing the budget section more like a 'voucher system'. There will be no actual money transfer out of UC Davis. Again, no salary support for investigator staff is permitted (including tuition fees or other salary parts). Rather, if successful, services rendered by the WCMC will be allocated to the different WCMC labs internally, i.e. paying for staff and consumables here in Davis to fulfill our part of the metabolomics collaboration. Please contact your partner labs (i.e. the Advanced Service labs Hammock, Newman, Cherry, Lebrilla, Fiehn, Gaikwad, Weimer) for estimates how long they would need to work on the aims you will propose, and if there would be additional consumables needed. As stated above, the time intervals would go in 1-person-month increments, roughly worth $5,000 each. However, if needed for the aims, one could also use other core services at UC Davis, e.g. the NMR core, the bioinformatics core or even the metabolomics mass spec core (see Core Services for costs and contact managers). Even portions from other UC Davis cores would be allowable, e.g. the Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Center, or the genomics or proteomics service cores at the UC Davis Genome Center.
In addition, you can ask for reasonable costs for travel to UC Davis to participate in WCMC events (symposia, workshops, courses, and collaborative meetings with your partner labs). Such costs would be reimbursed based on economy trips directly by the WCMC.
Other Criteria
Investigator must be eligible for as PI for NIH grants
- Young investigators and investigators who are new to the field of metabolomics are especially encouraged to apply
- Investigator can be located anywhere in the United States, but can only submit P&F application to one (1) NIH metabolomics resource core per year
- At least half of all projects will be funded for investigators located outside of UC Davis
- Length of proposal 5-pages (Background, Hypothesis, Plan, Justification of Resources)
- Application should include plans for new extramural grant submissions
- Application assistance / Q&A through workshop with video recording and call-in phone number, January 2013
- Submission due date March 01, 2013
- Earliest project start date May 01, 2013
- Reviews will follow the NIH format criteria (Significance, Investigators, Innovation, Approach, Environment), using the NIH scoring system
- Final decisions will be made by an external NIH / executive committee
Additional considerations:
The West Coast Metabolomics Center specifically encourages applications that foster collaborations, for example by applications that
- span scientific domains and metabolic platforms - for example by collaborating with more than one WCMC advanced services laboratory.
- fulfill needs that benefit multiple investigators
- detail the collaborative aspect with the Center, e.g. partner with one or more of the Advanced Service laboratories
- include a mentoring and trainee plan
- participate in Center events such as the annual retreat, seminars and courses. For such events, modest travel funds can be requested.
UC Davis Genome Center Pilot and Feasibility Projects
The Genome Center is soliciting applications for up to five small metabolomic pilot grants per year for up to $2,000 per project. Such grants are available for Principal Investigators located at UC Davis, but outside regional scientists are not eligible. In a similar manner like the West Coast Metabolomics Center pilot projects, the intent of such startup grants is to obtain data for NIH grant submissions. Project submissions can be sent any time to ofiehn@ucdavis.edu; reviews will be scored by NIH criteria (significance, investigator, innovation, approach, environment). Leveraging with other funding mechanisms, including other Genome Center core pilot grants, is most welcome.
Funded Projects
As pilot and feasibility projects are funded, a brief description of each project with titles and teams will appear here.
Requirements for funded projects will be outlined in a specific project approval letter to selected investigators. All P&F recipients will be required to participate at the annual retreat with presentations as well as in in workshops and mentoring of trainees.
P&F recipients will need to report on quarterly progress and final reports in addition to annual updates on publications. For all presentations and publications, P&F funding by the NIH West Coast Metabolomics Center must be cited. Center staff will monitor project deliverables.
For more information, contact metabolomics@ucdavis.edu
