Bridge Funding for Grant Lapses

Any member of the School of Medicine faculty at Children’s Hospital, the Anschutz campus, VA, or National Jewish whose indirect costs are assigned to the School of Medicine may apply. The goal of this initiative is to allow productive individual faculty members at any stage of their career to continue their research as they seek secure funding.

For Beginning Investigators

• Faculty members at the beginning of their research careers are eligible if they have had at least 3 years of full start-up funding and that funding has run out without their gaining independent research support. The applicant must also have applied at least once for major outside funding.
• The applicant must have, and must describe, assigned research space that is independent of that of any other investigator.
• Provide a dollar figure for departmental start-up research support (excluding salary).
• Investigators with research support from any source that totals less than $75,000 are eligible. Funding for the investigator’s salary support should not count against this total.
• The Chair’s letter should describe a mentoring plan for the applicant as well as a pledge of full salary support. The Dean’s bridge funds should not be expected to take the place of departmental start-up investment.

For Established Investigators

• Previously funded investigators who have sustained a complete loss of major grant funding (or will do so within the next few months) are eligible to apply.
• “Loss of major grant funding” pertains to loss of any type of research funding based on national competitive peer review, not just that from the NIH. Investigators with funding for conducting research that totals less than $75,000 are eligible; funding from any source should be included in this total. Any funding for the investigator’s salary support should not count against this total.
• Applicants who have previously received two awards of Bridge Funding will not normally be considered for a third award, unless exceptional circumstances exist. These individuals would need prior approval from the Committee and the Dean before being allowed to submit a proposal.

Designation as Established or Beginning Investigator in the application’s heading

• Summary of current research, with description of recent publications and manuscripts submitted or in press
• History of outside and institutional support. Distinguish between institutional/departmental support and outside (extra-institutional) funding.
• Current funding circumstances. All current research funding should be described according to major categories of use (personnel, supplies, animals, clinical costs, etc.) and sources (institutional and/or outside). Funding for the applicant’s salary should be clearly separated from that for the applicant’s research. Priority scores and funding cutoff levels of unfunded grant applications should be listed when available. (Funding details may be listed in the NIH biosketch by adding to the NIH format.)
• Potential for funding. A primary criterion for awarding support is the likelihood that the individual will gain initial outside funding. How will the concerns from the prior grant review(s) (“pink sheet” if from NIH) be addressed? It will be incumbent on the applicant to make the case that he/she is fundable.
• Statement of how bridge funding will be applied, if received.

The ABSOLUTE LIMIT for these six components is 2 pages, 12-pt font, single spaced.

• In addition to the 2 page application above, the committee also requires three additional components to make the application complete.
• NIH biosketch, limit 5 pages, with full description of any current funding added to NIH format (see above)
• Summary statement(s) from unfunded grant application(s) (“pink sheet”) and most recent score obtained by phone if not otherwise available.
• Letter from Chair sent directly to the Dean

Guidelines for the Letter from the Applicant’s Chair or Division Head

A letter from the individual’s department chair or division chief is a critical component of the application. The letter should address quality of science, promise as a researcher, potential for gaining funding, and the importance of the individual to departmental activities. What the department has done as start-up funding and will do now to support the investigator’s salary, research, and professional development (mentoring plan) is an essential inclusion. Dollar figures are needed, especially for start-up expenses.

At each review session up to $50,000 may be assigned to up to a total of 10 applicants. Support from this program can be applied only to salary for research staff (technician, PA, postdoctoral fellow, graduate student), service contracts, animals, and supplies. Salary for the faculty member is the responsibility of the department and is not eligible for support by this program.

• A brief summary of progress toward gaining outside funding must be submitted to the Dean by 12 months after receipt of the funds.
• A successful applicant may re-apply once if eligibility requirements can still be met and progress can be shown toward obtaining secure funding.
• An unsuccessful applicant for this AEF support can re-apply once.

If the applicant is successful in obtaining outside funding before receipt of, or during the time of this grant, unused funds should be returned to the Dean’s Office so that they can be used for support of additional faculty members.

• Peter Buttrick,  MD, Professor and Division Head, Division of Cardiology and Senior Associate Dean, Academic Affairs
• John C. Cambier, PhD, Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology
• Mair Churchill, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacology 
• Nancy Hadley-Miller, MD, Professor, Department of Orthopedics
• Wendy Kohrt, PhD, Professor, Medicine Division of Geriatrics
• Edward L. Melanson, PhD, Professor, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes/Division of Geriatric Medicine
• Raphael Nemenoff, PhD, Professor, Division of Renal Diseases and Hypertension 
• Kurt Stenmark, MD, Professor and Section Head, Pediatric Critical Care Medicine