In October 2007, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Office of Research on Women's Health renewed a 5-year award for a research center focused on sex and gender-based multidisciplinary research at MUSC. Drs. Kathleen T. Brady and Ronald E. See co-direct the center.  One of the goals of the center is to catalyze women's health-related research throughout the MUSC campus, primarily through support of pilot projects at MUSC.

The purpose of the Pilot Project Program is to provide short-term seed grant funds to promising postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty (less than 5 years from postdoctoral training/terminal degree) at MUSC to collect initial data for an R03, R21 or R01 submission. The project must focus on a neuroscience-related topic and explore either sex/gender differences or disorders/treatments as they uniquely relate to women. The project can be clinical, translational or basic science.  Consistent with the NIH Roadmap Initiative and the vision of MUSC's CTSA program – the South Carolina Clinical and Translational Institute (SCTR) – projects involving multidisciplinary teams and/or translational research efforts are especially encouraged.

Individuals interested in submitting a pilot project for consideration should follow the guidelines posted on the MUSC SCOR web page. Proposals must be submitted by May 15, 2009 for funding in July 2009. Address inquiries to Sarah Gainey, Women’s Research Center Coordinator, at smithsar@musc.edu.

Source: MUSC’s broadcast message, March 23rd.

May 12, 2009