Pilot Projects Program

The goal of the Pilot Projects Program is to stimulate growth of expertise and engagement in clinical and translational research.

This program will fund a variety of awards and provide a mechanism for clinician/non-clinician teams to develop promising new translational research projects focused on cancer.

DaCCoTA Pathfinder

By enrolling in the DaCCoTA Pathfinder, you can search and view the research profiles of other scientists and clinicians in the DaCCoTA Network to find collaborators.

Enroll in the DaCCoTA Pathfinder network to find collaborators

Pilot Awards Offered Through the DaCCoTA

Check back in the fall for RFAs for the next application cycle.

Community Engagement

The Community Engagement Pilot Grant Awards are intended for those projects addressing priority areas as determined by key stakeholder groups including the American Cancer Society, Community Health Association of the Dakotas, ND Department of Health, and the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board. Proposals should address cancer disparities in either:

Colorectal cancer screening, stage and diagnosis, treatment, and mortality
Tobacco-related cancers (Lung, CRC, etc.) or
Breast cancer screening, stage at diagnosis, and mortality

RFA for Community Engagement Pilot Awards

Deadline for Assistance Finding a Collaborator: October 8, 2021
Letter of Intent Deadline: October 30, 2021
Application Deadline: January 17, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2022 - August 2023

Feasibility

The Feasibility Pilot Awards are designed to allow a clinician/non-clinician team to form around a novel cancer-related hypothesis. Applications can consider the multilevel manifestations of cancer (e.g. neurological, psychiatric), demographic risks and social impact. Applications should focus on T2-T4 translational research, although T1 studies will be considered if there is a clear plan to progress to T2-T4. 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 competitive proposals for the Ready-to-Go Pilot Award mechanism.

RFA for Feasibility Pilot Awards

Deadline for Assistance Finding a Collaborator: October 8, 2021
Letter of Intent Deadline: October 30, 2021
Application Deadline: January 17, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2022 - August 2023

Ready-to-Go

The Ready-to-Go Pilot Awards are intended for those projects with existing significant preliminary data in support of a novel clinical/translational cancer-related hypothesis. These projects should ideally be ready for extramural submission within a year and/or be able to demonstrably improve health outcomes. Applications can consider the multilevel manifestations of cancer (e.g. neurological, psychiatric), demographic risks and social impact. Applications will focus on T2-T4 translational research, although T1 studies will be considered if there is a clear plan to progress to T2-T4. Successful completion of these proposals should lead to a collaborative extramural grant submission and peer-reviewed manuscript submission.

RFA for Ready-to-Go Pilot Awards

Deadline for Assistance Finding a Collaborator: October 8, 2021
Letter of Intent Deadline: October 30, 2021
Application Deadline: January 17, 2022
Anticipated Award Period: September 2022 - August 2023

TREE Pilot Grant

The Pilot Projects Program and the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design Core for the Dakota Cancer Collaborative on Translational Activity (DaCCoTA) are requesting applications for Translating Epidemiology to Experiments (TREE) Pilot Grant Awards. The goal of the DaCCoTA program is to stimulate the growth of expertise and engagement in health-related translational research (CTR) in the Dakota region. The focus of the TREE program is to provide seed funding for highly innovative projects that seek to translate promising epidemiological findings at the population level to relevant in vitro and/or in vivo experiments and/or the reverse, from in vitro and in vivo observations to a population setting.

TREE Pilot Grant Awards

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

Core Faculty

Dr. Brown-Borg is a Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the UND School of Medicine & Health Sciences. She will be responsible for operational oversight and will work closely with Dr. Venkatachalem. She has leadership experience organizing and chairing conferences, NIH study sections as well as serving as President of the American Aging Association (AGE) and Chair of Biological Sciences of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). She currently serves on the Boards of FASEB, GSA, AGE and the NIH NIA Board of Scientific Counselors. Mentoring investigators has been a focus with activities ranging from shaping grant review processes to garnering support for awards and programs. She has served on >40 graduate student committees, trained medical and undergraduate students (>30; inc. McNair), and mentored junior faculty. She has served on national panels supporting education/ training including NIH R24 and R25 Geroscience Education Networks. She is an inaugural member of the FASEB Diversity, Equity & Inclusion committee.

Dr. Venkatachalem is an Associate Professor who directs a cellular physiology and biochemistry laboratory in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the School of Pharmacy at North Dakota State University (NDSU). The primary focus of Dr. Venkatachalem’s research is sex/gender differences in lung disease. He also studies cancer nanomedicine therapy by examining sex steroids and the signaling of their specific receptors in the breast cancer. Dr. Venkatachalem received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Madras and completed his initial postdoctoral training in physiology at the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He received further training and worked in pre-clinical research settings at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN for 10 years. Currently, he is establishing pre-clinical and translational research collaborations between NDSU and clinicians at Veterans Affairs and the Sanford Hospitals in Fargo. Dr. Venkatachalem’s laboratory is supported by multiple research grants including an NIH R01, NIH Sex/Gender Research supplement, and ND EPSCoR as well as funding from the Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute.

Savannah Macias-Daugherty received her B.S. in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles. There, she conducted research on Drosophila hematopoiesis and gained experience in research funding at the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute Grants Submission Unit. She hopes to continue her education in immunology research or forensic science.

Contact DaCCoTA if you have any questions about the Pilot Projects Program.