Program in Comparative Animal Biology (PICAB) Pilot Grant Submission Requirements

Guidelines

• The Penn-CHOP CTSA Program in Comparative Animal Biology (PICAB) announces a pilot grant program between veterinary and human medicine to advance translational therapeutics. The purpose is to use naturally occurring domestic animal models of disease that are sufficiently similar to human diseases as a means to evaluate potential feasibility of novel treatments.

• Two pilot grants of up to $45,000 each are available this year.

• The project must have one co-PI from the School of Veterinary Medicine, and one co-PI from the School of Medicine, either in PSOM or CHOP. Additional faculty may be part of a proposal as co-Investigators. Projects may be in any area of medicine.

• The emphasis of this pilot program is on molecular medicine approaches to therapy (gene therapy, stem cells, recombinant proteins), but compelling reasons for other approaches will be considered. The candidate disease and experimental therapy should involve a domestic animal disease model that, if successful, would provide a clear path towards human application or overcome a major barrier to translation. Domestic animal models of disease that have a high potential to accelerate the path to clinical trials are desirable. The review will place a strong emphasis on the likelihood the pilot study will advance translational application and generate extramural funding to pursue the preliminary findings.

• The use of client owned animals is encouraged, in which case the study may wish to involve the Veterinary Clinical Investigation Center, which is organized to recruit patients, support study design and track cases. The use of animal models from breeding colonies should be focused on new directions or novel diseases that are not covered by existing grants. The pilot projects ideally should be completed in 12 months, however, the funding may be extended for up to 24 months if needed to accrue a statistically valid cohort of subjects.

• PICAB grants are available to registered members of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT). Interested investigators who are not currently members of ITMAT can register to join (www.itmat.upenn.edu/membership). Investigators who would like advice on potential partners in the other school may contact Dr. John H. Wolfe via Emily Romick at 215-590-7030 or emromick@vet.upenn.edu.

• All proposals are due by December 8, 2017 at noon for a project start date of February 1, 2018.

LATE SUBMISSIONS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED NOR, WILL EXTENSIONS BE GRANTED.