2016 Spectrum Pilot Grants
Spectrum, the Stanford Center for Clinical and Translational Research and Education, is a Stanford independent center supported, in part, by a National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), under the direction of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). For more information on Spectrum, please visit: spectrum.stanford.edu.
Pilot Grants
In keeping with its core mission, Spectrum offers pilot grants for accelerating clinical and translational research (CTR) in these areas:
- Spectrum Pilot Grants for SPARK see below >>
- Spectrum Pilot Grants for Stanford Predictives and Diagnosticcs Accelerator (SPADA) see below >>
- Spectrum Pilot Grants for Medtech see below >>
- Spectrum Pilot Grants for Community Engagement see below >>
- Spectrum Pilot Grants for Population Health Sciences see below >>
- Stanford Learning Health Care Innovation Challenge see below >>
Program Goals
The Stanford CTSA/Spectrum Pilot Grant Program has two major goals:
- to stimulate innovative clinical and translational research
- to encourage collaborative, transdisciplinary work
The primary expectation is that these early-stage translational projects will lead to additional research, external support, information dissemination and most important, will develop into longer-term, comprehensive projects. For more information and information about previously funded projects, visit http://spectrum.stanford.edu/accordions/innovations-pilots
1. Spectrum Pilot Grants for SPARK
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.
Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.Purpose and Amount and Period of Funding:
Spectrum Pilot Grants for SPARK support development of novel therapeutics (small molecules, peptides, biologics, nucleic acid therapies, vaccines, gene therapies, stem cells, etc.) and diagnostics for unmet medical needs. Selected projects receive funding ($15,000-$50,000 per year), mentorship, and access to expert advisors from all stages of drug and diagnostic development. Proposals will be considered for any clinical indication and evaluated on the following criteria:
- the scope of unmet need,
- novelty of approach, and
- feasibility of the path to clinic with regards to time and money
Projects may address an unmet need in any clinical area and we give special consideration to projects for global health, pediatrics, rare orphan diseases and other therapeutic areas that have been traditionally neglected by the for-profit sector. For a list of funded projects from previous cycles, please visit http://spectrum.stanford.edu/accordions/innovations-pilots.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, contact the program manager: Kanad Das, kanaddas@stanford.edu or 650-721-3649
2. Spectrum Pilot Grants for Stanford Predictives and Diagnosticcs Accelerator (SPADA)
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.
Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.Amount and Period of Funding:
Typical grants range between $15,000 and $50,000 per year and depend on the specific program and the individual proposal. If funded through Spectrum, awards will be granted for the period from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the 12-month award period.Spectrum Pilot Grants for SPADA projects must have the objective of translating discoveries into novel Predictives and Diagnostics products that address unmet medical needs. Emphasis will be placed on technologies that have the potential to advance rapidly into clinical care through commercialization or other pathways. For this reason, proposals should specifically address as much as is feasible any or all of: size and scope of unmet need, drawbacks of current options, regulatory pathway, intellectual property landscape and freedom to operate. Funds must be applied to tasks specifically budgeted by the investigator that advance the technology toward the clinic and comply with Spectrum’s funding guidelines. Some examples include prototype device development and investigator-initiated pilot clinical studies. For a list of projects funded in previous cycles and funding guidelines, please visit: http://spectrum.stanford.edu/accordions/innovations-pilots.
The defined scope of the Predictives and Diagnostics component includes projects with a goal of diagnosing and/or predicting the onset, course, worsening, or complications of disease, and prolonging health.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, contact the SPADA Program Manager: Jim Zuegel, jzuegel@stanford.edu or 650-906-6099 or the faculty director: Russ Altman, russ.altman@stanford.edu.
3. Spectrum Pilot Grants for Medtech
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.
Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.
Amount and Period of Funding:
Typical grants range between $15,000 and $50,000 per year and depend on the specific program and the individual proposal. If funded through Spectrum, awards will be granted for the period from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the 12-month award period.Spectrum Pilot Grants for Medtech must have the objective of translating discoveries into novel medtech products that address unmet medical needs. Emphasis will be placed on technologies that have the potential to advance rapidly into patient care through development by venture funded startups, licensing to established companies, or other pathways. Funds must be applied to specific tasks that increase the probability of translational success and outside funding. Some examples include prototype device development, preclinical studies and investigator-initiated pilot clinical studies. For a list of funded projects from previous cycles, please visit http://spectrum.stanford.edu/accordions/innovations-pilots. Note only projects involving Stanford-owned intellectual property will be considered.
The defined scope of the Medtech component is to support projects involving medical devices and mobile technologies used for (1) therapeutic applications and (2) device-based patient specific (or POC) diagnostic applications.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, contact the program coordinator: Linda Lucian, llucian@stanford.edu or 650-725-8227.
