The Developmental Funds of the CCSG represent one of the most important components of the Core grant in that they allow the Center director to respond to and provide leadership for the scientific needs and priorities of the Center. We use these funds in several ways. First, 'New Investigator' funds are used together with other Center funds (e.g., gift account) and funds from departments and other Centers to provide attractive recruitment packages for faculty important to the Cancer Center's research enterprise. These recruitments may represent a build-up for a new research initiative or expansion of an existing program or replacement for departing or retiring faculty. We have asked for an increase in this category from $300,000/year to $400,000/year reflecting the increasing costs of recruitment and the excellent 'return' in terms of leadership and grant support by recipients. The second use of these funds is for our 'pilot' grant program which utilizes a University-wide application process with an emphasis on young or new faculty. We fully fund 3 pilot grants annually ($40,000 each) and contribute to 3 other (Core grant - $10,000 and ACS institutional grant - $20,000) in 2 separate annual competitions. Our Scientific Advisory Committee reviews and critiques these applications for Cancer Center research priorities and potential for national funding. The recipients of these funds have an excellent track record of successful grant funding (annual direct of $3.9 million and over $11 million for recipients of the past 4 years) and scientific growth of our programs. In addition to the above, we also have a strategy of funding new developmental shared facilities using developmental funds or Core grant re-budgeting to the developmental fund category. This funding period we funded 3 developmental shared facilities (Small Animal Imaging; DNA Sequencing; and Molecular Biology/Recombinant Protein) using funds re-budgeted from the Shared Facility category as well as initiating our Gene Expression facility out of the gift account (equipment and start-up personnel).
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