Pilot Project Program

University Of California, San Francisco, San Francisco CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT – PILOT PROJECT PROGRAM The Pilot Project Program is essential to advancing the mission of the UCSF Environmental Research and Translation for Health (EaRTH) Center, which was founded in 2020. By soliciting, funding and supporting new research projects in environmental health, the Pilot Project Program advances three of the four goals of the EaRTH Center: (1) catalyzing new environmental health research by providing support, technologies, tools, and expertise; (2) fostering collaborations between historically separated scientific disciplines and clinical, policy and community members; and (3) mentoring and growing the next generation of environmental health researchers and clinical leaders. During the first four years of the EaRTH Center, the Pilot Project Program cast a wide net across UCSF to solicit innovative research projects of $50,000 and smaller Mentored Awards for researchers and clinicians, plus a Community Partnership award. We issued a total of 21 awards at a total of $818,000. We extended our EaRTH funds available by 17% with four co-funding partnerships within UCSF. Among project PIs and co-PIs, 12/30 were new to environmental health, 60% of lead PIs were early-stage investigators (ESIs) and half actively work in the clinic in addition to performing research. Focal areas of our research portfolio include exposures relevant to California (wildfires, climate change and chemicals), health equity and non-chemical stressors, pregnancy and childhood exposures, and population health outcomes including cancer, birth outcomes, and neurologic conditions, with a number of these assessing biological pathways including the proteome and metabolomics. We funded two innovative community engaged projects, one led by a community group engaging public housing participants in climate resilience and environmental sustainability training; and another creating resources on strategies to remain healthy during heat waves for vulnerable populations, translated into Spanish and a Chinese-translation developed with local high school students. EaRTH funds and Center engagement already resulted in our awardees publishing 48 papers, submitting 88 grants, of which 25 were awarded, totaling ~$9.1M which is a more than 10-fold return on investment. This renewal application builds upon the Pilot Project Program’s track record in cultivating a thriving community of environmental health research at UCSF with continued co-funding with the UCSF P30 Nutrition and Diabetes Research Center and Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research and new partnerships with the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences and Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and the Institute for Regeneration Medicine to complement the newly added human Organoid Foundry service offered through our Bioassay Facility Core. Through our innovative structure for soliciting, selecting and supporting projects, we will continue to fuel environmental health research at UCSF with high impact by supporting early-stage investigators, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, and funding high-risk/high-reward projects.