Developmental Funds

Rutgers Biomedical And Health Sciences, Newark NJ

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Rutgers Cancer Institute leverages funding from the CCSG and Institutional/Philanthropic support to: 1) offer pilot project opportunities spanning basic, clinical, translational, and population science research topics important to achieving Strategic Plan goals and aligning with catchment area priorities; and 2) provide New Investigator Awards (NIAs) to cancer-focused research faculty new to Rutgers (RU) and Princeton (PU) Universities and cancer-related research faculty established at RU and PU. The ultimate goals are to increase cancer focus, integrate the five Research Programs, and increase Member collaboration; awards are not synonymous and are in addition to faculty recruitment start-up. The cancer institute leveraged its status as the only NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in New Jersey to garner additional institutional commitment, supplemented by generous philanthropic and State support, to establish four new Centers of Excellence with annual budgets containing pilot award funding. Establishment of the Princeton Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research created additional opportunities to engage PU members in immunology and metabolism research. Rutgers Cancer Institute’s process for Developmental Funds administration has been enhanced (more frequent and detailed reporting) and made more efficient over this grant period by utilizing two new decision support tools: the InfoReady platform, a shared investment with Rutgers University, for automated award review and reporting, and EVAL as the data warehouse for Developmental Funds awards and demonstrable outcomes. The cancer institute’s oversight of Developmental Funds resulted in strong ROI from its Pilot Project and New Investigator Awards in the form of publications, extramural funding (peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed), clinical trials, training activities, community outreach activities, bidirectional communication with the community, policy-related activities, and commercialization activities. In this grant period, 28 pilot projects were awarded and completed (resulting in nine peer-reviewed, extramural awards), and an additional 19 pilot projects received funding in the last 12 months. Philanthropic funds were leveraged for a pilot award to Eileen White allowing for the generation of preliminary data resulting in a successful CRUK/NCI Grand Challenge application. Twelve New Investigator Awards over this grant period resulted in eight peer-reviewed, extramural awards. In addition, after research leadership endorsed Dr. Zhiyuan Shen to develop a P01 application, Libutti worked with the Rutgers University Foundation to secure $2M in seed funding which enabled the generation of preliminary data resulting in a successful P01 application (not a formal Pilot Project as defined herein).