Pilot Project Program

Project Summary Pilot Project Program The Pilot Project Program for the Center of Integrative Neuroscience will continue to build a critical mass of extramurally-funded investigators in neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno and facilitate access to the research infrastructure provided through the Center’s four research core facilities. The program will achieve this through two strategies. Pilot project funding will be provided to two junior neuroscience faculty each year to develop research projects utilizing the core facilities. The project leaders will receive mentoring by a senior expert in their area with a focus on acquiring the preliminary data from the pilot project to develop a submission for extramural grant awards. The second strategy will be to provide small pilot awards for investigators within the broader neuroscience and biomedical research community to support fees for using the facilities and services in each of the cores. These awards will again be prioritized to allow investigators to acquire the data needed for pursuing extramural funding. These programs will increase the user base and impact of the cores for supporting both published research and grant funding, and will help continue to build the need and user base for the cores that will allow them to transition to permanent supported facilities by the end of the COBRE funding.