REQUEST FOR RESEARCH PROPOSALS BY PHPID AFFILIATE FACULTY. This is an invitation for faculty submission of research proposals to the Targeted Investment in Excellence (TIE) in Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases (PHPID) at Ohio State University (OSU). All PHPID affiliate Faculty in the six member colleges are eligible, including salaried and courtesy appointments, but not adjunct appointments. Thus eligible investigators will be appointed in the Colleges of Public Health; Medicine; Pharmacy; Biological Sciences; Veterinary Medicine; or Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

A list of PHPID Faculty is located on the PHPID website, www.phpid.osu.edu. If you are not yet affiliated, you may request membership by sending an email to phpid@osu.edu with either a web reference to your CV or as an attachment to the email. To join the PHPID, member-faculty must agree to the PHPID mission, goals, and spirit of the program as outlined in the Implementation Plan. Outside of this requirement, there are no costs, nor screening, of faculty members within the six colleges listed. More information about the benefits of PHPID Affiliation is available on the web at http://oaa.osu.edu/TIE2.php and http://www.phpid.osu.edu, or by contacting Eric Lutz, the PHPID Program Manager, at elutz@cph.osu.edu.

The mission of the PHPID is to protect public health by minimizing animal to human, environmental, and food borne infectious disease threats through innovative interdisciplinary research. This will be achieved through a program of research excellence that is broad in scope encompassing the full range of relevant sciences from the laboratory bench to the community. We embrace the interdisciplinary nature of the program recognizing that breakthroughs will likely emerge at the interface of scientific disciplines. Accordingly, this program draws strength from both the diversity of academic programs that underlie it, as well as a unifying focus and direction related to public health preparedness and infectious diseases.

Priorities for funding include interdisciplinary work that helps us:

• Research on the mechanisms of host-pathogen interactions with an emphasis on agents of concern to public health and with the goal of identifying new molecular targets for diagnostics, therapies and vaccines.

• Research on detection of emerging and re-emerging infectious disease agents. This includes the epidemiology, underlying mode of transmission (human to human, animal or environment to human, and interspecies transmission among animals), and strategies for prevention, control and treatment.

• Develop and test new therapies for infectious diseases.

• Discover new approaches to sanitation of food products for safe human consumption.

• Perform clinical trials for infectious diseases (diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines).

• Develop new methods for interdisciplinary training of public health practitioners for early detection and effective response to infectious disease threats.

Characteristics of a Successful PHPID Proposal include:

1. All awards have a maximum budget of $50,000 direct cost per award per year and a maximum duration of two years, subject to approval of the year-one annual progress report presented to the PHPID Pilot Research Program Selection Committee. A final report at the end of the second year will also be required.

2. The P.I. must be an Affiliate PHPID Faculty member.

3. The Proposal must include collaborative effort across two or more of the participating PHPID colleges. At least two investigators must have a tenure home in PHPID affiliate Colleges (CBS, CFAES, COM, COP, CPH, or CVM).

4. The narrative should state clearly in non-technical language how the work is innovative and contributes to the advancement of the PHPID mission and goals.

5. No extramural match is required and existing work is not eligible. Plans for acquiring future external funding should be addressed. Priority is given to projects that promote the mission of the PHPID and identify a potential external source of funding with timelines for submission and collaborators.

6. Priority is given to new investigators (five years or less on faculty) and to established investigators starting a new area of research (areas with no prior support).

7. A maximum 10-page proposal inclusive of cover page with abstract, contents page, project narrative (not to exceed 5 pages), budget narrative, references, and collaboration and future plans (Sections A through F of Submission Guidelines). Tables and graphs are also included in the 10-page limit.

8. The relationship between the proposed, previous, and existing work must be clear.

9. Evaluation of proposals will be conducted by the Pilot Research Grant Selection Committee. Awardees will be determined from total points accumulated for numbers 5, 6, and 8 above (33%) and the Project Narrative (66%). In addition, all proposals will be assessed for strict adherence to the remaining guidelines and requirements specifically outlined in numbers 1 – 4, & 7 above, and the Submission Guidelines.

