Collaborative Research Funding Program in Medical Technologies 2009-2010

The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD), Texas Instruments (TI), and Texas Health Research & Education Institute(THRE) FY 09-10 Collaborative Research Program

Purpose: The presidents of UT Arlington (James Spaniolo) and UT Dallas (David Daniel) together with Texas Instruments and Texas Health Research & Education Institute (THRE) are providing funds to initiate collaborative research to develop medical technologies in critical healthcare areas. Proposed research programs should be in areas of interest to these institutions and suitable for sustained external funding (federal, state, private, etc.). The total amount of funds available for this program is $600,000, with $150,000 coming from each institution. From the eligible gift donations made by THRE and TI, it is anticipated up to an additional $150,000 may be made available for this Research Program from the state matching program under HB-51.

Who can apply: Proposals require at least one Research Investigator from UT Arlington and one from UT Dallas. One of these investigators should be designated as the PI and the other(s) as Co-PI(s). Only one proposal may be submitted naming a particular faculty investigator (ie. an investigator from UTA or UTD cannot be named on more than one proposal). THRE clinicians collaborating in the research should be listed as a Co-PI.

Scope: Areas of research are restricted to medical technologies. should meet the critical needs in healthcare and be suitable for sustained external funding. A list of relevant target areas in medical technologies is available here (List of funding priorities). Where prudent, projects that include collaboration with THRE clinicians or are in a clinical setting are encouraged.

Award Amounts: Requests should be reasonable and justified. The maximum award for each project is $100,000 for one year. The intent is to have an overall equitable distribution to UT Arlington and UT Dallas. Requests can include the project costs of THRE’s participation where applicable.

Distribution of Funds:Awarded funds will be distributed to UTA, UTD and where applicable THRE according to the scope of work and budget justified in the proposal.

Grant Application:
The application must be printable to 8 1/2” x 11” paper single sided using a font size no smaller than 11 pt. The application must contain the following components:
1. Cover page (download template) using the program Template with a scientific summary - not to exceed 3 pages (space provided)
2. Description of the project, not to exceed five pages, including figures, tables, etc.
3. Bibliography for the description of the project (not to exceed two additional pages)
4. A two-page biographical sketch for each principal investigator in a consistent format, including a list of current funding.
5. Budget Form (download template) with the budget broken out separately on each page for each institution (the intent is to not exceed about $50,000 at each institution).

Please login by selecting your institution from the drop-down list and then using your institutions NETID and password to login on the login page.

Awards Announcement Date: Awards will be announced on or about December 15, 2009

Award Period: One year, beginning on or about January 1 2010. Grant funds cannot be carried forward after the award period.

Program Duration: Funding for this program is for one year. The level of success, as measured by the number of proposals submitted to External Agencies (the intended outcome of this grant program), will dictate the continuance of this program in future years. Continuation of funding is a yearly decision by each contributor.

Questions:
Any questions should be directed to your respective institutional Collaborative Research Program Offices:

UT Arlington

Dr. KELSEY DOWNUM
Senior Associate Vice President for Research
Voice: 817-272-1021
Fax: 817-272-2625
kelsey.downum@uta.edu

UT Dallas

RAFAEL MARTIN
Associate Vice President for Research
Voice: 972-883-4824
Fax: 972-883-4569
rafael.martin@utdallas.edu

THRE

Dr. RON ISAACSON
Director of Grants and Contracts
Voice: 682-236-6749
RonaldIsaacson@TexasHealth.org

MARSHA BROWN
Director of Research Development
682-236-6750
MarshaBrown@TexasHealth.org

Program Scope:
The presidents of UT Arlington (James Spaniolo) and UT Dallas (David Daniel) together with Texas Instruments and Texas Health Research & Education Institute (THRE) are providing funds to initiate collaborative research to develop medical technologies in critical healthcare areas (Research Program). Proposed research programs should be in areas of interest to these institutions and suitable for sustained external funding (federal, state, private, etc.). The total amount of funds available for this program is $600,000, with $150,000 coming from each institution. From the eligible gift donations made by THRE and TI, it is anticipated up to an additional $150,000 may be made available for this Research Program from the state matching program under HB-51. Should additional matching funds be available from the UT System or the State of Texas, they will be used to fund additional projects as possible at the university to which the matching funds are made available. The existing collaborators will recruit additional industrial and medical center participants to also provide funds to be used for additional projects; additional participant funding will be split equally between UTA and UTD. Continuation of the program beyond one year is not automatic. Continuation of funding is a yearly decision by each contributor.

Purpose:
The purpose of this Research Program is to foster collaborative research between faculty at UTD and UTA along with THRE, TI and other industry or community partners to enhance opportunities for External Research Funding at these institutions in a broad range of medical technologies (imaging, diagnostics, instrumentation, tissue engineering, and the like) that address one or more of the attached list of research priorities (Exhibit 1). It is expected that each award granted will result in a new external grant proposal submission involving collaborative research among these institutions.

