Home / Pilot Program Grant Submission Procedures and Review Criteria
Applications will be solicited for two deadlines each year, on November 1st and May 1st, with a scientific review in January and July. Awards will be announced in February and August. Projects will be funded in March and September. An investigator can apply for one proposal per funding cycle and receive up to one pilot project award every 2 years. All applications should be preceded by a one-page letter of intent. The letter may contain the application’s abstract, describing the background, significance, specific aims, and experimental design. The deadlines for submitting letters of intent are August 1st and February 15th, before application submission deadlines. Responses to these letters will be issued within four weeks and are final. Applications must have an initial letter of intent to be considered. After approval of a letter of intent, the corresponding grant proposal must be submitted at the following submission date. Please include the biosketch(es) of the investigators involved with your submission. Only complete letters of intent and applications will be considered. Incomplete letters of intent and applications will not be considered. Letters of intent with biosketch(es), and applications should be submitted as two originals and an electronic copy to:
Pyone Pyone Aye, DVM, PhD
Email: paye@tulane.edu
Angel Newman, Administrator
Email: anewman4@tulane.edu
Unit of Collaborative Research
Tulane National Primate Research Center
18703 Three Rivers Road
Covington, LA 70433
Phone: (985) 871-6486
All applications will be reviewed for scientific merit by the TNPRC - Pilot Research Review Committee, appointed by the Center Director and composed of one member from each TNPRC Division and two reviewers from outside the TNPRC and Tulane University. TNPRC reviewers are assigned to the Committee for five years, and their appointment may be renewed. The outside reviewers may be affiliate scientists and are appointed for a three-year period, which may be renewed for an additional three years. Committee members will be permitted to seek confidential verbal or written reports from colleagues not belonging to the Committee if they need further assessment. All additional outside assessments received, whether verbal or written, will be reported to the committee. Ad-hoc members with particular areas of expertise may be appointed as needed. The recommendations of the Committee will be forwarded to the Center Director. It will be the Director’s responsibility to make the final decision as to which proposals are funded and at what budgetary level. If overlapping funding is received at any time after a pilot study award is made, funding for the pilot study project will terminate. An application that is not funded may be resubmitted as a revised application one time only.
It is expected that one or more manuscripts and a NIH-grant application or equivalent will be submitted while the pilot project is in progress or shortly after its conclusion. Suppose manuscripts or grant applications are not submitted within one year of the conclusion of the pilot project. In that case, a written statement must be provided to the Center Director explaining why this omission occurred. A report of progress on each pilot research project, including manuscripts and grants submitted, must be provided to the Center Director in January for inclusion in the Center's annual progress report. Failure to do so will result in the termination of funding.
The following are the proposal review criteria:
I. Title Page
The title page will include the title of the project, the name and title of the investigator, institutional and departmental affiliation, the period of the proposed project, and the amount requested.
Download the Pilot Research Grant application (pdf) here.
II. Abstract, Performance Sites, and List of Personnel (Use PHS398 application form page 2 format)
III. Budget Page (Use PHS398 application form page 4 and 5 format)
IV. Biographical Sketch (OMB No. 0925-001 and 0925-002 Rev. 10/2021 Approved through 09/30/2024)
V. Research Plan
Page limit for the Research Plan (NIH format) is eight pages excluding references. Attachments that are essential to the review of application are permitted but should be kept to a minimum. The Research Plan should include the following:
VI. Abstract of Funded or Submitted Proposals
This section should contain the abstract page or a summary of each grant and contract currently funded or submitted, including those funded or submitted elsewhere for pilot research support.
VII. Statement About Relationship of Proposed Pilot Study to Funded or Submitted Proposals
This statement should explain the relationship, if any, to funded or submitted proposals. If there is no relationship, a single sentence will suffice.
VIII. List of Previously Awarded Internal Grants
This list should include all internal grants previously awarded at TNPRC during last five years. For each previously awarded grant, state what external grant or contract applications resulted from the internal grant, and for each application, whether it was funded.
IX. Feasibility of moving from a Pilot Study to a NIH-grant application or equivalent
Discuss the likelihood that funding of this pilot project will result in a more extensive, externally funded research program.