DaCCoTA

Welcome to the Dakota Community Collaborative on Translational Activity.

What is the DaCCoTA?

The goal of the DaCCoTA is to bring together researchers and clinicians with diverse experience from across the region to develop unique and innovative means of combating disease in North and South Dakota.

We believe advances in disease treatment will come from broad approaches by collective groups of clinical and basic researchers who are focused on conducting clinical/translational research.

The DaCCoTA is supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54GM128729.

DaCCoTA News

DaCCoTA PDC Innovation and Commercialization Webinar

The Professional Development Core of the DaCCoTA, in collaboration with the Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC) of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), South Dakota Biotech, and the University of South Dakota’s Technology Transfer office will host a hybrid webinar covering innovation and commercialization in research.

Topics include an introduction to the small business innovation programs at the NIH with a focus on National Cancer Institute (NCI), commercialization resources available at the NIH with a focus on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), an example of an early-stage program for primary investigators interested in commercializing their research, and why protecting intellectual property is important for commercialization and how to do it using your technology transfer office.

The event will conclude with open Q&A featuring NIH staff and Dr. Lee Baugh, Professional Development Core Director at the University of South Dakota, and Beth Lambeth, Technology Transfer Officer at the University of South Dakota.

This event is scheduled for May 18, 2022 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. CST.

Get registered here: Meeting Registration - Zoom

Breakfast and in-person viewing will be available at the following locations:

School of Medicine Room E226 at the University of North Dakota
Aldevron Tower 150 at North Dakota State University
Lee Med 103 at University of South Dakota (Vermillion Campus)

DaCCoTA Grant Writing Program

The DaCCoTA CTR is pleased to announce a funded grant writing program for 2022 that will offer investigators not only an intensive workshop in grant writing but also pilot funding to conduct further experiments as needed. The grant writing program will be facilitated by Barry Milavetz and Tammy Frohlich. The program will begin Wednesday, May 18 and will take place over a ten-week period with a meeting each Wednesday beginning at 3 p.m. The ending time for each meeting will depend upon the number of participants and the topics discussed, but will end no later than 5 p.m.

The program will have four major topic areas, writing a convincing Specific Aims page, using effective graphics, optimizing the research strategy, including approach, significance, and innovation, and writing other required elements such as the biosketch and facilities. The program is targeted at DaCCoTA awardees (past and present) who have not had extensive experience writing successful NIH type proposals. However, other awardees may also apply. Assuming COVID transmission is endemic, the format will be hybrid with in-person where possible. Weekly meetings will consist of presentations from experienced grant-writers followed by peer review of participant writing.

Participants in the program must be committed to intensive writing and will be expected to have relevant sections written for each meeting. Participants will then be expected to rewrite the section following peer review taking into account the peer concerns. Depending upon topic and number of participants, the rewritten section may then undergo a second peer review. At the end of the program, participants should have most of the elements finished for submission of a proposal for the Sept./Oct. NIH deadline. Interested faculty should submit an email of interest to Tammy Frohlich at tammy.frohlich@und.edu indicating a title and brief description of their proposed topic by May 1, 2022. Ideally, we would like to have between six and 10 participants this summer. In the event that we have more than 10 interested participants, we will review the applications and prioritize the participants based upon the feasibility of their proposed studies.

Upon completion of the program and the submission of a grant proposal for the Sept./Oct. NIH deadline, participants will be awarded an additional $10,000 from the DaCCoTA CTR to continue their projects and acquire more preliminary data during the time that their proposal is being reviewed.

2022 Annual AICoRN Summit & DaCCoTA Symposium

The American Indian Collaborative Research Network and Dakota Community Collaborative on Translational Activity invite healthcare providers and other stakeholders interested in research to join the conversation and participate in this year’s summit and symposium.

This event is scheduled for August 4^thand 5^th, 2022 at the Sanford Center in Sioux Falls, SD. A virtual option will be available.

The sessions will include:

Educational Opportunities
Poster Sessions
DaCCoTA Awardee Presentations
Networking Opportunities

Registration is now open.

