Information on this page is for the 2022 submissions. Submissions for 2023 will be opening this spring.
Watch our newsletter, social and this page for more details.
***NEW THIS YEAR – LETTER OF INTENT REQUIRED***
CLICK HERE to submit Letter of Intent. The LOI needs to be submitted in order for your application to be qualified for review.
The South Carolina IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (SC INBRE) and the SC INBRE Bioinformatics Core solicits applications for the Student-initiated Research Project (SIRP) program. This program is designed to enrich the academic experience of students and to better prepare future generations of researchers, investigators, and entrepreneurs throughout the SC INBRE network. SIRP applications must apply bioinformatics tools to biomedical research questions. The project should include acquisition and/or computational analyses of genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and/or health data. The project must fit within the broad scientific focus areas of SC INBRE: Biochemistry/Cell and Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Bio/Biomedical Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Neuroscience.
Up to five new SIRP awards will be made throughout the state. SIRP awards support bioinformatics training for undergraduate or graduate students.
Important Dates
Release Date: January 25, 2022
NEW this year – Deadline for Letter of Intent: March 4, 2022, 5 pm ET
Deadline for submission: April 4, 2022, 5 pm ET
Period of performance: Sept 1, 2022 through Aug 31, 2023
Award amounts and number of anticipated awards
Up to five awards of $3,000 each will be awarded
Forms and Links
Human Subjects Forms (see chart at bottom of page for required forms)
Proposal Form (fillable PDF) UPDATED FORM! (03/24/22)
LOI and Application Submission Instructions and Contact Information
To submit a Letter of Intent (LOI), please click on the link above. The LOI must be completed by 5 pm ET on March 4, 2022.
Completed LOIs will include the title and short description of your project. This short description is limited to 4 sentences total and should accurately describe the biomedical relevance of your project.
Completed applications, including required signatures on the Face page, must be submitted to the link above by 5 pm ET on April 4, 2022.
Applications submitted without a Letter of Intent submission will not be accepted.
Applications with missing components will not be accepted.
If you have any questions relating to this FOA please contact John.Clarkson@uscmed.sc.edu.
Utilization of Core Facilities
If core facility support is required, projects should propose to work with one of the following INBRE-supported facilities:
Computational, Data Storage and Analysis Facility at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Homayoun Valafar, Director (Email, 803-777-2404).
NMR facility at Claflin University, Dr. Arezue Boroujerdi, Director (Email, 803-535-5536)
Microarray Facility at the University of South Carolina, Dr. Michael Shtutman, (Email, 803-777-8988)
Proteogenomics Core Facility at the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Jeremy Barth, Director (Email, 843-792-9984)
Instrumentation Resource Facility at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Dr. Bob Price, Director (Email, 803-733-3392)
If utilizing the services of a core facility, applicants must work with facility directors to plan the proposed experiments. A letter of support from the chosen facility’s Director, or a quote if using a commercial facility, must be included in the proposal.
If the technical services required by the project cannot be provided by any of the listed facilities, or the project is based upon existing collaborations that involve the use of other resources, it is acceptable to use other service providers, in or outside South Carolina, but a justification must be provided.
Eligibility
SIRP proposals are solicited from currently enrolled undergraduate or graduate students at institutions of higher education in the SC INBRE network who have not previously held a SIRP award.
**Only one proposal per funding period will be accepted from any student. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Although more than one application can be submitted per lab per funding period, the projects submitted by students with the same faculty mentor must be distinct projects. Two students working as a team on the same project under the same mentor can apply together for a single SIRP award although the award amount will remain the same.
Proposal Preparation Instructions
The application package can be downloaded from the SC INBRE website (www.scinbre.org) in a fillable, pdf format. All forms must be completed according to the published guidelines found on the SC INBRE website. Each package includes the following:
Face Page: This page must be filled out in its entirety
Project Summary/Performance site/Key personnel: Fill out all components.
Biographical Sketch of PI (student applicant) (NIH-format)
Biographical Sketch of Faculty Mentor (NIH format)
Budget Page: Enter total costs; cannot exceed $3,000
Budget Justification:
Allowable costs include personnel; supplies; travel; equipment; and other costs as allowed on NIH research project grant budgets. Indirect costs are not allowed.
