Developmental Research Project Program (DRP)

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO)

2024 NOFO Links

The South Carolina IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (SC INBRE), SC INBRE IV solicits applications for the Developmental Research Project (DRP) Program designed to foster faculty research programs at SC INBRE network institutions.  DRP 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 DRP projects must provide opportunities for students (undergraduate or graduate) to gain research experience.

Up to TEN new Awards will be made: SIX to faculty at Predominantly Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and FOUR to faculty at Comprehensive Research University (CRU) – TWO at Clemson University, TWO at the Medical University of South Carolina.  DRP Awards support independent research and career development for selected faculty.  It is expected that DRP awardees will utilize SC INBRE support to establish their independent research programs and, in the process, provide research training to students and/or postdoctoral fellows in the Biomedical Sciences.

Important Dates 

Award amounts and number of anticipated awards

Up to 6 awards of $50,000 each will be awarded to faculty at PUIs and up to 4 awards of $50,000 each will be made to faculty at CRUs (2 at Clemson University and 2 at MUSC). CRU awards will be supplemented per institutional agreement with SC INBRE. 

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, 2024.

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.

Where applicable, please make sure the applicant’s email address is used for correspondence, not the applicant’s advisor.

Completed applications, including required signatures on the Face page, must be submitted to the link above by 5 pm ET on April 5, 2024.

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.


The computational and data storage resources of SC INBRE’s Bioinformatics Core are also available to SC INBRE DRP applicants.  To access these resources, contact the Bioinformatics Core Director, Dr. Homayoun Valafar (homayoun@cec.sc.edu, 803-777-2404).

Eligibility

DRP Proposals are solicited from faculty at all institutions of higher education that participate in the SC INBRE network, including CRUs, Network PUIs and Outreach/Alumni PUIs. Eligible applicants include:

 

 

*NIH NIGMS Institutional Development Awards (IDeA) Program has five main components: COBRE, INBRE, IDeA-CTR, Co-Funding, and I-RED.

**Only one proposal per funding period will be accepted from any faculty. Women, minorities and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. Prior DRP recipients having received three years of funding are not eligible to apply.

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.  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 DRP recipient from further SC INBRE support.

Proposal Preparation Instructions

DRP applications for grant year Sept 1, 2024 to Aug 31, 2025 should be written for one-year projects as this is the last year of the INBRE Cycle IV grant.  If INBRE V is funded, there will be an opportunity for new proposals and competitive renewals.

The application forms 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.

Page updated Feb 9, 2024