Funding Opportunities Offered Through the DaCCoTA

DaCCoTA Scholars Program

The purpose of this award is to stimulate the development of new Clinical and Translational Research (CTR) investigators. Applications are expected to address health-related translational research of importance to North and South Dakota. Each awardee will receive salary support (50% FTE plus fringe) that guarantees a minimum of 50% protected research time for the project. The DaCCoTA will provide the first three years of funding, and the final two years will be funded by the applicant’s home institution (contingent on adequate progress). The awardee will also receive up to $50,000 in annual research support for up to 5 years. Individuals that have had or currently hold an NIH R01 award are not eligible for the program. Individuals who already have project funding (PI role) through an NIH IDeA program also are not eligible. A maximum budget of $160,000 is allowed, and indirect costs must be deducted from the award if the applicant’s institution warrants such removal. The DaCCoTA Scholars Program offers both a basic and community engagement track, and early career faculty are encouraged to apply.

RFA for the DaCCoTA Basic Scholars Program

Letter of Intent Deadline: September 9th, 2022
Application Deadline: November 28th, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2023 – August 2028

RFA FOR THE DACCOTA COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SCHOLARS PROGRAM

Letter of Intent Deadline: September 9th, 2022
Application Deadline: November 28th, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2023 – August 2028

Clinical Research Opportunities Program

This program provides 20% release time (up to NIH cap) to community-practicing, hospital-based clinicians to allow for participation in training activities and collaboration in health-related clinical translational research of importance to North and South Dakota. The goal of the program is to begin to shift translational health research in the Upper Midwest to an enterprise informed by the patient. Applications are expected to address health-related CTR, including demographic risks and social impact.

It is not intended that supported individuals will become full-time, independent investigators with funding for their own research projects. However, it is expected that providing an understanding of CTR and tools for identifying unmet medical needs will allow trained clinicians to become effective collaborators. Individuals may collaborate with both clinical and non-clinical scientists to help identify unmet clinical needs that can become the focus of translational research efforts.

RFA for the Clinical Research Opportunities Program

Letter of Intent Deadline: September 9th, 2022
Application Deadline: November 28th, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2023 – August 2025

TREE Pilot Grant Awards

The Translating Epidemiology to Experiments (TREE) Pilot Grant Award is intended to provide support to allow a team comprised of a public health scientist and a laboratory scientist to form around important population health findings. Applications can consider findings from epidemiological studies at the population level and attempt to confirm and/or extend these in an experimental setting. Conversely, applications could translate promising experimental results and apply them to population-level studies. Applications are envisioned to focus on T0-T1 translational research. The primary goal is to allow a team to form and connect with the CTR Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core; Clinical Research Resources and Facilities Core; Community Engagement and Outreach Core; and Pilot Projects Program to generate initial results in ‘trench-to-bench’ (epidemiology to experiment), or ‘bench-to-trench’ (experiment to epidemiology) research.

RFA FOR TREE PILOT AWARDS

Deadline for Assistance Finding a Collaborator: January 31, 2022
Letter of Intent Deadline: February 11, 2022
Application Deadline: March 11, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2022 - August 2023

The DaCCoTA Pathfinder

By enrolling in the DaCCoTA Pathfinder, you will be able to search and view the research profiles of other scientists and clinicians in the DaCCoTA network to find collaborators. You will belong to a network of colleagues and collaborators with shared research interests and gain access to educational and training opportunities.

Enroll in the Pathfinder web portal to find collaborators

You will also be able to access various clinical and translational research resources including the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core; the Community Engagement and Outreach Core; the Professional Development Core; the Pilot Projects Program; and the Clinical Research Resources and Facilities Core.

Explore the resources available through the DaCCoTA

Our Partners

DaCCoTA investigators may also wish to explore partnerships with the Turtle Mountain Genetics Laboratory.

What is Clinical Translational Research?

Clinical/translational research (CTR) focuses on translating findings from basic research into clinical applications with the overall goal of improving the health of the community.

componentsandgoals