The MIT Center for Environmental Health Sciences (CEHS), an interdisciplinary research center funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), invites MIT faculty and research staff with principal investigator privileges to submit applications for funding of pilot projects related to environmental health, to support either basic or translational research. The center anticipates funding of $25,000 (direct costs) for each application.
Basic science research in the context of this program is any avenue of study that provides fundamental insights into a particular discipline within environmental health. Translational pilot projects should be designed to move basic/fundamental research closer to its application to prevent or treat human diseases caused by environmental exposures. This definition spans a range of research activities, from applying a method or device to cell- or animal-based models of human disease, to initiating a study involving human tissue samples. We encourage proposals involving collaborations with clinicians or other interdisciplinary collaborations, for example between engineers and animal model experts that move environmental health science closer to human applications. In all cases, the trajectory to human application must be clear and feasible.
The pilot project program seeks to:
- Provide initial support for new investigators to establish research in the area of environmental health.
- Allow established investigators to explore innovative new directions in environmental health research representing a significant departure from ongoing funded research.
- Bridge collaborations between scientists and engineers.
- Stimulate investigators from diverse fields of endeavor to apply their expertise to environmental health research.
- Encourage and foster multi-disciplinary research collaborations.
- Provide an opportunity for investigators to move their basic research to the translational level.
Proposal guidelines
Applicants should submit a four-page research plan that outlines the specific aims and research strategy (i.e. significance, innovation, and approach). Please distinguish in the project title whether the pilot project application is “basic research” or “translational research.”
Applications should also include a detailed budget form (Form Page 4), budget justification, and a biographical sketch using the NIH PHS398 forms.
Deadline for this call is May 16, 2014, with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2014. Please visit the CEHS Pilot Project Program website for more information.
