Institute for Human Infections & Immunity (IHII)

Data Acquisition Grant Instructions and Application Packet (FY2021)

Background

The purpose of the IHII Data Acquisition (DA) Grant program is to stimulate the development of new research initiatives through the support of projects that have a very high probability of attracting new biomedical research grants to UTMB. Topics that will build our capacity to compete for major funding initiatives available now or anticipated from the NIH and other funding agencies in the field of infection and immunity are encouraged.

Funding

• Data acquisition grants of up to $20,000 are available. Most of the DA grants were funded at $10,000 or less during FY2020.
• It is expected that when needed, core facilities at the UTMB will be used. Requests for equipment and travel (if permitted by UTMB policies) must be highly justified and should be part of the work plan (i.e. not to attend scientific conferences). Funding of research taking place outside of the UTMB campus must be well justified. Funds may not be used for tenure-track faculty salary or for indirect costs.
• All funds must be spent before August 31, 2021.

Important Dates

• Application due date: March 14, 2021
• Anticipated review date: March 25, 2021
• Anticipated Funding Period: April 1, 2021 to August 31, 2021  

Eligibility

• All UTMB full-time employees (faculty, nurses, students, residents, staff, and trainees etc.) are eligible. New faculty or those developing interests related to infection and immunity are encouraged to seek membership in the IHII before applying. Application instructions are available at https://www.utmb.edu/ihii/members/membership
• Special consideration will be given to applicants who will develop collaborative, inter-disciplinary/inter-departmental projects.
• If you have received a grant from IHII in the past, progress reports will be reviewed to assess the PI’s productivity.
• PI must not have already received funding for the proposed project from other intramural or extramural resources; all related, pending proposals must be disclosed in your application.

Application Instructions
Applications not following the instructions will be rejected back for revision.

1. OSP proposal routing form: An Office of Sponsored Programs Proposal Routing form must accompany all intramural research grant applications (copies of this form are available at the OSP web page: https://research.utmb.edu/sponsored-programs/proposal-forms.

2. Assembling the grant application (Two pages maximum)

• a) Title and type of the project (e.g., R01, R21) for which data will be acquired.
• b) Names, affiliation, and expertise of the PI and collaborators as relevant to proposal.
• c) Specific aims of the project that is planned, and the agency to which it is being sent.
• 
  d) A description of how the proposed data acquisition project will strengthen the proposed research application and benefit the infectious disease and immunology research program.
• e) Requested budget and proposed use of funds. Personnel costs must be <50% of the total budget.

3. A list of cited literature (Please keep it brief and relevant).

Grant Submission: The principal investigator is requested to submit proposal in a single pdf file by email to Ms. Jennifer Ellis (jaellis@utmb.edu). Please name your file as Last Name-Data acquisition.

Important Considerations

• Data Acquisition Grants will not supplement or replace externally funded research projects. It is incumbent upon the principal investigator (PI) to address the relationship between the proposed research and ongoing projects, and to convince the reviewers that successful completion of the proposed experiments will have a reasonable likelihood of attracting new grant support. Reviewers will critically evaluate proposals for scientific merit and the potential to attract new funding.
  
• A condition of the award is the submission of a related extramural grant within 6 months of the end of the award. An abstract of a submitted grant can be used as this final report.
  

For information or answers to specific questions, please contact Ms. Jennifer Ellis (jaellis@utmb.edu) or Dr. Nisha J Garg (nigarg@utmb.edu).

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