Pilot Grant Resources
- Multi PI/Collaborative Science
- Breast
- Prostate
- Sarcoma
- Disparity-related
Eligibility Requirement
- Applicants may only submit one proposal per funding mechanism.
- Applicants may apply to more than one funding mechanism as long as the proposals are scientifically distinct.
Principal Investigator (PI) Eligibility
MCW tenure-track faculty (including joint appointments) with full-time or full professional effort status are eligible to serve as principal investigators; adjunct and part-time faculty are NOT eligible to apply for these awards.
ACS-IRG Additional Eligibility Requirements
Proposed research must be cancer relevant.
- MCW junior faculty (instructors and assistant professors) are eligible to apply. Applicants must be in their first six years of independent research or faculty appointment.
- Research can take place, and expenditures incurred, at MCW, Versiti BRI, Children’s Research Institute or the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center.
- Applicants cannot have any competitive, peer-reviewed, national funding at the start date of the proposed ACS funding. Peer-reviewed funding includes grants from the NIH (K-awards are allowed) or these extramural organizations.
- Applicants with a visa must provide documentation that the visa terms allow enough time to complete the ACS-IRG pilot project.
Mentorship Committee
All applicants who have not had a previously funded peer-reviewed grant from the NIH or extramural organization must have a mentorship committee to assist in reading and providing feedback on the proposal. A mentorship committee must include a minimum of two faculty members. A letter of support from at least one of the mentorship committee members is required.
- PI effort must be cost shared
- No Subcontracts are allowed without prior approval
- Travel is capped at $2,000 for PI travel to a scientific meeting to present data
- If utilizing the Biostatistics Shared Resource, please initiate consultation through iLab. Include the cost estimate with your proposal and add a line item for the amount under supplies.
Budget
List direct costs only; indirect costs are not allowed. Direct costs should align with award goals and objectives. Costs that have NOT been identified and approved through the application process must be requested as a re-budget prior to being incurred or the cost is considered unallowable.
Bridge Funding Not Allowed
Funding cannot be used as “bridge funding” for lapsed grants from any extramural source and is intended to be used solely for new projects.
Grant Writing Resources
You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the available resources for developing and writing research proposals. Resources include Mentoring Committees, Research Program Leaders, Cancer Center Senior Leadership, and Department Chairs.
Significance
Does the project address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in the field? If the aims of the project are achieved, how will scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice be improved? How will successful completion of the aims change the concepts, methods, technologies, treatments, services, or preventative interventions that drive this field?
Investigator
Are the PD/PIs, collaborators, and other researchers well suited to the project? If they are early stage investigators, new investigators, or in the early stages of independent careers, do they have appropriate experience and training? If established, have they demonstrated an ongoing record of accomplishments that have advanced their field(s)? If the project is collaborative or multi-PD/PI, do the investigators have complementary and integrated expertise; are their leadership approach, governance and organizational structure appropriate for the project? Reminder: submit Biosketches for all key personnel.
Innovation
Does the application challenge and seek to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms by utilizing novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions? Are the concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions novel to one field of research or novel in a broad sense? Is a refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions proposed?
Approach
Are the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses well-reasoned and appropriate to accomplish the specific aims of the project? Are potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success presented? If the project is in the early stages of development, will the strategy establish feasibility, and will particularly risky aspects be managed? If the project involves clinical research, are the plans for 1) protection of human subjects from research risks, and 2) inclusion of minorities and members of both sexes/genders, as well as the inclusion of children, justified in terms of the scientific goals and research strategy proposed?
Environment
Will the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? Is the institutional support, equipment and other physical resources available to the investigators adequate for the project proposed? Will the project benefit from unique features of the scientific environment, subject populations, or collaborative arrangements? Reminder: submit your one-page Facilities component with your application.
Extramural Funding Potential
How will the completion of the aims of the proposed project support an external grant proposal? What is the likelihood that the proposed project will generate resultant preliminary data for submitting a strong proposal for peer-reviewed extramural funding?
Does proposal address any of the special areas of emphasis for BSC and PH
Multi PI/Collaborative Science
Disparity-related
Return on Investment
Used only for applicants with prior Cancer Center Pilot Grants. Reviewers will provide an evaluation of the applicants return on investment (peer-reviewed publications and extramural grants) from previously awarded Cancer Center Pilot Grants using the information submitted by the applicant on Form D.
Acknowledgement
Award recipients must acknowledge the MCW Cancer Center and funding support from philanthropic sources (such as the ACS, Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse, Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin, or the State of Wisconsin Tax Check-Off Program for Breast or Prostate Cancer Research) in any publications, scientific abstracts (where permitted), posters at scientific meetings, press releases or other media communications, and Internet-based communications. Award letters will indicate the appropriate funding source to acknowledge.