Shelley Smith, Ph.D., director of developmental neuroscience at UNMC’s Munroe-Meyer Institute and professor of pediatrics, recently learned her COBRE grant, “The Molecular Basis of Neurosensory Systems” was renewed for five years by the National Institutes of Health.
Now in phase III, the COBRE grant is smaller than Dr. Smith’s first two awards – $750,000 in direct costs. “Phase III is sort of a winding down of the research support,” Dr. Smith said. “NIH figures by now you’ve got a core group of researchers who are on their way – they’ve been getting grants, they’ve been publishing, and they’re working together.”
Instead, there is more focus on the core facilities that support research for the scientific community such as facilities for DNA sequencing, histology and imaging, auditory physiology and mentoring.
There is limited research support in the form of pilot grants which are targeted toward helping researchers develop new projects.
“We’re also formalizing our mentoring program a lot more in phase III,” she said. In COBRE applications for phases I and II, the research projects are larger and are described as part of the grant, and the overall grant is judged partially on the quality of the researchers’ proposals.
“For phase III, you don’t propose the pilot grants,” Dr. Smith said. “You propose the structure for how you’re going to solicit them and judge them.”
Dr. Smith recently solicited applications for pilot programs. She expects to fund at least two, for a maximum of $100,000 each.
Since the overall scientific theme of the COBRE is neurosensory development, pilot programs should fit in this area.
“This includes areas such as the development and maintenance of the auditory system or visual system,” she said. “But also early development of the central nervous system, such as disorders related to autism and developmental disabilities.”
Selected projects will have to be approved by an internal steering committee, an external advisory committee and also the NIH.
The grant is funded by the National Institute for General Medical Sciences. Kirk Beisel, Ph.D., Creighton University, and Edward Walsh, Ph.D., Boys Town National Research Hospital, are coinvestigators of the grant.