Pilot and Feasibility Program

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Our goal for the Pilot & Feasibility (P&F) Program is to facilitate new research development, and the career development of scientists, through pilot projects that synergize with the overall objectives of the DRC. Since our DRTC/DRC’s inception in 2008, the P&F program has been critical for growth in Center membership and extramural funding. Our P&F Program was instituted to tap growing interest in diabetes-related research at UAB and to foster development of junior members, create partnerships, and take advantage of core resources. Our RFAs have attracted applications across the translational research spectrum, yielding a diversity of funded proposals, including both clinical and basic research from both junior and senior investigators. To date, we have funded 78 diabetes-related pilots (out of 372 proposals submitted); 44% were clinical research projects and 67% were to junior investigators. In the past cycle (2018-2021), we received 58 applications and funded 20 with 50% involving basic research and 50% clinical research. For the upcoming period our Specific Aims are: 1) To identify and support new research projects of outstanding quality and innovation for pilot funding, ultimately resulting in substantial extramural support for development these new lines of investigation. 2) To support promising junior faculty in career development through funding of outstanding pilots. 3) To augment the breadth and quality of DRC research by funding innovative projects of established researchers new to diabetes or of established diabetes investigators testing novel high-impact hypotheses. 4) To increase the independent investigators in the DRC funded by NIH to conduct diabetes research. As evidence of success, 78% of P&F awardees over the past cycle of our program (2017 to 2021) achieved external funding for this research; when the initial six years of the requested period are considered (2012-2017, this fraction is ~86%. More than 90% of P&F awardees, including some not initially diabetes researchers, continue in diabetes investigation. This speaks to the intellectual environment and community nourished by the DRC Enrichment program, infrastructure support of DRC cores, commitment from academic leaders to recruit and retain such investigators, and recognition that diabetes and cardiometabolic disease disproportionately affect the population served by our Health System. To accomplish our aims, we have updated our online application submission process and increased the expertise and diversity of our P&F Scientific Review Committee. We will promote internal peer-review of applications taking advantage of programs sponsored by the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Research (i.e., the UAB CTSA) to strengthen both pilot applications and subsequent larger extramural grant applications. With institutional DRC support and vibrant and growing UAB clinical and basic science departments, our DRC P&F Program will build on its accomplishments to achieve greater success.