2009 Request for Proposals
RFP Timetable:
October 15, 2008: One-page Letter of Intent proposals due via e-mail to Davood Tashayyod no later than 6:00 p.m. at dt97@Drexel.edu (LIMIT 2 PROPOSALS PER PI). Please click here to see a sample letter as a guideline: QLISA Letter of Intent <http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_letter.pdf> [or simply copy and paste the following link to a web browser:
http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_letter.pdf]
On or about November 4, 2008: Invitations to faculty to submit full Coulter research proposals from selected LOI proposals.
December 15, 2008: Full Coulter proposals due via e-mail via e-mail to Davood Tashayyod no later than 6:00 p.m. at dt97@Drexel.edu. Please click here to see sample technical proposal as a guideline: QLISA Proposal <http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_format.pdf> [or simply copy and paste the following link to a web browser:
http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_proposal.pdf]
February 2, 2009: Oversight Committee (OC) evaluations due back. Rank and make selections and invitations for oral presentations. Send invitations for oral presentations to PIs.
March 5, 2009: Oral proposal presentations to OC. Discussions and awards.
April 1, 2009: All Coulter projects begin.
Program: The proceeds of our annual grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation are used to support collaborative translational research projects that involve co-investigators from the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems and a clinical department in medicine, nursing or public health (either within Drexel or outside of Drexel). The goal of this program is to support collaborative translational research that is focused on creating health care products that address unmet or poorly met clinical needs and lead to improvements in patient health care. Examples of desirable translational research goals and outcomes include non-invasive medical devices, patents, systems for the improved diagnosis and treatment of disease, commercial products, licenses, commercial partnerships and start-up companies. Shorter term R&D projects are desirable and encouraged.
Eligibility: Only permanent, full-time, tenure-track faculty or equivalent permanent faculty in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems in the professorial ranks (assistant, associate, full) may apply. The term ‘permanent faculty’ refers to faculty who hold positions funded by institutional budgets.
Criteria: Each proposal must have designated a principal investigator from the Drexel Biomed School and at least one clinical co-investigator from the COM or other clinical department in medicine, nursing or public health whose job responsibilities include direct contact with patients or patient data. The research must relate directly to applications in health care, and the objectives of the project should include an outcome that will benefit patients. Evaluation of each proposal will be on the basis of scientific merit, potential health care impact and significance, experience of the investigators, timeline and costs for commercialization and for successfully obtaining further financial support.
Submission: For the 2008-09 funding year, we are again using a two-stage proposal process. The first stage is to submit a one-page “Letter of Intent” proposal.
Here are guidelines to assist you with preparation of the LOI:
Cover Page: Include the Title of the Project, your name and your clinical co-investigator information. Include all of your contact information
Structure: Write up the “LOI” as a one page narrative, Word document, single-spaced, 12 pt.
1. Define the unmet or poorly met clinical need; include some metrics such as # of patients affected annually, health care expenditures for treatment and/or diagnosis, likely future trend of the problem, etc.
2. Describe the proposed solution. It needs to be as focused as possible on the development of a technology solution to the identified problem, i.e. “translational” as opposed to “academic” (adds to the general body of knowledge, but not product specific).
3. Provide evidence such as published articles, (if any exists) that the proposed technology would actually work and that there would be a future clinical demand for it (this is where the clinical Co-PI comes in).
4. Indicate a likely total R&D / product development timeline (i.e., “bench to bedside” time). Is this a 1-2 year project or 8-10 years?
5. Include a gross estimate of the one year direct R&D costs for personnel, minor equipment and supplies (do not add in the university overhead at this point).
6. Discuss the current Intellectual Property status including invention disclosures, patent applications filed, shared IP ownership with others, Patents awarded and/or technologies licensed, related to your proposed technology.
A subcommittee of the main Coulter Oversight Committee will evaluate the LOI proposals. Our objective is to select a subset of the LOI’s for an invited Full Coulter Proposal. We will notify you with the result of your LOI proposal on or before November 14, 2008.
