Pilots and Feasibility Studies

Information about Pilot/Feasibility Funding

Project Eligibility

P/F funds are available to investigators who wish to explore the feasibility of new skin-related studies and to obtain sufficient data to pursue such lines of investigation further via other funding mechanisms. For established investigators, the proposed work cannot simply represent a logical extension of current or previously funded research, but must represent a clear and distinct departure from the work to date. The YSDRCC P/F program continues to be specifically designed to foster new collaborative associations by giving preference to proposals that are not only scientifically valid, but that also involve the participation of investigators from more than one department.

Investigator Eligibility

Three categories of investigators are eligible for YSDRCC P/F funding: 1) established investigators in skin diseases who wish to test a clearly innovative idea which is a distinct departure from their ongoing research; 2) established investigators with no previous substantial work in skin diseases who wish to test the applicability of their expertise on a skin-related problem; and 3) new investigators without current or past NIH project support as independent principal investigators, who wish to explore an innovative idea that could subsequently lead to RO1-type funding. (These latter investigators must have a faculty appointment higher than that of postdoctoral fellow or research associate.) A major goal of the YSDRCC P/F Program is to facilitate establishment of new multidisciplinary collaboration; however, in order not to in any way discourage potential P/F project applicants from writing a proposal simply because they have not yet identified a collaborator in a different department, scientific merit and potential for future development will be the major factors in determining which projects are ultimately funded.