The Georgia Tech/Emory initiative in Regenerative Medicine, in partnership with the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Science Institute (ACTSI), is pleased to invite seed grant proposals in Regenerative Medicine. The research seed grant program will fund both multi-investigator teams and single investigators. The review committee will strive to make awards that reflect a balance between multi and single investigators and between basic science and translational research, with the latter including large animal studies and initial clinical studies. The desired portfolio should include a balance of Emory and Georgia Tech faculty. The award program also is available to be used to fund junior investigators in team or individual grants and can be used for the recruitment of outstanding young investigators.

Strategic Priority Team Grants

● Applications should have a clinical target.

● A team must have a minimum of two investigators and may include both basic scientists and clinicians. Collaborations among Emory and Georgia Tech and other ACTSI partner faculty will be encouraged.

● Awards in general may be for up to $100,000 per year for no more than three years; however, where a larger budget is required, e.g. for large animal studies or a clinical study, an additional supplement may be possible.

Innovative Research Grants

● These grants will be funded at up to $50,000 per year, and based on satisfactory progress can be for up to three years.

● Awards can be made to investigators who are addressing new questions or taking new approaches.

● Awards can be made to investigators not previously engaged in regenerative medicine research.

The success of the research grant program will be measured by the number of publications and follow-on extramural funding that is achieved from the seed grants and/or the initiation of clinical studies. Any publications arising from a grant funded by this program is required to acknowledge this program and the ACTSI as the source of funds.

Purpose of the funds: Seed grant funds are intended to enable PI’s to generate preliminary data that facilitates the submission of proposals for subsequent external funding or to provide the initial studies leading to a clinical trial.

Who may apply: Proposals may originate from a single PI or may be a collaboration between investigators. All tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty and clinical faculty whose appointments reside at Emory and Georgia Tech are eligible to apply.

Budget Information: Funds may be used for Ph.D. student/postdoc support, animal studies, supplies, and limited travel as related to the conduct of the research. Faculty salary support is not appropriate. For Georgia Tech students supported on these funds, their tuition will be waived. Note that these are not intended to be multi-year grants, but rather to facilitate the generation of critical preliminary data or demonstrate feasibility of concepts that will lead to external support through other federal or state agencies and/or to clinical studies. At the time of this announcement the amount of funds available for this seed grant program has not been determined. Thus, the review committee reserves the right to make adjustments to the budgets of funded projects based on the total funds available. Furthermore, funds provided from ACTSI must be spent by May 31, 2012 and those provided by Georgia Tech by June 30, 2012.

Deadline: The deadline for submission of proposals is August 5th; however, a letter of intent with the title of the project, the names of investigators, and the proposed total budget must be submitted by e-mail no later than July 15th to Robert Nerem (robert.nerem@ibb.gatech.edu). Funding period will start no later than September 2011. IACUC/IRB approvals (when appropriate) are necessary before funding can commence.

Proposal Format: The technical aspect of the proposal cannot exceed five pages and should include the following sections: a) brief introduction outlining the general problem and the specific aspect tackled by the proposed research; b.) specific aims; c.) a brief description of experiments proposed; and d.) outcomes anticipated. Budget request and a brief budget justification may be submitted using an additional page.

Submission Instructions and Questions: Technical questions regarding the program may be addressed to Robert Nerem (robert.nerem@ibb.gatech.edu).  Proposal should be submitted via email by 5 pm on August 5th to Megan McDevitt (megan.mcdevitt@ibb.gatech.edu).