Life Sciences Moment Fund

Introduction

The University of Massachusetts Medical School, in conjunction with the University’s President’s Office, is pleased to announce the establishment of the UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund.  This $1 million fund, emanating from the work of the UMass Life Sciences Task Force and endorsed by the task force as a key strategic recommendation, complements the existing and highly successful President’s Science and Technology (S&T) Initiatives Fund.  Unlike the President’s S&T Fund, however, the UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund supports projects that are inter-campus in orientation, each with a collaborator from the Worcester campus and directed towards life sciences projects related to clinical and translational research.

Through the seeding of specific collaborative projects and the nurturing of the university’s community of basic and translational investigators, this fund enables the university to accelerate the pace of discovery and technology development, thereby strengthening its position as the commonwealth’s public research university.  Moreover, such investment enables the university to uniquely—and directly—respond to the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative and its attendant goal of solidifying the commonwealth’s global leadership in the life sciences.

2009 Life Sciences Moment Fund Recipients

The second funding call is underway (See application timeline below).  The first funding call for the UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund resulted in funding to support five inter-campus projects, all directed towards life sciences projects related to clinical and translational research. 

Purpose

The UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund will serve as a dedicated pool of funding to spur inter-campus collaboration and strengthen the university’s research portfolio in the clinical and translational research space.  By providing seed funding to outstanding university faculty members, this fund will facilitate the development of faculty-to-faculty networks within the university system, thereby leveraging the considerable expertise and resources that exist on the individual campuses.

Projects that are supported by this fund are envisioned to develop into larger initiatives that attract substantial funding from extramural sources, including the federal government, the state, industry, foundations and others.

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Allowable Use of Funds

This fund is envisioned to broadly support research initiatives that advance the university’s clinical and translational research portfolio (T1, T2, T3 initiatives):

• T1:  bench to bedside
• T2:  patient to community/population
• T3:  implementation and dissemination to practice

Consequently, resources from this fund may support a variety of needs such as:

• faculty release time.
• sabbaticals.
• travel.
• hiring of project staff or consultants.
• salaries for postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, technicians, clinical coordinators, research nurses.
• technology development.
• other expenses related to developing such initiatives.

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Funding Awards 

It is envisioned that the UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund awards will be made in the $100,000 to $150,000
range, but the Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences, in conjunction with the Steering Committee of the University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science, reserves the right to be flexible in this regard.

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Oversight

The UMass Life Sciences Moment Fund is overseen by the Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences for the University of Massachusetts and administered by the Steering Committee of the University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science. The Steering Committee makes recommendations to the Senior Vice President based upon the scientific merits and potential impact of proposals.

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Criteria for Awards

The following criteria are used to review and evaluate proposals:

• Intellectual Merit:  Projects that include all efforts to enhance the impact of scholarly endeavors on benefiting the human condition, which for the purposes of this fund will include enabling technologies.
• Inter-Campus Collaboration:  Projects that are multi-campus in orientation and involve at least one collaborator from the medical school.
• Growth Opportunity:  Projects that demonstrate the opportunity to be leveraged to attract and secure outside funding from federal, state, industry, foundation and other sources.
• Campus Commitment:  Projects that have the support and explicit endorsement of the campus vice provost for research
• Economic Impact:  Projects that demonstrate the potential to support and promote economic activity in the life sciences economy of Massachusetts.
• Project Leadership:  Projects that have a strong presence of leadership by both faculty and administrative staff   It is important to note that in each round of proposals, the Steering Committee will make dedicated efforts to recommend funding for at least one initiative formed as a result of a research question important to the community (T2, T3 translational research).

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Application and Review Process

A call for proposals goes out to both UMass Worcester faculty and all interested faculty members on the other UMass campuses.  Letters of Intent (LOI) will be solicited initially to filter for the extent to which the projects are inter-campus in orientation and significantly linked to the criteria listed above.  Collaborators who meet the initial criteria will be invited to submit full proposals which are subject to a standard NIH-type study section assessment.

The University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science Steering Committee reviews the LOI, select the proposals for full submissions and advise the Senior Vice President for the Health Sciences on the final funding decisions.  Upon selection of the finalists (from the LOI), the Steering Committee Chair will determine if the committee membership includes the specific scientific expertise necessary to review the full proposal submissions.  If not, the chair, in consultation with the committee members, will seek ad hoc external reviewers.

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LOI Submission Instructions

Describe in two (2) pages or less the work that has motivated you to apply for this particular fund; the collaborating PI(s) and the role of each in the project; and the importance of the collaboration. The LOI review process seeks to make two determinations:

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Full Proposal

Research Plan Requirements:  Using an NIH-style proposal format, describe the research plan in ten (10) pages or less (including references).

• Goals/deliverables:  Include a one-paragraph abstract of the project and no more than 10 single-spaced pages outlining the research project background and rationale, specific aims, experimental design and bibliography.
• Budget (NIH format):  Provide a detailed budget.  The maximum funding level is $100,000 in direct costs for a one-year period or $150,000 in direct costs for a two-year period.  Allowable costs include materials and supplies, core facility charges, graduate student stipends, post-doctoral/technician salaries, equipment (in exceptional cases) and fringe benefits on post-doctoral/technician salaries.
• Ongoing Funding:  Funded investigators are expected to produce a fundable research proposal (for ongoing external funding) as one of the project deliverables.  Identify potential extramural funding sources relevant to the proposed work after this funding expires.
• Collaborators:  Include a biosketch for each Principal Investigator (4-page NIH format) and for each collaborator (up to 3 biosketches in addition to the PI).  Biosketches are not included in the 10-page limit.
• Facilities:  Include a description of the facilities to be used in the conduct of the research plan.

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Application Timeline

August 19, 2009:  Letters of Intent are due to the Steering Committee.

September 1, 2009:  Selected applicants are asked to develop full proposals.

September 22, 2009:  Full proposals are due to the Steering Committee.

October 5, 2009:  Announcement of decisions.

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Submission Information 

LOIs should be submitted electronically to Dr. John L. Sullivan, Vice Provost for Research, UMass Medical School: John.Sullivan@umassmed.edu by the close of business on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.

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