The Wake Forest Translational Alcohol Research Center (WF-TARC) Pilot Core will provide a mechanism for evolution of the Center by incorporating new and innovative research areas and technical expertise, and provide seed funding to junior investigators to help them obtain independent funding of their own. We are proposing a program with $100,000 available each year to fund four Pilot Projects. The selection process involves 1) a call for proposals, 2) analysis of the proposals by two non-Center reviewers, either from the External Advisory Board or ad-hoc scientists with particular technical or topical expertise relevant to the project, and 3) the reviewers assign priority scores to the projects, and the highest scoring projects, usually 5- 7, are 4) distributed to all Center investigators for evaluation, and are discussed and rank-ordered by voting at one of the monthly Center meetings. This process provides the opportunity for open critique of Pilot Projects by all members of the Center, and often develops productive collaborative projects between WF-TARC and Pilot Project PI's. Rankings of pilot applications will be made according to the innovation and excellence of the research proposed, as well as its likely impact in the area of alcohol use disorder research. Priority will be given to studies that could have high impact, those most closely related to the theme of the Center, and those that may offer new technologies and research for future incorporation into WF-TARC.
