The ICMIC will The reviews of our previous section on Developmental Projects were somewhat mixed. In general, our plans toestablish a program of Developmental Projects and support new directions for research were considered satisfactory,and overall the projects were found to be 'appropriate to the goals of the ICMIC and scientifically promising'.However, there were numerous specific scientific criticisms of two of the projects described. In our revisedproposal these two projects have been removed. While many of the criticisms were addressable, in thetime since the application both of these have found some support from other sources and are further alongthan may be appropriate. In their place we have included one new project in which the aims accord moreclosely with the general focus of the ICMIC, and we have retained the project 'A quantitative high throughputmethodology to aid the discovery of molecular imaging agents' as exemplars of potential development projects.It should be emphasized that these projects are not certain to be supported - they represent two existingproposals for using ICMIC resources that may be worthy of funding, but they are examples only of the type ofexploratory research we would support. In practice a competitive solicitation would take place, and the bestnew ideas would be selected for support. We have not undertaken such a solicitation for this proposal. Nonetheless,we feel the two examples described are worthy of consideration and demonstrate the type and rangeof grants we would consider supporting with ICMIC resources.Comments were made concerning the lack of statistical considerations for the Developmental Projects, as wellas lack of details on animal handling. We have addressed these by (a) adding a Biostatistics Core for dataanalysis and project planning and (b) by providing much more information on the use of animals in Section G(see also our Introduction to Sections A and B). Our biostatisticians have already been closely involved in preparingthe descriptions of the developmental projects. The specific criticisms for the project 'A quantitative highthroughput methodology to aid the discovery of molecular imaging agents' are addressed immediately beforethe description of that project.A more general criticism was made when the reviewers commented 'The plan for administration of the DevelopmentProjects is brief and does not describe the specific efforts of the ICMIC to actively engage in the DevelopmentProjects or to promote interactions between the Developmental Project investigators and the SpecializedCores and Research Projects'. Some of this information was put into Section B, as per the Instructions.There we state 'Review criteria for these pilot project proposals will be similar to that given by NIH forR21 or R03 grants, but with a special emphasis on the collaborative nature of the ICMIC.' Thus, we intend toincorporate in the guidelines for submission, and in the criteria for review, a specific emphasis on the integrationof the Development Projects with the Specialized Resources. Moreover, each director of the SpecializedResource will be charged with responsibility for ensuring that the Development Projects are supported adequatelyand make full use of the ICMIC resources. The ICMIC will be very proactive in encouraging new investigatorsand projects to appreciate the synergies made possible by the organization of the ICMIC. Note thatthese efforts will complement our very active program outreach, outlined in Section B, or promoting the facilitiesand research of the ICMIC via websites, seminars, workshops and other means. Given the very compactand intimate character of our campus we anticipate there will be strong connections made between the DevelopmentProjects and all other aspects of the ICMIC.
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