Mentored Student Pilot Projects (MSP)

MSP applications will be mentored projects co-developed by students and faculty.  The student submits the LOI. The student and faculty mentor should discuss plans for the project and fill out the forms, budget and budget justification together, and the student should write the Project Description. The faculty mentor completes the Mentor-collaboration form, obtains required institutional signature(s), and assembles the application into a single PDF and submits it. If the proposal is funded, the mentor will supervise the training of the student in their project, monitor progress and provide feedback. The mentor will assist in preparing the student for an oral presentation and/or poster at the annual SC INBRE Science Symposium.

To submit a Letter of Intent (LOI), please click on the link above. The LOI must be completed by 5 pm ET on Monday, March 3, 2025. Absolutely no late LOIs will be accepted.

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. Applications submitted without an LOI submission will not be accepted.

Applicants should include their email address which will be used for all correspondence regarding this application. 

Completed applications, including institutional required signatures on the Face page, must be submitted to the link above by 5 pm ET on Friday April 5, 2025. Absolutely no late applications will be accepted.

Applications with missing components will not be accepted.

If you have any questions relating to this NOFO, please contact John Clarkson (Email).

All projects must address biomedically relevant questions within the scope of research supported by NIH. It is incumbent upon the applicant to clearly demonstrate the biomedical relevance of the proposed work within the proposal. 

The application forms package can be downloaded from the SC INBRE website in a fillable, PDF format. Proposals must be prepared with 0.5” margins all around, using Arial (or similar sans serif font; font size no smaller than 11 pt) and subdivided into sections indicated below (page limits are noted). All forms must be completed according to the NIH guidelines for “R” series awards. 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(es) of PI (NIH-format)
    Students applying for MSP should fill out only parts that apply to them.  Do not include grades.

  • Biographical Sketch(es) of Faculty Mentor (NIH-format)

  • Biographical Sketch(es) Example for Faculty Mentors (NIH format)

  • Budget Page: Enter total costs only; 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):

    1. • Background

       • Research questions/hypothesis

       • Project goals/objectives

       • Project impact/significance

       • Project design/research plan

       • Which approved core facility you will use if applicable (need letter of support)

       • 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

  • Vertebrate Animals (1 page). If the proposed project involves vertebrate animals,  include a vertebrate animals section which addresses the following: 1) a description of procedures which includes species, strains, sex, ages, and number of animals to be used in the proposed project; 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 IACUC approval while you are preparing your application if you do not already have it approved. If your campus does not have an OLAW assurance or IACUC and you want to propose a project involving vertebrate animals, contact Dr. Edie Goldsmith (Email) before submitting your application. Research involving vertebrate animals must have IACUC approval before work on the project can begin. For applications selected for funding, the IACUC approval letter will be due to John Clarkson (Email) no later than July 18, 2025. The Administrative Core will not release funds to any investigator who has proposed to use vertebrate animals in their research until the project has been approved by NIH/NIGMS.

Upon submission, each application will undergo an initial administrative review by the SC INBRE program manager. The program manager will confirm that an LOI was received for each submitted application and after the submission deadline will contact investigators who submitted LOIs, but did not submit a full proposal to ensure there were no issues with the submission process. As part of the administrative review, applicant eligibility will be confirmed, and applications checked to ensure that all required components are included in the application. 

Applications for which no LOI was received or where the applicant does not meet the eligibility criteria will not be considered. 

Applications submitted prior to the deadline, but found to have administrative errors (i.e. exceeding budget limit, missing support letters) will be provided an opportunity to correct errors provided corrections are received prior to the posted submission deadline.

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 work 

  • Clarity of explanation 

  • Strength of collaboration between mentor and applicant and quality of proposed training plan    

  • Considered but not scored: Qualifications of investigators

  • Considered but not scored: Does the project involve biomedical research?

  • Budget and justification (not scored) 

Final decisions on funding will be made by the SC INBRE External Advisory Committee and NIGMS.