Bioinformatics Pilot Project Program

Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA)

2022 FOA Links

Information on this page is for the 2022 submissions. Submissions for 2023 will be opening this spring.
Watch our newsletter, social and this page for more details.

***NEW THIS YEAR – LETTER OF INTENT REQUIRED***

CLICK HERE to submit Letter of Intent. The LOI needs to be submitted in order for your application to be qualified for review. 

The South Carolina IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (SC INBRE), SC INBRE IV solicits applications for the Bioinformatics Pilot Project Program. This program is designed to stimulate the application of genomics and bioinformatics methods by supporting research and student training through the SC INBRE and South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research (SCTR) networks,  networks as well as at Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) across South Carolina. BIPP proposals must focus on Biomedical Science and fit within the broad scientific focus areas of SC INBRE: Biochemistry/Cell and Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Bio/Biomedical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, and Neuroscience. In addition, proposed BIPP projects must provide opportunities for students (undergraduate or graduate) to gain research experience. 

Up to five new BIPP awards will be made throughout the state. BIPP awards support independent, faculty-driven research and provide research training to students and/or postdoctoral fellows in Bioinformatics.

Important Dates 

Award amounts and number of anticipated awards: 

Up to 5 awards of $10,000 each will be awarded.

Forms and Links

LOI and Application Submission Instructions and Contact Information

To submit a Letter of Intent (LOI), please click on the link above. The LOI must be completed by 5 pm ET on March 4, 2022.

Completed LOIs will include the title and short description of your project. This short description is limited to 4 sentences total and should accurately describe the biomedical relevance of your project.

Completed applications, including required signatures on the Face page, must be submitted to the link above by 5 pm ET on April 4, 2022.

Applications submitted without a Letter of Intent submission will not be accepted.

Applications with missing components will not be accepted.

If you have any questions relating to this FOA please contact John.Clarkson@uscmed.sc.edu.

Utilization of Core Facilities

If core facility support is required, projects should propose to work with one of the following INBRE-supported facilities:


If utilizing the services of a core facility, applicants must work with facility directors to plan the proposed experiments. A letter of support from the chosen facility’s Director, or a quote if using a commercial facility, must be included in the proposal. 


If the technical services required by the project cannot be provided by any of the listed facilities, or the project is based upon existing collaborations that involve the use of other resources, it is acceptable to use other service providers, in or outside South Carolina, but a justification must be provided.

Eligibility

BIPP proposals are solicited from institutions of higher education in the SC INBRE network, affiliated members of SCTR, and interested faculty at PUIs across South Carolina. Applications will be accepted from faculty at any rank in tenured, non-tenured, or non-tenure track positions. Current IDeA program-funded faculty are not eligible.

 

**Only one proposal per funding period will be accepted from any faculty. Women, minorities and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.  Prior BIPP award recipients are not eligible to apply.

Proposal Preparation Instructions

The application package can be downloaded from the SC INBRE website in a fillable, pdf format. All forms must be completed according to the NIH guidelines for “R” series awards. Each package includes the following:

 

No activities involving human subjects can be initiated without appropriate IRB approval of the protocol. Applications with human subjects that do not have prior IRB approval will not be reviewed.

Research involving vertebrate animals must be approved by the IACUC before work on the project can begin.

Applications involving vertebrate animals that do not include an IACUC Approval Letter will not be reviewed.

Review

Applications will be reviewed by the SC INBRE Administrative Core personnel to determine responsiveness to the FOA, eligibility of the applicant, completeness of the application, and information regarding human subjects and vertebrate animals. Applications deemed incomplete, ineligible, or not responsive will be returned to the applicants.

All proposals that meet the eligibility requirements and guidelines will be independently evaluated by SC INBRE’s Scientific Review Committee. A competitive proposal will describe a focused set of experiments that require bioinformatics methods of data analysis. The likelihood that the experiment proposed will yield data suitable for publication and usable as preliminary data for an extramural grant proposal will be one of the most considerations during the review. Reviewers will apply the following review criteria: 

Final decisions on funding will be made by the SC INBRE External Advisory Committee and NIGMS. 

Awards and Reporting Requirements

All applicants will receive a notice of award/declination and copies of the reviewers’ comments via email. Award recipients are required to provide the SC INBRE Administrative Core with project data for evaluation and reporting purposes, as follows:

After the expiration date of each award, SC INBRE will continue to contact awardees for outcome-related data such as grants, publications, etc. Failure to provide any requested materials for award or evaluation purposes will constitute default under this program and disqualify the BIPP recipient from further SC INBRE support. 

Human Subjects Information


Human Subjects Forms