Collaborative Opportunities Funding Program

Submission Date: Open

Anticipated Start Date: 3 months from proposal submission

Overview

Seeking to support our Collaborative Opportunities program, the National Center of Neuromodulation for Rehabilitation (NC NM4R) at the Medical University of South Carolina (musc.edu/ncnm4r) will provide up to $7,500 of short-term (a 6-month period) funding for up to 4 collaborative opportunities proposals per year. Collaborative studies considered for this support mechanism:

• must aim to address an important question in basic, translational, and/or clinical research that impacts rehabilitation research,
• must be developed through collaboration with an NM4R investigator,
• must be to promote rehabilitation research that utilizes NM4R methodologies,
• must be ready to be executed (including IRB approval) at the time of proposal submission,
• should yield the data to aid a competitive NIH research grant application or similar extramural grant application, and
• studies that help the field understand the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of NM4R are especially encouraged.

Objective:

The goal of this Collaborative Research Project Program is to help investigators overcome potential barriers in successful pilot data collection for clear, well-designed NM4R studies that have been developed through collaboration between the applicants and the NC NM4R. This program is for providing immediate funding for groups that have established through collaboration with NM4R investigators that they have a scientifically meritorious, innovative research program that needs a small amount of budget for covering operational costs (e.g., subject remuneration, supplies). This opportunity is not designed to provide ongoing support for a long-term project or to provide supplemental support to ongoing funded research projects. It is required that the study outcomes be used by the investigators to develop collaborative research grant applications for NIH or similar extramural funding mechanisms.

Eligibility:

Principal Investigator must be eligible to submit an NIH R application or equivalent at his/her institution. MUSC investigators are not eligible to apply.

Inquiries:

Interested investigators are encouraged to contact Aiko Thompson at thompsai@musc.edu prior to proposal submission. All proposals should be sent to Cindy Gittinger at gittinck@musc.edu.

Please see the Request for Applications for full information.

NC NM4R has granted four Collaborative Opportunities funding awards, in 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2023. Please see details on the awarded projects.