Pilot Grant Application Process and Requirements

How to apply: Please email applications to the MARC Coordinator at marcadmin@health.ucsd.edu.

Application deadlines, notice of award, and funding cycle

Pre-application deadline: February 8th, 2021 at 5 pm PST
Notice of Application Approval given: February 16, 2021
Application deadline: March 15, 2021 at 5 pm PST
Notice of awards/Request for JIT information: April 5, 2021
JIT deadline: April 16, 2021 at 5 pm PST
Funding cycle: May 17, 2021-May 16, 2022 for pilot grants                                                                                                                     May 17, 2022-May 16, 2023 for grants qualifying for matching funds

IRB and IACUC approvals must be obtained prior to start of funding period. No funds can be awarded until IRB and IACUC approvals are in-place.

Application requirements

Applications will be submitted in two stages, the pre-application and invited application.

Applications should adhere to the following formatting specifications:

• 11‐point Arial font
• Single‐spaced
• 0.5 inch margins on all sides
• 8 ½" x 11" (i.e. standard size) page
• Number all pages
• No appendices are allowed 

Pre-application

• Max one-page abstract, including figures
• NIH-style biographical sketches, including other support with yearly direct costs, for all significant contributors
• Non-faculty applicants: Letter of support from MARC sponsor and home institution

Invited application

• Proposal (items 1-4 are limited to four pages)

1. Specific Aims (1 page)
2. Background and significance
3. Preliminary studies (if applicable)
4. Research design and methods
5. Literature cited (not included in the four-page limit)

• Budget justification (1 page max). All guidelines pertaining to allowable expenses on federal grants will be applicable for these awards. In addition, no funding will be provided for travel, clerical help, office supplies, books and subscriptions, graduate student support and tuition remission, or publication expenses.
  
• IRB and/or IACUC applications must be submitted prior to deadline for invited application submission.

Evaluation Criteria

The NIH scoring scale will be used to evaluate the proposals based on the following criteria:

1- Scientific merit (30%)                                  4- Innovation (15%)
2- Use of MARC Cores (20%)                         5- Investigative team (10%)
3- Feasibility for one year (15%)                     6- Predicted Accomplishments/Potential (10%)

Presentations and Publications

Awardees are expected to publish their findings in scholarly peer-reviewed journals and present their research at the MARC La Jolla Arthritis Conference (LJAC) and other professional meetings.

All publications, grants, and presentations resulting from research funded by the MARC or using MARC resources must cite the P30 grant as a contributing source of support and indicate the NIH grant title and number: Resource-based Center for the study of the joint microenvironment in rheumatology; University of California San Diego, NIH Grant P30AR073761.