4. Spectrum Pilot Grants for Community Engagement
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.Amount and Period of Funding:
Grant awards may be up to $30,000 per year depending on the specific program and the individual proposal. If funded through Spectrum, awards will be granted for the period from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the 12-month award period.Spectrum Pilot Grants for Community Engagement must be strong community-based research projects involving collaborative partnerships with community agencies such as community health centers, schools, county health departments and/or hospital systems or other nonprofit health organizations in the local Bay Area. Award recipients are encouraged to follow the principles of Community Engagement and include project expenses that support the community partner’s role in the proposed project. Funding must be used to support the implementation of a community-based research project involving local health issues.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, communicate with the appropriate program contact: Jill Evans, jille@stanford.edu or 650-736-8074.
5. Spectrum Pilot Grants for Population Health Sciences
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.Amount and Period of Funding:
Typical grants range between $15,000 and $50,000 per year and depend on the specific program and the individual proposal. We encourage investigators to consider submitting requests less than the $50,000 maximum, as this will increase the probability of being funded and will enable us to award more grants. If funded through Spectrum, awards will be granted for the period from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the 12-month award period.Spectrum Pilot Grants for Population Health Sciences must have a clear focus on the health of populations. The Stanford Population Health Science Initiative aims to facilitate information exchange, collaboration and resource sharing among faculty, staff, students and community partners interested in population health. Some research examples include studies of health-care delivery, physical and social health determinants, comparative effectiveness research, health economics, cost effectiveness and effectiveness of community interventions. Projects involving multidisciplinary teams, particularly those that span schools, are highly encouraged.
Organizers are also working to build interdisciplinary teams to design and implement the learning health care systems (LHCS) of the future (for more information on this initiative, visit http://spectrum.stanford.edu/accordions/population-health-sciences/). These systems will draw on the day-to-day experiences of practicing doctors, as well as information extracted from clinical data warehouses and a variety of diagnostics assays and measurements to create new sources of practice-based evidence. This research area is the subject of a separate RFP (see the Stanford Learning Health Care Innovation Challenge RFP), and Population Health Sciences Pilot Grant applications focused on any of these topics will be reviewed with the LHCS applications. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to submit such grants only to the Stanford Learning Health Care Innovation Challenge. Notably LHCS proposals will NOT require investigators from multiple departments although this is encouraged.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, communicate with: Lorene Nelson, lnelson@stanford.edu or 650-723-6854
6. Stanford Learning Health Care Innovation Challenge
Download guidelines >>
Deadline: Wed., Sept. 30, 2015, 6 p.m. PDT via online application webpage >>
Institutional representatives (RPM/RMG or OSR): not applicable for internal Stanford funding opportunities.Eligibility:
Open to all Stanford faculty and instructors. Graduate students, clinical and non-clinical postdoctoral scholars are encouraged to apply and are required to include a Stanford-affiliated, faculty mentor who must be listed as co-PI on the application. Stanford faculty include anyone with Professor, Instructor or Lecturer in his or her official title.Amount and Period of Funding:
Typical grants range between $15,000 and $50,000 per year and depend on the specific program and the individual proposal. We encourage investigators to consider submitting requests less than the $50,000 maximum, as this will increase the probability of being funded and will enable us to award more grants. If funded, awards will be granted for the period from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016 and must be completed in that timeframe. All unexpended funds will be forfeited if not spent within the 12-month award period.Spectrum and the Center for Population Health Sciences are very pleased to announce that Stanford Health Care (SHC) is partnering with us to expand funding for seed grants that will implement novel learning health care systems approaches to contemporary health care problems. We solicit proposals that will have a clear focus on using data to improve the health of the patient populations served by SHC, with the requirement that the proposal must use data from one or more SHC data system (e.g., STRIDE, EPIC, or data that can be linked to EMRs), or comparable clinical data that could be used as a surrogate to test a SHC learning health care system application.
Research topics of specific interest include but are not limited to:
- Developing new innovations that will improve the clinical workflow in the SHC system, such as:
- creating new guidelines, processes, protocols, decision support tools, and other interventions that can be iteratively improved with feedback from practicing clinicians, and
- using information extracted from clinical data warehouses to improve patient care.
- Research that will use data to provide information to clinicians at the point of care enabling themto predict which patients are at greatest risk of developing certain conditions, experiencing adverse events, or benefiting from specific interventions.
- Developing and testing data-based approaches that will enable personalized approaches to treatment decisions about medications, procedures and medical devices.
- Incorporating patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and patient preferences into the clinical process for improved shared clinical decision-making.
The primary expectation is that these early-stage pilot projects will lead to additional research, external support, information dissemination and most important, will develop into longer-term, comprehensive projects. We strongly encourage submissions that propose partnerships and collaborations with SHC clinicians, informaticians and other partners in the SHC system. Projects that utilize VA data can be submitted; however, they must explore an important question with results that are generalizable to SHC.
Questions? Contacts:
For questions regarding the application process and requirements, contact the Spectrum Pilot Grant Program Manager: April Watson, aprilw@stanford.edu, or 650-497-7032.
For questions regarding the scope of the proposal, criteria for awards or the review process, contact Dr. Lorene Nelson, lnelson@stanford.edu or 650-723-6854.
