2024-25 Special Funding Opportunity

The Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society, in collaboration with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Dartmouth Cancer Center, seeks innovative pilot projects that will foster cross-department and campus collaboration to facilitate development of new research programs that will enhance and further develop the combined research and education missions of the department, Institute, and Center. Areas of interest include projects addressing the role, broadly, of energy/energy transition/climate change in microbiology, immunology, infectious diseases and/or cancer and the role of the microbiota in chronic diseases including but not limited to cancer and various auto-immune related disorders. Projects that intersect with ongoing department programs will also be considered but must be sufficiently novel to significantly advance the existing program's breadth of impact. Cross campus collaborations with 3 or more PIs are strongly encouraged as part of the proposed collaborative team. At least one of the lead PIs must be an M&I faculty member. Ideal projects will involve faculty from A&S, Thayer, Tuck, and/or the Dartmouth Cancer Center. 

The goal of these awards is to build new cross department and campus collaborations that will intersect with emerging Dartmouth-wide research efforts to build new sustainable research programs at the intersection of health/medicine and energy transitions/climate change.

• Faculty at all levels are eligible.
• Successful applications will propose high-impact collaborative research with the long-term goal to apply to programmatic extramural funding programs (i.e. NIH program project grants, center grants, and large-scale multi-PI R01 level type funding) or otherwise show impactful outcomes and solutions in the near-to medium-term.
• This year's seed project funding will be available for projects up to $100K that will be used over the course of a single year (though some carry-over may be allowed, progress dependent). 

**IMPORTANT: Interested applicants are expected to first contact Dr. Robert Cramer ASAP to discuss the proposed research and budget needs before they submit an application and no later than November 15, 2024. 

Successful applicants will be required to submit a 6-month and final 12-month progress report with plans for leveraging the project for long-term funding and program development. Deadline for proposals: December 15, 2024. 

Proposals should contain all of the following elements:

• A three-page document with:  
  • Names of applicants, their respective research area of expertise, and contact PI.  
  • Proposal Title (200-character limit). 
  • Abstract (30 lines). This section should describe the central hypothesis of the application, research overview, specific aims and potential significant impact of the project's long-term goal on the department's and/or Institute's/Center's missions.
  • Research Description following general NIH format (significance and approach). A key focus in the approach should be how the different faculty expertise will synergize to develop the new research program. References do not count towards the page limit.
  • Each PI's contribution to the project should be clearly stated.
  • Present a funding strategy, impact vision and timeline for sustained extramural funding for the program.
  • NIH biosketch(es) for the PI and collaborators (not included in 3 page limit)
  • Proposed budget and justification. Note faculty salary cannot be supported with this mechanism (not included in 3 page limit) .
  • Submit as a single PDF [named "lastname_M&I_TeamPilot"] by email to micro.immuno.vc@groups.dartmouth.edu by December 15, 2024, 5 pm ET. 

Proposals will be reviewed by a faculty committee with expertise related to the submitted proposals who will rank applications relative to the criteria described below.

The expected funding date for successful proposals is February 1, 2025.

Review Criteria

The most competitive proposals will:

• Address a research problem of growing national and/or international significance that leverages existing expertise in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and across campus.
• Intersects with the priority areas of the Irving Institute and growing Dartmouth-wide interests in energy/energy transition/climate and human health and cancer.  
• Involve investigators with complementary but distinct expertise in Microbiology and Immunology. Demonstrate a clear plan for how the funds will stimulate applications for long-term, sustainable extramural funding and/or have immediate impact.