Whereas translational research focuses on the specific case of a target or disease, translational science is “disease universal” because it focuses on the scientific and operational bottlenecks that are common to translational research for most or all diseases. A key tenet of TS is to understand common causes of inefficiency and failure in translational research projects with the goal of developing generalizable principles to accelerate translational research (e.g., incorrect predictions of the toxicity or efficacy of new drugs, lack of data interoperability, ineffective clinical trial recruitment). You can learn more about TS research here.
Translational research projects, i.e., projects focused on crossing a particular step of the translational process for a particular target or disease, do not qualify for funding under this program.
Funding: Awards are for one year, up to $40,000 direct cost. Funds may be used for non-faculty salary support (research staff, lab tech, study coordinator, etc.). Funds may not be used for faculty salary support. Awarded funds must be expended by the closing date of the CTSA grant year. For funded projects, NIH required documentation must be submitted prior to award start date. IRB or IACUC approval must be obtained prior to project start date.
Eligibility: Faculty only. One proposal may be submitted per faculty member. Any faculty member who has a current grant with overlapping aims is not eligible to apply. The CTS Pilot Program strongly encourage proposals that involve:
- Collaborations among clinical, translational and basic scientists.
- Established investigators exploring innovative new leads or directions in TS.
- Investigators from other areas to lend their expertise in research in TS.
Timeline: The Letter of Intent (LOI) is due on December 6, 2024. Proposals are due on January 24th 2025, 5 pm ET. Award notifications will be sent by end of February 2025. Earliest anticipated start date March-April 2025 (Note: awards cannot start until all pre-award required documentation is provided, see below).
Application Process: The application process consists of two steps.
- 1. Letter of Intent: Applicants first MUST submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) expressing their interest to apply and clearly outlining the translational research roadblock1 that will be addressed by the research project. Submit LOI using this link: https://einsteinmed-12784.app451.sites.451.io/ After review of LOIs, select applicants will be invited to submit a full application.
- 2. Application Submission: Applications will be by invitation only. Invited applicants will be e-mailed a link to the online submission portal and should upload the application and all required supporting documents as a single pdf file. If required, IRB or IACUC approval MUST be obtained or be pending at the time of application.
- 3. Proposals should contain the following components:
- 1. Title and Abstract (500 words maximum) of the proposed project.
- 2. Project proposal (3 pages maximum) containing the following sections, Background, Significance, Specific Aims, and Approach, and description of:
- a. The translational barrier(s) / roadblock(s)1 that will be addressed.
- b. Expected generalizability of study outcomes (i.e., to other disease areas, patient cohorts, etc).
- c. Future directions and long-term impact.
- 3. Principal Investigator (PI) and other key personnel NIH biosketches.
- 4. PI and key personnel other research support (in NIH format).
- 5. Budget justification and itemized budget (use NIH PHS 398 form).
Review Criteria: Proposals will be reviewed based on (1) scientific merit; (2) suitability as a pilot study; (3) feasibility; (4) significance; (5) novelty; (6) generalizability; (7) likelihood to lead to external funding, and (8) investigator qualifications. Investigators and researchers for whom TS represents a new direction will be given priority. Novelty and risk-taking with potential for major scientific advancement in TS will also be given consideration during the review process.
Pre-Award Documentation: Applicants selected for CTSA Pilot Project funding must submit all the required pre-award documentation requested in the online pre-award submission portal. These include the required NIH documentation attesting study compliance with human or animal subject protections (IRB or IACUC approval, respectively), and use of genetic material and stem cells, if applicable. Delay in providing this documentation will also delay the project’s start date, which may impact the project performance as funds must be used before the closing date of the CTSA grant year, February 28, 2025.
All applicants are encouraged to contact the ICTR Administrative Director, Ms. Elizabeth Castro (elizabeth.castro@einsteinmed.edu) at 845-494-5066, to make sure that all the NIH required documentation is prepared in advance of funding date (including IRB or IACUC review of the proposed research and approval). This ensures that if your project is approved for funding, your award notice will be issued on time for project performance and use of funds before the closing date of the CTSA grant year.
1. Austin CP. Opportunities and Challenges in Translational Science. Clin Transl Sci 2021;14(5):1629-1647. PMCID.PMC8504824.DOI: 10.1111/cts. 13055.
2024 Awardees
Eric Bouhassira, PhD
Production of Therapeutic Engineered Red Blood Cells
A major roadblock1 to the use of red blood cells as drug delivery vehicles has been the lack of a generalizable, scalable approach to load a variety of cargo into the cells without decreasing their lifespan. Dr. Bouhassira's project aims to address this by using a method to produce genetically modifies red blood cells in culture that his team has recently developed.
Tyler Grove, PhD
Oxygen-Sensitive Proteins: Novel Targets for Biology and Medicine
Dr. Grove's project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing robust infrastructure to identify hit compounds targeting O2-sensitive proteins for future development of inhibitors and tool compounds.
Lucas Sjulson, MD, PhD
Developing a Method to inactivate AAV-based gene therapies
Gene therapies based on adeno-associated viral vectors (AAVs) hold great promise for treating numerous diseases, but the fact that they are irreversible raises major safety concerns if adverse effects occur. Dr. Sjulson's project will work to develop and validate a method to permanently inactivate AAV-based gene therapies called Recombinase-Enabled Vector Inactivation and Reversal Technology (REVIRT).
Phyu Thwe, PhD
Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Slow-growing Microorganisms Using a Reporter Phage-based System
Dr. Thwe's project aims to use phages as a tool for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) by using non tuberculous Myocobacteria (NTM) as a model and infecting NTM with reporter phages. Her team will optimize and design new phages for specific NTM species and hope to contribute to the development of new testing guidelines for phage-based AST testing applications in clinical laboratories in the future.
2023 Awardees
Gaetano Santulli, MD, PhD
Overcoming a Long-Standing Translational Barrier in Stem Cell Research
Current strategies in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) technology allow to obtain mostly immature cells with embryonic features. Dr. Santulli’s project aims to optimize the development of hiPSC into mature differentiated cells in order to accelerate the use of these cells in translational research.
Jean Hebert, PhD
A General Cell-Based Approach for Overcoming the Blood-Brain-Barrier to Treat Brain Diseases
The use of protein and peptide therapeutics for brain diseases is limited due to their general inability to cross the blood-brain-barrier. Dr. Hebert’s project is focused on developing a minimally invasive method for delivery of protein-based therapeutics to the brain.
Simon Spivack, MD
Cough Capture as a Portal into the Lung
A major roadblock1 in human lung research is the inability to sample the lung in a non-invasive manner. Dr. Spivack’s project aims to develop a method to capture DNA and proteins in cough that can serve as a surrogate of the deep lung environment.