Project Description (3 pages): Proposals must be prepared with 0.5” margins all around, using Arial (or similar sans serif font; font size no smaller than 11pt) and subdivided into sections indicated below (page limits are noted):
Background
Research questions/hypothesis
Project goals/objectives
Project impact/significance
Project design/research plan
Timeline for completing project
Anticipated results
Plan to disseminate results
Literature cited: one page (not included in page limit)
Mentoring plan for student applicant (Mentor-collaboration form, up to 3 pages). Explain how the mentor will work with the applicant to develop the students’ research and intellectual skills and help them mature as scientists. Make sure to include opportunities for training in lab safety and responsible conduct of research in the plans for student training
Human Subjects. Projects involving human subjects must already have IRB approval at the time of proposal application. This includes projects that are deemed to be exempt by their institutions.
Please include the IRB Letter in your proposal application.
Please include a certificate of training in HS research (CITI) for all study personnel in your proposal application.
Human subject research must complete the appropriate required forms (see links to forms at bottom of page).
No activities involving human subjects can be initiated without appropriate IRB approval of the protocol. Applications with human subjects that do not have prior IRB approval will not be reviewed.
Vertebrate Animals (1 page). If the project involves vertebrate animals, provide the following in your proposal: 1) a description of procedures; 2) justification for model used; 3) address minimization of pain and distress; and 4) method of euthanasia according to NIH guidelines (see https://olaw.nih.gov/guidance/vertebrate-animal-section.htm for additional information). Note: Submit your animal protocol for approval while you are preparing your SIRP application.
Research involving vertebrate animals must be approved by the IACUC before work on the project can begin.
Applications involving vertebrate animals that do not include an IACUC Approval Letter will not be reviewed.
Biosafety (if applicable). Discuss the biosafety aspects of the proposed work and, if necessary, file for approval from the Institutional Biosafety Committee as you prepare your proposal to SC INBRE. If there are no biohazards, please state so.
Review
Applications will be reviewed by the SC INBRE Administrative Core personnel to determine responsiveness to the FOA, eligibility of the applicant, completeness of the application, and information regarding human subjects and vertebrate animals. Applications deemed incomplete, ineligible, or not responsive will be returned to the applicants.
All proposals that meet the eligibility requirements and guidelines will be independently evaluated by SC INBRE’s Scientific Review Committee. A competitive proposal will describe a focused set of experiments that require bioinformatics methods of data analysis and will provide the applicant with training in bioinformatics tools and approaches. Reviewers will apply the following review criteria:
Scientific merit of the proposed project; the project must be related to Biomedical Science.
Clarity of explanation
Overall strength of collaboration between mentor and applicant
Qualifications of project personnel
Quality of proposed training plans for students
Final decisions on funding will be made by the SC INBRE External Advisory Committee and NIGMS.
Awards and Reporting Requirements
All applicants will receive a notice of award/declination and copies of the reviewers’ comments via email. Award recipients are required to provide the SC INBRE Administrative Core with project data for evaluation and reporting purposes, as follows:
SIRP award recipients are expected to present their results at the annual SC INBRE Scientific Symposium.
A comprehensive final report is due 30 days after the end date of the award.
All publications, resulting even in part from work supported by SC INBRE, must acknowledge SC INBRE support and a PMCID must be obtained for each publication in a timely fashion. PMCID information must be provided to the SC INBRE administrative staff as soon as available.
SIRP award recipients (both mentor and student) are expected to obtain an NIH Commons ID if funded.
After the expiration date of each award, SC INBRE will continue to contact awardees for outcome-related data such as post-baccalaureate educational plans and job placement.
Human Subjects Information
All applicants must read and complete the PHS HS and CTI Instructions and Fillable Form form.
All applicants need to complete the required attachments (see chart below).
Only applicants that have an Exemption Number need to complete the form in PHS HS and CTI Exempt Form.
Only applicants that have clinical trials will need to complete third column of forms.
