Technologies Pilot Funding
2013 New Pilot Project Opportunities
Inter-CTSA Collaborative Pilot Award Program
The purpose of this CTSA Consortium Multi-institutional Collaborative Translational Research Pilot is to promote inter-institutional collaboration across the CTSA consortium by funding innovative, translational research projects that involve two or more CTSA institutions.
2013 Request for Applications (Coming Soon) / Subject to Availability of Funds
Comparative Effectiveness Research: Evaluation of Innovative Diagnostic Technologies and/or Medical Devices
The purpose of this research is to "improve health outcomes by developing and disseminating evidence-based information to patients, clinicians and other decision-makers, responding to their expressed needs, about which interventions are most effective for which patients under specific circumstances. " [Internet.] Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research; [cited 28 July 2010].
2013 Request for Applications / Subject to Availability of Funds
Drug Discovery & Development Pilot Award
This award will fund any aspect of drug discovery and development for any human disease, including, but not limited to, target validation, assay development for high-throughput screening, molecular modeling and medicinal chemistry efforts or proof-of-concept studies in animals. Only small molecule-directed efforts are eligible for funding, at this time.
2013 Request for Applications / Subject to Availability of Funds
Completed Pilot Projects
New Agent Development Fund
To promote novel methodological developments, the Research Technologies program pooled resources with the Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center to establish the New Agent Development Fund. The goal is to promote the discovery of small molecules targeted to disease-related proteins for the development of novel therapeutic or diagnostic reagents. This fund is designed to assist in expediting the challenging process of transitioning promising ‘proof-of-concept’ technologies to FDA approval and ‘first-in-man’ studies.
Awardees
Xiaodong Cheng, PhD (Emory University, Department of Biochemistry), Developing a new fluorescence-based assay for histone demethylation
Michelle LaPlaca, PhD (Georgia Tech, Department of Biomedical Engineering), A new high-throughput traumatic neural injury system
Ifor Williams, MD, PhD (Emory University, Department of Pathology), High throughput screening for small molecule inhibitors of CC chemokine receptor 6 (CCR6)
Xuebiao Yao, PhD (Morehouse School of Medicine, Department of Physiology), Chemical biological study of BubR1 signaling pathway in mitosis
Translational Imaging Pilot Awards
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, the Research Technologies program received supplemental funding to advance innovation through imaging. The overarching goal of the supplement is to extend the program's depth of support for interdisciplinary work by providing key shared and common platform resources in order to remove barriers to rapid translation of promising scientific developments from animal models to human trials. More specifically, the supplement aims to advance coordination among small animal, non-human primate and human imaging studies utilizing the resources of the Emory Center for Systems Imaging (CSI) and Yerkes National Primate Research Center (Yerkes) Imaging Program. As such, the goal of the translational imaging pilot awards is to promote translational-directed (animal to human) studies by providing pilot funds ($50,000 per award) for novel biomarker imaging research in animal models or human translation from animal models.
Awardees
Anthony W.S. Chan, DVM, PhD (Yerkes National Primate Research Center), Hui Mao, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology) and Xiaodong Zhang, PhD (Yerkes National Primate Research Center), Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Approach for Evaluating Therapeutic Impact of shRNA in Huntington's Disease
John N. Oshinski, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering), Aloke Finn, MD (Emory University, Department of Medicine, Cardiology) and Hui Mao, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology), A dual-labeled magnetic-optical imaging probe for M2 macrophages
Leonard Howell, PhD (Yerkes National Primate Research Center), John Votaw, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology) and Shella Keilholz, PhD (Emory University, Department of Biomedical Engineering), Resting State and Cue-Induced Functional Brain Activity Following Cocaine Use and Extinction Therapy in Nonhuman Primates
Technology Development Seed Fund
The Research Technologies program collaborates with the Pilot Grants program to invest in new clinical and translational research paradigms, to encourage young faculty to develop cutting-edge science, and to become the glue that cements investigators and projects across the research consortium. Program funds are used to support pilot projects consistant with the broad aims and objectives of both Research Technologies and the ACTSI.
Awardees
Qiang Cai, MD, PhD (Emory University, Department of Medicine, Digestive Diseases), Intradudodenal acid infusion for facilitation of cannulation of the dorsal pancreatic duct at endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatogram
Baowei Fei, PhD, EngD (Emory University, Department of Radiology) and Diego Martin, MD, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology), Motion correction and quantitative image analysis for kidney MR imaging
Raymond Dingledine, PhD (Emory University, Pharmacology), A novel strategy for preventing progression of epilepsy
Wilbur Lam, MD, PhD (Emory University, Pediatrics), Clinical assessment of a Smartphone otoscope
Translating and Commercializing New Technology
The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, through an endowment to Georgia Tech and Emory in 2001, established a program to fund translational medical research, with an emphasis on combining engineering and clinical resources with strong external program support to advance qualified health-related projects into medical practice. To further promote the goals of both groups, the Coulter Program and the ACTSI created a joint grant program to provide support for novel medical device, diagnostic or imaging technologies that substantially enhance the diagnosis or treatment of human disease, supported by $100,000/year commitment from the GRA and support from the Coulter Foundation.
Awardees
Allen Tannenbaum, PhD (Emory University, Department of Biomedical Engineering) and Diego Martin, MD, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology), The MRI Virtual Liver Biopsy - Chronic Liver Disease Fibrosis Measurement
John Oshinski, PhD (Emory University, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering) and Michael Lloyd, MD (Emory University, Department of Medicine, Cardiology), An Imaging-Based Method to Plan Cardiac Pacemaker Lead Placement