SOM Research Opportunity Fund– Program Overview
The intent of the Funding Program is to provide rapid funding for Investigators in the School of Medicine with monthly deadlines for applications. The program is designed to support 1) research to obtain final data for a biomedical research proposal to be submitted for extramural funding, 2) data that will significantly increase the impact of a publication, thereby increasing the likelihood of future funding, or 3) the purchase of innovative instrumentation or technologies to be used by multiple investigators.

The School of Medicine Research Growth Fund is provided by the Saint Louis University Research Institute. The Research Institute Goals, which extended through this Research Growth Fund initiative, are to:
1) Achieve and sustain annual research expenditure growth that places SLU among the fastest-growing universities.
2) Establish eminence in strategic research priority areas.
3) Raise SLU’s profile and reputation as a world-class research university.
4) Recruit and retain eminent research leaders and invest in their work.
5) Increase federal, industry, and philanthropic funding for the research conducted at SLU.
 

Application Deadline: 10th Day of Any Month by 5 pm CST*
 

Award Decision: 10th Day of the Following Month*
*If the 10th falls on a holiday or weekend, then the deadline will be on the next business day.Investigators should submit their application through the OpenWater portal prior to the monthly deadline. In developing applications for this funding opportunity, investigators must focus on their plan to complete a high-impact publication and/or procure extramural funding and describe how funding this request will improve the likelihood of extramural funding success.

The following information should be submitted:
1. Project Narrative, single-spaced, in Arial 11 font, 0.5-inch margins (2 page maximum). At the end of this narrative 2-3 sentences should address how the proposal meets the design of the ROF.
2. An updated Biosketch in the current NIH format for Principal Investigator (5 page maximum)
3. A list of SOM collaborators that have a conflict of interest for proposal evaluation
4. Budget for study including quotes as needed, and justification for instrumentation if requested

If the Project Narrative exceeds 2 pages, the application will be administratively rejected.

Proposals will be administratively reviewed for completeness and will not be reviewed until all information is collected. Once deemed complete, the proposal will be submitted to the Research Planning Committee (RPC).

Investigators will be notified of the Committee’s funding recommendation via email.
 

AVAILABLE PROGRAM FUNDING

• Applicants may request up to $20,000 for studies to be completed within a 1-year interval.
• Budgets will be evaluated carefully. Items including equipment over $20,000 will be considered and should include justification of a unique need for equipment that will serve multiple investigators.
   

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

• Applicant can be non-tenure track, tenure-track, or tenured faculty in the School of Medicine.
• For research fellows or trainees, the mentor (faculty member) must submit the application as PI.
• Describe within the application the trainee-mentor circumstance.

APPLICATION REVIEW
All members of the RPC are welcome to participate in the review of the proposals. Applications will be reviewed by two members of the RPC. A non-member of the RPC will be invited to review an application if additional expertise is required for an adequate review. The NIH scoring system (1-9) will evaluate the impact of the proposal meeting the goals of the program highlighted in the first two paragraphs of this announcement. A high priority will be evaluating the potential return on investment for the proposal. It is likely that proposal discussion by the committee will only be considered for the most meritorious applications with an average score of 2 or less. The membership of the RPC will vote on each proposal following recommendations by
reviewers and discussions of proposals.
 

AWARD PROCESS/TERMS

• A PI receiving approval for an award will be notified of the specifics via email. All applicable regulatory approvals (IRB and/or IACUC) must be approved, prior to issuing of award.
• The PI must use the awarded funds only for the approved studies.
• Awarded funds will be available to the PI for up to one (1) year and may not exceed available program funding.
• Investigators will be asked to complete a brief survey, annually for 3 years after the Research Growth Fund award expires, to assist in capturing the Return on Investment (ROI) (e.g., proposal submissions, awards, publications, other outcomes, etc.) for this funding program.

Questions? Email sandra.cornell@health.slu.edu.