Development of a Research Proposal: The COBRE Saga David S. Hage Chemistry Department, UNL

Previous Experience with Funding Agencies NIH (R01, R29, R21 & P01 Grants, NCRR/Construction) NSF (Individual Investigator Grants, Equipment Funds, Undergrad Research, Center Grants/EMSI) EPA & USGS (Exploratory Research) AACC & ACS Industrial Funds – MDS Pharma, LI-COR, ISCO

Overview of NIH COBRE Program (Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence) Program Objectives: To strengthen an institution’s biomedical research infrastructure through the establishment of a thematic multi-disciplinary center To enhance the ability of investigator’s to compete independently for complementary NIH individual research grants Funding is for five years at 1.5 M/year – direct costs

Overview of NIH COBRE Program (Continued) Program Components: Support for a series of up to five projects by junior investigators Establishment of core facilities to enhance research in focus area Mentoring program for junior investigators Administrative component to oversee center, including an external advisory board

Other Components of COBRE Infrastructure Support of infrastructure development Support to aid in the hiring of new faculty Small grants program Annual conference for center members Seminar program

Resources at UNL used in Development of the COBRE Proposal Grant writing support External reviewers/grant development consultants Budget development Architects Graphics design artists

Resources at UNL used in Development of the COBRE Proposal (Cont’d) Seed funding (Strategic Cluster Grant) Workshop planning & development Website development Support in organizing and conducting meetings with administrators (chancellors, vice chancellors, deans, chairs, etc.) and faculty of participating institutions

Example of Resources used in Proposal Development #1: Projects by Junior Faculty A series of five individual draft proposals with a common theme were submitted by “junior faculty” (without prior NIH R01 funding) The draft proposals were evaluated by the PI, revised and then evaluated by an external grant writing consultant. After the full proposals were developed, they were evaluated by a series of external reviewers and then revised before submission as part of the final proposal All of proposals received grant writing assistance and help in developing their budgets

Example of Resources used in Proposal Development #1: Projects by Junior Faculty (Cont’d) After official reviews were received, all junior faculty proposal were evaluated for further participation Seed funding was provided to allow data to be collected on topics need to address issues identified in the reviews A retreat was used to provide feedback by mentors at UNL and UNMC to the junior faculty on their revised proposals After further revision, the proposals were again examined by external reviewers and UNL/UNMC mentors

Example of Resources used in Proposal Development #2: Planned Hires Chairs of various departments at UNL and UNMC related to the general theme of center were contacted to discuss possible future hires of mutual interest Support was given in holding discussions with the appropriate deans and member of upper administration were held regarding proposed hires These discussions were used to develop and appropriate budget in support of the new hires, as well as to negotiate contributions for the hires by the participating departments, colleges and institutions

Example of Resources used in Proposal Development #3: Infrastructure Development/Construction The participating faculty in the proposal were asked about possible needs for construction After working with the necessary chairs to identify space for construction, an architect was contacted to provide a design for the space Information from the architect was used to develop a proposal for the construction and corresponding budget, using staff who specialized in grant writing and budget development