Archive: UCSF Clinical and Translational Science Institute Offers Pilot Funding in Six Areas

UCSF was awarded a large grant from the National Institutes of Health in October 2006 to enhance and facilitate the process of clinical and translational research on campus. In one of its first moves to reach this goal, the recently established Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) announced today that its Strategic Opportunities Support (SOS) Center is up and running. This program is co-directed by Kathy Giacomini, PhD, co-chair of the SOS Steering Committee and chair of the Department of Biopharmaceutical Sciences at the UCSF School of Pharmacy, and by Paul Volberding, MD, co-chair of the SOS Steering Committee and vice chair of the Department of Medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine. The goal of the program is to provide pilot grants and other forms of support to faculty involved in clinical and translational research. "In so doing, we hope to help advance the careers of those focused in this arena, particularly those at the junior faculty level," says Mike McCune, MD, PhD, program director and principal investigator of the UCSF CTSI. The SOS Center has been designed to be an incubator and a catalyst for young researchers and experienced principal investigators to explore novel areas and to test the limits of innovative technologies and methodologies. It is meant to accelerate translational science and the conversion of scientific discoveries from laboratories into practical medical advances for patients and communities that need them most. "The SOS Center will be a transparent, peer-reviewed process that awards funds to encourage and to enable work in clinical and translational research," say Giacomini and Volberding. "Such funds are particularly important to jump-start such work in this day of restricted research funding." Dan Lowenstein, MD, a program co-director of the CTSI, further clarified that the committee is focusing on two areas of translational research. "One is the process of applying discoveries generated during research in the laboratory and in the preclinical studies to the development of trials and studies in humans. The second area concerns research aimed at enhancing the adoption of best practices in the community."

Six Science Areas

CTSI's SOS Center is soliciting proposals for research projects in six clinical and translational science areas:

* 1. Investigator-Initiated Pilot Awards in Clinical and Translational Research; * 2. Novel Clinical/Translational Methods Catalyst Awards; * 3. Translational Technology Awards; * 4. Multidisciplinary/Multicenter Research Project Planning Awards; * 5. Underrepresented Faculty in Clinical and Translational Research Awards; and * 6. Flexible Mini-Sabbatical/Leave Awards.

All eligible UCSF faculty and faculty in CTSI-associated institutions may apply for one or more grants in the six areas mentioned above.

Letters of intent are due no later than Monday, Feb. 5. Upon invitation, full application submissions will be due Monday, March 19. The first round of grants will be awarded in April 2007.

For more information on each of the grant areas and application process, please see the SOS website.

Related Links:

Strategic Operations Support (SOS) Center

Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UCSF

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UCSF Leaders Reflect on Significance of Clinical and Translational Science Institute
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UCSF in the 21st Century: Translating Scientific Discovery to Patient Care
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Studies in Translational Research: Bench to Bedside
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