All Full Coulter Proposals are due not later than December 15, 2008, 6:00 p.m. via e-mail to Davood Tashayyod (dt97@drexel.edu). These full proposals will be thoroughly reviewed and evaluated by the Coulter Oversight Committee and the Tech Transfer office. Our plan is to select a subset from the group of invited proposals to make an oral proposal presentation to the Coulter Oversight committee. We will make this announcement about February 2nd, 2009. The oral presentations will be held on March 5th, 2009. Award announcements will be made shortly thereafter. All 2009 Coulter research projects will be required to begin on April 1, 2009.
Full Coulter Proposal Instructions (LIMIT 2 PROPOSALS PER PI):
Applications must not exceed five pages of narrative (See sample technical proposal – QLISA) <http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_proposal.pdf> , excluding the cover page, the budget page (You must use the sample budget format at this link: http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_budget.pdf), and a two-page CV of the investigators. The cover page must contain the project title, names of the co-investigators, dollar amount of funding requested, a one-paragraph summary, and the approval/signature of the department chair of the co-investigator who is not in the School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems (Please use the offices of Dr. Kenny Simansky [kenny.simansky@drexelmed.edu] for all signatures needed from the College of Medicine).
All award recipients will be required to prepare and submit brief written quarterly progress reports and to meet with the Coulter administrative officials at Drexel. Awardees will also be required to make a mid-year progress report presentation to the Coulter Oversight Committee. .
The Full Year funded translational research grant proposal should be modeled from the LOI proposal and must include a complete discussion of:
• Explanation of clinical relevancy and market need for the proposed research:
o Identification and discussion of the unmet or poorly met clinical need or disease
o What are the market metrics for your proposed product, such as the number of patients likely affected by your product, health care/societal expenditures for your clinical problem, etc.
o What are the current approaches for assessment or treatment of your chosen clinical problem and the known shortcomings of those approaches?
o Discussion of the envisioned future health care industry product and the advantages it would have compared to the current approaches.
• Expected R&D timeline to create the proposed technology product.
• Expected specific milestones (per quarter) and research plan for achieving them (project realistic and achievable quarterly and yearly milestone objectives)
• Intellectual property status, strategy and future plan including invention disclosures, patent applications filed, shared IP ownership with others, patents awarded and/or technologies licensed, related to your proposed technology.
• Estimated R&D costs to achieve the complete envisioned future clinical product.
• List of current funding and pending proposals for each co-investigator concerning the proposed Coulter project.
• Plan for possible sources of funding after Coulter funding expires (historically, on average, Coulter funded projects have received about two years of funding of a total amount of about $200,000).
• Application or approvals for animal and/or human testing (if needed).
Duration: Grants will be for a one-year period, and may be submitted for renewal. Renewal applications must have a comparison of milestones achieved vs. those planned in the original submission. Fully explain any significant deviations from the original milestone goals. Renewal applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis with new applications.
Budgets: Prepare a detailed research budget including all of the direct costs for personnel, materials, supplies and equipment that will be needed to meet your stated research goals (You must use the sample budget format at this link: http://www.biomed.drexel.edu/new04/Content/Translational_Research/Coulter/sample_budget.pdf). Major capital expenditures are not permitted. Minor capital equipment items specifically needed for conductance of the research plan are acceptable. If you are not sure, please ask.
Funds may be used for salary support of faculty, graduate students and other research staff, but may not be used for general staff or administrative support or for tuition. Operating supplies, minor equipment items, prototyping expenses, imaging time and travel directly associated with the research activity are examples of eligible budget items. Grant budgets are expected to be in the $100,000 range direct costs for a one-year period. No overhead costs should be included in the budgets – Direct costs only for personnel, minor equipment and supplies.
CV’s:Include your CV and those of all of your proposed co-investigators. Use the NIH style two-page format.