An important component of the WV-INBRE program is the Developmental Research Project Program. The goals of the Developmental Research Project Program are to strengthen the biomedical research capacity and competiveness of network investigators, provide research opportunities and skills development for network students, and to help develop the biomedical research infrastructure at the lead and partner institutions. To accomplish these goals, the Developmental Research Project Program will offer two different awards for which only primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) faculty are eligible (Major PUI Research Awards, Faculty Research Development Awards [FRDAs]) and three different pilot awards for which lead and PUI faculty are eligible (Center for Natural Products Research, Cancer Biology Research and Chronic Disease Research Program). Major PUI Research Awards are up to three-year awards for up to $125,000/year and are designed to help move investigators toward independent status. A maximum of four awards in any year will be active. The remainder of the developmental awards provide a maximum of $30,000/year and are one- or two-year awards. The FRDAs target PUI investigators that need more experience or preliminary data to compete for major awards and support one-year projects. These investigators are often new PUI faculty. Center for Natural Products Research Pilot Grants support one-year projects, which study natural products in the arena of cancer or infectious disease chemotherapy. WV-INBRE researchers have the opportunity to interact with the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi to obtain extracts and pure compounds for study. Cancer Biology Research Pilot Awards are new two-year awards for Phase IV and, in part, leverage human tissue banking of cancerous and normal tissue at Marshall University and West Virginia University previously funded by a State of West Virginia Research Challenge Grant and maintained by the West Virginia IDeA-CTR. Studies can focus on genomic or other aspects of cancer biology to potentially identify mechanisms in cancer biology and potential new targets for cancer chemotherapy. Chronic Disease Research Program pilot grants are for one-year and provide funding for lead and PUI investigators to study all aspects of the many chronic diseases that West Virginians experience. With the scientific emphasis of WV-INBRE on chronic diseases, this program is particularly appropriate. In addition to funding research projects, the Faculty Research Development Program also provides (1) travel awards for PUI faculty and students to attend national meetings to present their research findings or attend scientific/grantsmanship workshops and (2) equipment grants for PUI institutions.
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