Attachments: Submission Guidelines

Budget Form

Submission Guidelines:

The deadline is July 3, 2009, at 5PM eastern time. All proposals must be sent as an email attachment to phpid@osu.edu in Adobe PDF text-file format. To ensure fairness no proposal, nor revision, will be accepted after the July 3, 2009, 5:00 p.m. deadline. Paper, fax, MS Word, WordPerfect, or other non PDF submissions will not be accepted. ALL PAGES should be set to print on standard 8.5- by 11-inch paper. All margins should be at least 1 inch. Type must be 12 point or larger with no more than 6 lines per inch. All pages should be numbered.

Funding to PHPID Pilot Research Grant Recipients is anticipated to occur in September, 2009.

Proposals must adhere to a 10-page limit. Within the 10-page limit are items A - F in the outline below. These sections include the Cover Page, Contents, Project Narrative (not to exceed 5 pages), Budget Narrative, References, and Collaboration and Future Plans. All tables and graphs are also included in the 10-page limit. No appendices are allowed. Exempt from the 10-page limit are pages outside of A - F in the outline below. It is permissible to use the standard current and pending support and conflict of interest forms used by grants.gov.

It is the responsibility of the investigator to comply with all existing University policies and guidelines regarding the use of human subjects, animal welfare, conflict of interest, and hazardous materials. Please work with the Office of Technology Licensing on matters pertaining to intellectual property. http://tlc.osu.edu/

Proposal Outline:

A. Cover Page

• Project title.
• Principal Investigator (PI) name, title, affiliation, campus address, telephone, fax, and e-mail.
• Names, titles, and affiliations of collaborators.
• Anticipated start date, duration and funds requested.
• Maximum 200 word lay-summary of the purpose, relevance, impact and expected outcomes.

B. Contents

Please number all pages (including those outside of the page limitations) and apply these major letter headings:

1. Cover Page
2. Table of Contents
3. Project Narrative.
4. Budget Narrative.
5. References.
6. Collaboration and Future Plans.
7. Curriculum Vitae for Each Investigator.
8. Current and Pending Support for each investigator.
9. Budget.

 

C. PROJECT NARRATIVE

C.1. Objectives. A clear statement of the objectives, including hypotheses tested, research questions addressed, and any products developed.

C.2. Rationale and Significance. Concisely present the rationale behind the proposed research. Describe the probable end products of the study and associated significance. The current status of research and significant published work should be summarized. Innovation or unique expertise among investigators should be identified. The relationship to the PHPID, and how it differs from current projects, should be explained.

C.3. Research Methods. A description of the research design, methods, data analysis, application of results, limitations of the procedures, and a schedule of activities, typically presented as a table or Gantt chart.

C.4. Role of Investigators. The role of each investigator and percent time on the project.

D. Budget Narrative

Provide a one page budget narrative describing equipment purchased, personnel (graduate students, post docs, technicians, etc.) needed and other expenditures. List the number of quarters any graduate student(s) will be supported. Faculty salaries and release time are not allowed.

E. References

List alphabetically and conform to an accepted journal format.

F. Collaboration and Future Plans

Mention any collaboration or arrangements with other scientists, notably those within the six colleges of this PHPID. Address plans for seeking extramural funding.

G. Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Each CV should be no longer than three pages, including publications. The following information should be included: education, employment and professional history, honors and awards, funding history for the past five years, and selected recent or relevant publications.

H. Current and Pending Support

Include a current and pending research support form for each investigator. Include public or private support as well as the proposed project. A standard grants.gov form may be used.

I. Budget

Include salaries and wages, fringe benefits, equipment, materials and supplies, travel, publication costs, and tuition. Faculty salaries are not allowed. Indirect costs are not allowed. Utilized the PHPID Budget Form to summarize allocations and specifically outline which academic units will receive funds. An electronic version of the Budget Form may be requested from the PHPID Program Manager at phpid@osu.edu.