Pilot & Feasibility Program

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The Pilot and Feasibilty (P&F) grant program aims to provide initial support for meritorious research relevant to diabetes and its complications. Specifically, the program seeks to recruit new investigators and/or new ideas into diabetes research by providing seed funding for innovative lines of investigation so as to enable the awardees to generate substantial preliminary data. It is anticipated that one or two years support at the level of $35,000/year will strongly promote the likelihood of obtaining longer-term support. P&F grant availability and the criteria for eligibility are detailed in the program announcements, which are distributed repeatedly through poster mailings and internet to all area research institutions between December and January. Eligibility criteria, instructions and application materials are featured prominently on the BADERC web site. During the previous five years cycle, 106 completed applications were received; most originated from MGH (38), with significant numbers from BIDMC(17) BWH (15) BMC (18), Joslin (7),Tufts (5) Schepens Eye Research Institute (4) and single applications from others. All grants receive outside review, with two reports received for -70%. The grants and reviews were further evaluated by the BADERC executive committee, who based final funding decisions primarily on reviewer merit scores; when scores are close however, issues of BADERC mission relevance and fair distribution among disciplines and institutions are considered. The distribution of the 19 grants awarded this cycle has favored MGH (10) and BIDMC (5); 45/106 applications focused on metabolism, as did 10/19 P&F grants awarded. Five of 24 Clinical/Translaional applications were funded but none of the immunology proposals, a change from the previous cycle. As to subsequent funding history, of the 29 awardees between 2000-2008 who were considered "new" investigators at the time of their P&F award, 14 have achieved ROI-level funding and 11 achieved ADA/JDRF/foundation awards. This cohort of investigators published of 5-6 publications subsequent to acquiring the P&F award. We consider the P&F grant largely successful in achieving the goals articulated. In the future, the BADERC internal review committee will expand from three to six members to enhance representation.