PILOT AND FEASIBILITY PROGRAM

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The Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Program of the University of Massachusetts Medical School DERC has three principal goals. 1) To provide startup funding for new investigators preparing to embark on careers in diabetes- and endocrinology-related research. 2) To provide established investigators with the opportunity to develop new technologies that may enhance diabetes-related research. 3) To enable established investigators in other fields to initiate research in areas that are related to diabetes. Related to each of these goals is the provision of support and guidance that will allow P&F Program awardees to compete successfully for the extramural funding that will allow them to remain active in diabetes-related research. Since the University of Massachusetts Medical School DERC was initiated in 1983, proposals relevant to each of our goals were received. A total of 41 research proposals funded by the P&F program have been completed. Eight additional research programs funded by the P&F program remain ongoing. Over three fourths of proposal abstracts led to invitations to submit full proposals. Approximately one third of completed proposals were funded. Since the last competing renewal, twenty-two P&F proposals have been funded and/or completed. The investigators of seventeen P&F studies (excluding the five funded in 2004) have received 30 grants from external agencies totaling more than 3.5 million dollars in current year direct costs. Approximately 57 manuscripts have been published by the DERC funded P&F investigators since their P&F award. The DERC is particularly pleased to have enabled at least seven investigators trained in other fields (Chambers, Lien, Chan, Sagerstrom, Kornfeld, Tissenbaum, and Lawson) to undertake programs of research related to diabetes. The Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Program that is part of this competitive renewal of the University of Massachusetts Medical School DERC is designed very similarly to the program that has demonstrated continuing success since the inception of the program.