UTHealth Initiative

I. Background

In 2013, President Barack Obama announced a grand challenge to accelerate the development and application of new technologies that will provide insight into nervous system function in health and disease: the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. This Initiative identified seven high-priority research areas (see below) that when combined will advance our understanding of the relationship between cells, circuits and behavior. Based on this initiative, and to promote collaboration in the , the UTHealth Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCTS; which is supported by an NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award) and the UTHealth Research Center (NRC) are pleased to announce a new funding opportunity to seed five pilot projects in these critical research areas.

II. Purpose and Criteria

Applications will be accepted from all full-time faculty members of the UTHealth Medical School at any level of seniority. Collaborative interdisciplinary research is highly encouraged and therefore co-investigators from other institutions that comprise the Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC) are permitted. Support from the program for any one proposal can be up to approximately $50,000 per year for up to a 2-year period, with second year funding dependent upon suitable progress. Funds may be used for direct costs such as faculty salary, technical support personnel, stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, supplies, and equipment (no indirect costs are allowed). A faculty member can be a PI or co-PI on only one proposal.

The research program should be hypothesis-driven and encompass one or more of the specific aims of the BRAIN Initiative as outlined below:

1. Discovering diversity: Identify and provide experimental access to the different brain cell types to determine their roles in health and disease. 2. Maps at multiple scales: Generate circuit diagrams that vary in resolution from synapses to the whole brain. 3. The brain in action: Develop and apply improved methods for large‐scale monitoring of neural activity. 4. Demonstrating causality: Link brain activity to behavior with precise interventional tools that change neural circuit dynamics. 5. Identifying fundamental principles: Produce conceptual foundations for understanding the biological basis of mental processes through development of new theoretical and data analysis tools. 6. Advancing human neuroscience: Develop innovative technologies to understand the and treat its disorders; create and support integrated human brain research networks. 7. From BRAIN Initiative to the brain: Integrate new technological and conceptual approaches produced in Goals #1‐6 to discover how dynamic patterns of neural activity are transformed into cognition, emotion, perception, and action in health and disease.

The major goal of the UTHealth Initiative is to facilitate scientific research and collaborative efforts in the neurosciences, creating an atmosphere of scientific exchange through multiple routes. To help achieve this goal, all recipients of this award will be expected to attend NRC events, present their research annually at the neuroscience poster session in December, attend a CCTS SPARK meeting on their projects (http://ccts.uth.tmc.edu/ccts-services/scientific-partners-advancing-research- kickoff), and participate in Grants 101 (http://www.uthouston.edu/nidp/grants-101/) and 102 (http://www.uthouston.edu/nidp/grants-102/) (unless the awardee has already received extramural finding or has attended Grants 101 and 102).

The Scientific Review Board will require a yearly progress report and a final report at the end of the term of the award if it exceeds 1 year. Continuation of funding for multi-year awards will be dependent on suitable progress. Awards will be made with the understanding that investigators will submit a R01, or its equivalent, within 1 or 2 years after initial receipt of funding.

III. Submission Requirements

Each Application must include the following elements in one pdf. Use Ariel 11 pt font, ½-inch margins throughout. a) A letter (1 page limit) from the investigator to include the following: name and department of the PI and any co-investigators, title of the application, and a brief summary of the investigator’s plans, demonstrating how the project fits with the goals of the funding opportunity. The letter should also describe what other efforts are, have been, or will be made to obtain funding for the project. b) A 1-page structured abstract (with the subheadings Introduction, Hypothesis, Specific Aims, Methods, Analysis, and Anticipated Results) describing the proposed study. c) NIH-Style Biographical Sketch (2 pages maximum) on NIH Form PHS 398 Biographical Sketch page (http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html), for the PI and any co- investigators. d) Budget and Budget Justification (three page limit). The budget pages should be in NIH style (http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html) and include the major categories of all expenses, as well as a detailed budget justification, and the percentage effort that key personnel will devote to the project. No indirect costs will be provided with an award. For multi-year proposals, estimates for those years and appropriate justification of expenses should be provided. e) Other Support (no page limit): include a description of other support from all external and internal funding sources including, but not limited to, grants, contracts, endowments, gift accounts, departmental reserves, and departmental start-up funds and the amounts and dates covered by such support (e.g., http://grants1.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html). f) IRB and/or animal protocol approval letters (approval for the study must be finalized by the time of application). g) A letter of support from the investigator’s chairperson, which includes an approval of the Principal Investigator’s percentage effort devoted to the project.

IV. Review Criteria

A Scientific Review Board consisting of faculty from the NRC and CCTS will evaluate the applications according to the following criteria: a) Scientific Merit and Innovation b) Project Consistency with goals of the funding opportunity (see above) c) Collaborative Potential d) Potential for leading to multiple grant applications in the second year

V. Deadline

Grant applications must be submitted by October 31, 2014 to [email protected] and will be reviewed by the Scientific Review Board.

VI. Questions

Please contact Dr. Anne Hart at the UTHealth Neuroscience Research Center, 713-500-5538 or [email protected], if you have questions.