New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research - Pilot and Feasibility Program

Pilot & Feasibility The generation of new ideas, approaches and areas of inquiry for diabetes, diabetes complications, and related areas of research is essential to advancement of our understanding and design of new modalities of treatment. An effective mechanism for achieving these goals is to encourage new investigators or established investigators without previous experience in the field to conduct research in diabetes, obesity and related cardio-metabolic disorders. To achieve this goal, we have integrated the Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Study Program into the fabric of the New York Regional Center for Diabetes Translation Research (NY Regional CDTR); we will fund at least two projects each year, and will expand the potential by leveraging other institutional sources of funding. In order to build the NY Regional CDTR program, we requested institutional support to fund one of the initial two P&F grants per year, and we will actively pursue other mechanisms to increase the number of grants funded or amount funded for each awardee. Type II translation diabetes research pilot funding will also be actively pursued through other institutional and regional funding mechanisms. These efforts will collectively increase the research base and expanding regional collaborations that address diabetes prevention and control. In addition, P&F awardees are automatically members of the CDTR, and will be integrated into all Center activities. Our goal is to foster innovative areas of inquiry in diabetes or obesity both by supporting and mentoring individual P&F recipients to become established, funded investigators in the field of type II translation diabetes research and to encourage collaboration and promote new approaches and perspectives for current CDTR investigators. We will begin year 01 of CDTR funding with two awards for outstanding proposals. Our goals will be achieved through the following Specific Aims: 1) To arrange P&F grant competition cycles including annual requests for applications (RFAs), internal and external review processes, and selection of highest ranked applications relevant to the thematic areas of interest to the CDTR. 2) To encourage new investigators by supporting mechanisms for interaction and collaboration among established researchers in diabetes and related areas and those who are new to the field. 3) To provide mentoring and guidance for investigators who are new to diabetes research to facilitate generation of preliminary data with the goal of successful applications for NIH and other funding sources. 4) To objectively evaluate awardee's progress, ensure efficiency of the program, and monitor quality of P&F projects.