Eligibility and Limitations:
All faculty members who are eligible to apply for external support at their respective institution may submit a joint proposal. Proposals, at a minimum, require at least one Faculty Investigator from UTA and UTD. One of these investigators should be designated as the Lead PI and the other(s) as Co-PI(s). Investigators from TI and THRE can be listed as co-PIs. The grant proposal should be submitted by the Lead PI listing all of the other investigators as co-principal investigators. Only one proposal may be submitted naming a particular faculty investigator (ie., an investigator from UTA or UTD cannot be named on more than one proposal).

Review Procedures and Evaluation Criteria:
Each proposal submitted to this program will be reviewed by a Review Panel comprised of key personnel at Texas Health Research & Education Institute (THRE) and Texas Instruments. Members of the Review Panel will be selected by the Executive Committee comprising of the Vice Presidents for Research at UTA and UTD along with the Manager of Medical Strategic Marketing at Texas Instruments and the Acting President at Texas Health Research & Education Institute. Members of the Review Panel will be chosen in relation to their expertise and relevance to the research areas encompassed by the submitted proposals. Reviewers’ comments are advisory to the Executive Committee that will make final funding decisions for the proposals awarded.

Submitted proposals will be evaluated using a 100 point system. Scoring will apply to the following proposal attributes (maximum score in parentheses).

1. Scientific/Scholarly Merit (maximum 55 points)
Specifically, the areas to be evaluated under this heading are: originality, technical soundness, merits of the collaborative approach and how it addresses a critical need, research plan, availability of facilities needed to conduct the research, and appropriateness of budget. Collaborative proposals involving THRE and a clinical setting are encouraged and will be highly considered.

2. Qualifications of the Investigators (maximum15 points)
Specific items to be evaluated under this heading are: experience in the field, synergism in discipline, grant funding record, publication record, and collaboration record.

Specifically, the areas to be evaluated under this heading are: impact of proposed research with targeted initiatives of a federal agency, state CPRIT program, or private institution, plan for obtaining support to continue the research, and, if applicable, the relationship of the proposed work to a response obtained from an agency on a reviewed, but unfunded proposal or white paper.

Grant Payments:
Awarded funds will be distributed to both institutions according to the scope of work and budget justified in the proposal. All awarded funds will be provided at the start of the award period. The distribution of funds will be handled through each institution’s Grant and Contracts Office according to their policies and procedures. No grant funds will be distributed to investigators at an institution until all regulatory requirements at that institution and participating institutions have been fulfilled (IRB approval, IACUC approved protocols, biosafety review, safety training, Conflict of Interest disclosures, etc.).

Grant Carryovers:
No carryovers beyond the grant end date will be allowed. All unspent funds at an institution at the end of the grant period will revert back to the respective University fund designated for this Research Program.

Award Amounts:
Grants are intended for collaborative funding. Requests should be reasonable and justified, and not to exceed $100,000 for each project (with an equitable split between the academic institutions). For a proposal with exceptional merit and with high potential of attracting immediate federal funding, it is possible for granting one such proposal with a greater amount. UT Arlington and UT Dallas will award funds to investigators at their institution. Therefore, it is expected that PIs will propose budgets equitably distributed between the two academic institutions. Amounts awarded may differ from submitted budget requests at the discretion of the Executive Committee.

Award Bonuses:
During the course of the grant period (January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010), should a joint Federal Grant proposal be submitted relating to the funded project, or as an outcome of the funded project, a bonus of $2,000 will be provided to the project from each institution. These bonus funds can be carried forward into the next year, and can be used at the discretion of the investigators (subject to the bounds on expenditures of State funds).

Grant Budgets:
Budgets broken out for each institution will be prepared for each proposal submitted. Funds may be utilized for direct expenditures beneficial to the research in the following allowed categories under this program:

Personnel Support: Funds can be used for Post-doctoral, graduate and undergraduate student assistantships, as well as for technical staff and clinical investigators. No support for Faculty Salaries permitted.
Expendable scientific items, services and equipment maintenance needed for the execution of the proposed research project.
Equipment: modest amounts may be considered
Publication expenses
Local Travel (between institutions, or in the Metroplex).

Grantee Requirements:
The Lead PI on the proposal will be responsible for monitoring the research progress and providing the year-end research report. The year-end report requires a statement of the research objective, a brief report on the research progress made under the grant, a list of publications resulting from the grant, and a list of External Agencies to whom grant requests were submitted (PIs, amount, duration, etc.). The final report is due to the Grant Administrator 60 days after the termination of the grant.

Please login by selecting your institution from the drop-down list and then using your institutions NETID and password to login on the login page.

The Lead Principal Investigator is responsible for verifying that submitted proposals have been received by the Grant Administrator.

Final Report:
The Lead PIs are responsible for filing a Final Report within 60 days of the termination of the grant. Reports are to be submitted to the Grant and Contract Office at the Lead PI’s institution.

Copyrights and Patent Rights:
All copyrights and intellectual property developed during the course of a funded project will be governed by the policies of the inventing institutions and in accordance to U.S. Patent Law. A memorandum of understanding between UTA, UTD and THRE will be signed outlining the methods for handling jointly developed intellectual property.

Program Duration:
The level of success, as measured by the number of proposals submitted to External Agencies (the intended outcome of this grant program), may dictate the possible continuance of this program in future years.

Please contact the following for information regarding Texas Health Research & Education Institute collaborators: