The Center for AIDS Prevention Studies’ (CAPS) Training Program for Scientists Conducting Research to Reduce HIV/STI Health Disparities at the University of California, San Francisco is accepting applications for the 2012 Summer Program. The deadline to apply is January 17, 2012.

This program allows scientists to access the extensive expertise of a team of mentors who are successful at conducting research in minority communities.

This program is designed to assist investigators interested in conducting HIV research with ethnic minority communities to strengthen their programs of research and obtain additional funding for their work. The goals of the program are:

· To increase the quantity and quality of HIV research targeting vulnerable ethnic minority populations.

· To develop theory-based, culture-specific research methods for effective HIV-prevention interventions.

· To increase the number of minority group members among principal investigators funded by the NIH.

Program participants will:

· Spend 6 weeks in San Francisco for 3 consecutive summers.

· Receive a monthly stipend for living expenses and roundtrip airfare to San Francisco.

· Receive up to $25,000 to conduct preliminary research before the second summer, to collect preliminary data for a larger NIH application.

CLICK HERE for more details about the program

Please click here for the 2012 CHIPTS Pilot Program Call for Applications.

Applications are due Friday, January 13th, 2012.

The full text of the call is below.

2012 Pilot Program

Call for Applications

The Center for HIV, Identification, Prevention and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) is accepting pilot grant applications and statements of qualifications for domestic social, behavioral and policy research studies relevant to HIV, from faculty investigators, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students at CHIPTS affiliated institutions (e.g., UCLA and Friends Research Institute).

ELIGIBILITY

Eligible applicants are limited to research scientists who had or have a working relationship with a community-based organization that can assist in formative research, access to subjects, or data collection. Community-based organizations are only eligible to apply if they have a working relationship with a research scientist from UCLA or one of the affiliated organizations. This eligibility criterion is necessary because of IRB requirements for the pilot studies.

The goal of this request for pilot applications is to prepare CHIPTS researchers and its collaborative partners to develop innovative research in two areas. One, to explore innovative HIV testing methods in order to support the test-and-treat model, including health adherence, new modalities for testing, partner, and family treatment. Two, to utilize mobile health as a means of promoting HIV testing, medication adherence, links to social support and utilization of social media in communities most at risk.

In 2012, the CHIPTS pilot program will support a set of related pilot studies consistent with or related to the Center priorities of eliminating HIV in Los Angeles County and promoting innovative approaches to reduce the transmission of HIV. We are looking for pilot studies which:

Examine ways to test-and-treat, including the use of innovative HIV testing methods, including one-minute HIV tests and consumer-controlled testing.
Examine ways to utilize mobile health platforms to better promote HIV testing among populations most at-risk for HIV infection.
Examine ways to test and treat HIV among homeless populations.
Examine ways to test and treat HIV among transgender populations.
Examine ways to utilize point-of-care diagnostics.

Any team or individual leading a successful application must agree to meet quarterly with funded project teams to modify and tailor their project’s goals and deliverables based on the information needs for the planning of a community level trial.

Pilot applications will require three-pages, including the aims and research plan being proposed (see Application Materials). Each pilot application must also contain the following sections:

A statement of the aspect of the Los Angeles CountyMSMorMSM/W epidemic that the pilot activity addresses.
A statement of previous success in conducting pilot research projects, literature reviews, secondary analyses, or collaborative research projects.
A statement of anticipated goals and work plan.

Investigators are strongly encouraged to form meaningful partnerships with the community to carry out their projects. The Principal Investigator at a CHIPTS institution must be the applicant and be responsible for IRB submission in any community partnership proposals.

Application deadline: Friday, January 13, 2012

APPLICATION MATERIALS

The application will use NIH PHS398 forms available online at: http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/phs398.html

Applicants using the PHS 398 application must use the 06/09 version of the application instructions and forms.

You will need to complete the following forms:

Form Page 1: Face Page

Form Page 2: Summary, Relevance, Project/Performance Sites, Senior/Key Personnel, Other Significant Contributors, and Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Form Page 4: Detailed Budget for Initial Budget Period

Biographical Sketch Format Page: For PI and any other key personnel

Continuation Page: Use this for budget justification and text of proposal

Please follow NIH instructions for completing these pages, the application does not require OCGA sign off unless your Department or Institution requires it.

Please use Arial 11 point font for all text.

Please contact Cyndia Soloway (csoloway@mednet.ucla.edu) if you have questions regarding completion of the forms.

Investigator applicants

Investigator awards will be evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, innovation/creativity and significance to the HIV/AIDS problem, and will be weighted (50%), (25%) and (25%), respectively.

A. Research Plan (use NIH continuation pages). Include Specific Aims, Significance and Background for your approach. Describe any Preliminary Studies and the Research Plan, including hypotheses, methodology, experimental subjects and controls, potential problems and the significance of the expected results. List pertinent Literature References with PMCID numbers listed per NIH policy. Your plan should be realistic enough to allow completion of the project within the time requested. Include a section on the innovativeness and creativity of your proposed project. Additionally, justify, using appropriate background and literature citations, the relevance of these studies to understanding social, behavioral and/or policy issues related to HIV/AIDS. The significance of the studies must be as specific as possible, and relate to one of the two research areas of HIV outlined in the call.

Please be concise. Use no more than three pages single spaced, 11 point font for text, ½ inch margins, including tables and figures which can be in 10 point font. References may be included on additional page(s). Information exceeding the page limit may not be considered in the review. Applications which do not follow the above guidelines will be returned without review.

Post-doctoral and Graduate student applicants

Post-doctoral and Graduate student applications will be weighted on scientific merit (50%), significance to the HIV/AIDS problem (25%) and training potential (25%).

A. Research Plan (use NIH continuation pages). Include Specific Aims, Significance and Background for your approach. Describe any Preliminary Studies and the Research Plan, including hypotheses, methodology, experimental subjects and controls, potential problems and the significance of the expected results. List pertinent Literature References with PMCID numbers per NIH policy. Your plan should be realistic enough to allow completion of the project within the time requested. Justify, using appropriate background and literature citations, the relevance of these studies to understanding social, behavioral and/or policy issues related to HIV/AIDS. The significance of the studies must be as specific as possible, and relate to one of the two research areas of HIV outlined in the call.

B. Training potential (use NIH continuation pages). Describe the training program, including how the proposed research and training environment will prepare the applicant for their next career step. Do not exceed one double-spaced page. This section will be accorded 25% of the weight in calculating the priority score. This section is specific to post-doctoral and graduate student applicants only, it must be included and this one page can be in addition to the three pages described in section A. above.

ALL APPLICANTS

Human Subjects Protection & Children, Gender and Minority Inclusion. Briefly describe the plan for the protection of human subjects. Briefly, describe the composition of the proposed study population in terms of gender and racial/ethnic group, and whether children are included, together with a rationale for its choice. In addition, please address age, gender and racial/ethnic issues in developing a research design and sample size appropriate for the scientific objectives of the study. This section does not count in your three page limit.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR APPLICANTS

Applicants must have a full‑time faculty or postdoctoral appointment at a CHIPTS institution

(UCLA or Friends Research), or be enrolled in a graduate program at a CHIPTS institution. Investigators are encouraged to partner with Community Based Organizations where appropriate.

HUMAN SUBJECTS REVIEW AND APPROVAL

All proposals must obtain human subjects review and approval in order to receive funding. UCLA applicants must follow the usual requirements for obtaining human subjects review and approval. Non-UCLA applicants must obtain review and approval from the institutional review board (IRB) at their own institution (reviewing IRB must have a Federalwide Assurance from the DHHS). In addition to their own IRB approval, non- UCLA applicants (including non-UCLA researchers) must submit their approved protocol to the UCLA IRB for an expedited review. Non-UCLA applicants will submit their approved forms along with a completed packet of UCLA forms to the UCLA IRB. This will require non-UCLA applicants to identify a UCLA faculty sponsor for purposes of IRB submission only. This UCLA sponsor should not be involved in the research project in order to receive expedited review by the IRB.

Please note that IRB approval (and State Department Clearance for international grants) must be obtained within 90 days of notice of award. If such approval is not obtained CHIPTS reserves the right to reconsider and withdraw its offer of pilot support.

These awards are intended to:

1. Provide funds for new HIV investigators, their postdoctoral fellows, or graduate students newly recruited to the CHIPTS affiliated institutions.

2. Provide funds for established faculty investigators and their postdoctoral fellows who are: a) moving into entirely new areas of HIV-related research or b) doing innovative high-risk, high-benefit research.

3. Provide support for UCLA or Friends projects that involve collaboration with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) only in partnership with a Principal Investigator from a CHIPTS institution. Faculty or fellows at CHIPTS institutions must be the Principal Investigator, not the CBO.

4. Promote high-quality projects that involve collaborations among multidisciplinary investigator teams and or CBOs.

BUDGET (use NIH budget form page and include a budget justification of costs)

Budget requests for HIV research pilot seed grants should not exceed the funding levels indicated for that applicant category. The grant awards will range from $5,000 – $30,000, depending on the type of proposal (e.g. investigator, post-doc, or student).

Funding levels:

Investigator Awards to $30,000

Postdoctoral Awards to $15,000

Graduate Student Awards to $15,000

All funds awarded for 2012 projects must be encumbered by January 31, 2013. No monies can be carried forward. (Projects may complete the work after January 31, but monies must already be encumbered). Funding is subject to final award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Research personnel costs, supplies and small equipment costs are allowable in seed grants to the extent that they can be justified as being directly related to the proposed research project. Personnel can include support for postdoctoral or predoctoral fellows. Travel may only include those expenses for travel that is necessary to conduct the study. Overhead costs are not permitted on pilot grants. Any possible overlap with other sources of support must be made clear and be justified in the application.

Expenditures must not exceed the total award. Any overdrafts are the sole responsibility of the individual seed grant principal investigator or applicant. Rebudgeting of funds greater than 25% of the total budget between major categories (e.g., personnel to equipment) requires prior written approval.

REVIEW

Applications are reviewed confidentially by the appropriate CHIPTS review committees and by ad hoc reviewers.

Investigator applicants are ranked on scientific merit/weight (50%), innovation/creativity (25%) and relevance/importance to furthering the understanding and therapies for AIDS (25%).

Post-doctoral and Student applicants will be evaluated based upon scientific merit (50%), innovation/creativity (25%) and training potential (25%).

Following committee review and priority ranking of all approved applications, funding recommendations will be made to the CHIPTS Executive Committee based upon available NIMH funds. The applicants will be notified by letter of the outcome of the review process.

REQUIREMENTS OF FUNDED APPLICANTS

1. A progress report will be due on the final working day of September 2012. Upon completion

of each grant, the Principal Investigator must submit a brief scientific summary, a final financial report and a project abstract of work completed. Funded investigators may be required to give an oral presentation of their work at a CHIPTS event. New publications and extramural grant support relevant to the seed grant should also be listed with the report.

2. All publications resulting in whole or in part from support by CHIPTS should acknowledge CHIPTS as the funding source. Social/Behavioral and Policy research publications should acknowledge support from NIMH Grant # P30MH58107. In addition, CHIPTS is to be provided with five reprints (or preprints if the publication is still in press) of each publication.

A final report is due on May 31 of the year following the award.
Funded investigators may serve as reviewers for future pilot program applications.

PROCEDURE

For additional application materials, guidelines and any questions please contact Cyndia Soloway at csoloway@mednet.ucla.edu

MAILING and OFFICE ADDRESS

Cyndia Soloway

UCLACenterfor Community Health

10920 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 350

Los Angeles,CA90024

(Campus Mail Code, 705146)

E-mail: csoloway@mednet.ucla.edu

SUBMISSIONS

Application packages are due by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 13, 2012 in the UCLA CHIPTS Office. The mailing address and the office address are provided above.

The application package consists of the following:

Six copies of the application, including the original with all relevant appendixes (including institutional approvals for human subjects if completed), as well as any essential reprints or reports.

The following signatures are required on all submitted applications:

Principal Investigator

Faculty Advisor (Graduate Student Applicants only)

Department Chairperson of the Applicant

UCLA IRB sponsor (applicants outside of UCLA only)

For UCLA applicants, the “Request for Proposal Approval and Submission” (Goldenrod) need not accompany the application.

When pertinent, please provide supporting documentation that applications for appropriate institutional review have or will be submitted for studies involving human and/or animal subjects and that all other applicable regulations have been followed.

Applicants should also provide pertinent information describing the representative distribution of women and minorities in the proposal.