CEET Pilot Grants: November 2	Print Issue
September 22, 2009, Volume 56, No. 04

The Center of Excellence in Environmental Toxicology (CEET) announces the availability of pilot project grants for partial support for unfunded research in environmental health or toxicology. Awards of up to $25,000 will be made. Any member of the standing faculty or research track faculty in the 12 professional schools at the University of Pennsylvania, or our affiliates (CHOP and Monell) will be eligible to apply for Pilot Project Grant support provided that the project is related to either environmental health or toxicology research or the community outreach and education mission of the Center. The research being proposed cannot be funded by an external funding agency. Projects that focus on oxidative stress and oxidative stress injury, gene-environment interactions (including epigenetics), reproduction and endocrine disrupting chemicals, or lung and airway disease are encouraged. Projects that have a translational component to human disease, patient-oriented research or human populations will be reviewed favorably.

Preference will be given to first-time applicants that are junior faculty. Senior or established faculty will also be eligible to apply provided that the research they propose is unfunded and fits into the mission of the Center. Preference will also be given to senior faculty who wish to embrace environmental health or toxicology research as a new direction. Applications that support collaborative research that may be used to gather pilot data for a multi-investigator award will also be considered. If funded, a progress report is required at the end of the funding period and awardees must present their findings at a CEET Chalk Talk. The Center grant must be acknowledged on all publications resulting from the supported research.

The following should be submitted for the internal review by Monday, November 2:

•       Title of application;

•       Personnel information, name, position, title, and contact information;

•       2-page NIH Biosketch;

•       List of current and pending grant support;

•       An abstract;

•       A statement to indicate how this project would lead to extramural funding;

•       Specific aims;

•       Significance which must state relevance to environmental health or toxicological research;

•       Preliminary studies;

•       Methods;

•       References; and,

•       Budget—The budget can range from $8-$25K. Items that can be requested include salary of support personnel, supplies and minor equipment. Investigators cannot claim salary support for themselves and requests for travel are not permitted.

The entire application should not exceed 10-pages (excluding references). Please e-mail completed applications to webster@upenn.edu by Monday, November 2.

All applications will be reviewed by a committee of senior faculty and external experts as necessary and successful applicants will be notified by December 1.