Overview

The primary goal of the Developmental Grants Program (DGP) will be the initiation of innovative studies by junior faculty and trainees at UCSD or affiliated institutions with the following objectives:

1. Recruitment to neuroAIDS research of new investigators or established investigators without prior experience in the field;
2. Generation and pilot testing of new research initiatives;
3. Fostering collaboration among investigators from throughout Southern California.

The program provides to qualified investigators and trainees any appropriate combination of the following forms of support:

1. Small, 1-2 year grants to support pilot studies;
2. Access to HNRC core resources such as data, specimens, participants, equipment, administrative support, or expert consultation and technical assistance.

The application and evaluation processes for grants is semiannual, rapid, and relatively simple. For faculty, assistance will be directed to projects that can generate pilot data that support peer-reviewed proposals to outside agencies. For postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, or other trainees, the objective may be completion of projects that fulfill requirements for advanced degrees and/or result in peer-reviewed publications.

Southern California and specifically San Diego hosts a remarkable concentration of talented investigators in the biomedical and neurobehavioral sciences relevant to neuroAIDS. Fostering collaboration among these investigators by providing funding for pilot studies and support for trainees is an important secondary objective of the core.

Questions about the Developmental Grants Program

1. When can investigators apply to the awards?
2. How much support is provided and what categories of research are considered?
3. What are some examples of recently funded projects?
4. Who judges the merits of the proposals and how are applications reviewed?
5. Where can I find the application materials?

1. When can investigators apply to the awards?

   First Application Cycle
   Letter of intent (to Heather Bentley at hbentley@ucsd.edu or MC0847): May 16, 2008
   Application Deadline: June 2, 2008
   Funding to begin: July 1, 2008

   Second Application Cycle
   Letter of intent (to Heather Bentley at hbentley@ucsd.edu or MC0847): September 15, 2008
   Application Deadline: October 3, 2008
   Funding to begin: November 3, 2008




2. How much support is provided and what categories of research are considered?

   Awards can be made for up to $25,000, but the median amount will be about $15,000. The number and size of the awards in each category may be influenced by the quality of the submissions in each award cycle, but only applications of sufficient quality to meet our scientific standards will be funded. The two categories of developmental grants that will be supported are described below.

   (a) Investigators New to NeuroAIDS Research

   This component is designed to support junior investigators in neuroAIDS research, or other investigators with relevant backgrounds, in pursuing new initiatives in HIV-related, neurobehavioral research. Both the guidelines to the review committee and the application instructions will state that the limited CSPAR developmental funds will be targeted to junior investigators. However, we will consider applications from more senior investigators who wish to apply their established skills and methods to neurobehavioral aspects of HIV infections, but who have no prior experience in neuroAIDS research. Support may include access to HNRC resources such as patients, samples, or expertise, or the costs of personnel, consultation with outside experts, assays, drugs, reagents, or equipment needed to complete pilot studies.

   (b) Pilot Studies

   Because even established investigators have difficulty obtaining grants without pilot data, this category will permit faculty at any level to fund pilot studies to demonstrate the feasibility of a new line of research and generate data to support applications for peer-reviewed funding.




3. What are some examples of recently funded projects?

   	Principal Investigator	Title
   1.	Chad Bousman, MPH	Functional variants of CDK5R1 and GSTP1 in the context of methamphetamine and HIV
   2.	Linda McEvoy, Ph.D.	Neural markers of executive dysfunction in HIV: Evidence from Magnetoencephalography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging
   3.	Jacopo Annese, Ph.D.	Multimodal Analysis of HIV-Related White Matter Neuropathology: Correlation between MRI and 3-D Quantitative Histology
   4.	Mariana Cherner, Ph.D.	Role of CYP2D6 in cognitive and motor impairments associated with methamphetamine dependence
   5.	Lucette Cysique, Ph.D.	Neuronal substrates of neurocognitive impairment in HCV mono-infected and HCV-HIV co-infected individuals using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging
   6.	Suzi Hong, Ph.D.	Cellular Adhesion Molecule Expression on T-Lymphocytes and Monocytes in HIV Patients with Neurocognitive Impairment
   7.	J. Cobb Scott, Ph.D.	Everyday Action Organization in HIV-1 Infection
   8.	Doug Green, M.D.	HAART-mediated Beta-Amyloid Deposition in the CNS
   9.	Paul Mills, Ph.D.	Immune Mechanisms Involved in HCV Effects on Neurocognitive Functioning in an Egyptian Patient Sample
   10.	Mark Jacobson, Ph.D.	Divided attention and fronto-striatal pathology in HIV: measuring frontal lobe activation with functional MRI
   11.	Steven Paul Woods, Psy.D.	Spatial cognition in HIV - 1 Infection
   12.	Ian Everall, M.D., Ph.D.	Gene Dysregulation in HIV Infected Individuals with Major Depressive Disorder
   13.	Sergio de Almeida, M.D., Ph.D./ Ron Ellis M.D., Ph.D.	Collaborative Initiative between UCSD and UFRP (Brazil) to Perform Neuropsychological Evaluation in HIV+ Individuals in Brazil
   14.	Rebecca Theilmann, Ph.D.	Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (DW-MRS) in HIV-1 infection
   15.	T. Dianne Langford, Ph.D.	Patterns of Central Nervous System Involvement in the AIDS Population is Ethiopia: A Post-mortem Study from the Forensic Pathology Cases in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
   16.	Marc Norman, Ph.D.	African-American Normative Data Project

   
   



4. Who judges the merits of the proposals and how are applications reviewed?

   The HNRC Developmental Core has a standing Developmental Grant Review Committee. Immediately after the submission deadline, each application will be assigned to two reviewers by Drs. Everall, Lipton and the chair of the Developmental Grant Review Committee. Additional ad hoc reviewers will be assigned as appropriate.

   Developmental Grant Review Committee
   Grant Review Committee Members	Affiliation	Area of Expertise
   Richard S. Kornbluth, M.D., Ph.D. Chair	UCSD	Immunology
   Harry Vinters, M.D.	UCLA	Neuropathology
   James T. Becker, Ph.D.	Univ. Pittsburgh	Neuropsychology
   Justin McArthur, M.B.B.S., M.P.H.	Johns Hopkins Univ.	Neurology
   Mark Cohen, Ph.D.	UCLA	Imaging
   Howard Fox, M.D., Ph.D.	Scripps Res. Inst.	Neurosciences
   Joe Hogan, Sc.D.	Brown Univ.	Biostatistics
   Tom Patterson, Ph.D.	UCSD	Behavioral science/prevention
   Applications are awarded up to 15 points for scientific merit, relevance to HNRC goals, and relevance to Developmental Core goals. Primary emphasis is placed on significance of the research question and proposed study design and methods. A copy of the review criteria is available here.

   
   



5. Where can I find the application materials?

   You can download the forms here in MSWord format or contact Heather Bentley, CCRA, HNRC Assistant Center Manager (619) 543-5025; hbentley@ucsd.edu in order to receive the materials.