Pilot and Feasibility Award Program

PILOT AND FEASIBILITY AWARD PROGRAM: PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The mission of the Stanford Diabetes Research Center (SDRC) Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Award Program is to foster the development of a community of productive, well-connected investigators whose work leads to advances in the prevention, cure and treatment of diabetes and its complications. The Program focuses on funding research proposals by early career investigators, investigators who are new to the diabetes research field, and established diabetes researchers with ideas for novel and exciting research directions that have outstanding potential to open areas of diabetes-related research in diverse scientific disciplines at Stanford. Specifically, the aims of the P&F Program are: Aim 1: To solicit, review, and fund SDRC P&F awards. These grants will be provided to outstanding early- stage and established investigators at Stanford whose expertise is complementary to areas of strength within the SDRC membership, whose research has a high probability of benefiting from use of SDRC research core facilities, and could generate data necessary to transition to additional extramural peer-reviewed funding mechanisms. The track record of the SDRC P&F Award Program in supporting this aim in the past several years has been outstanding. Aim 2: To provide mentorship and career development for recipients of P&F grants. The P&F program leadership seeks to form and enhance relationships among P&F funded researchers and other Stanford faculty to provide intellectual support, constructive commentary and career development during the project period. This activity leverages resources provided through the SDRC Enrichment Program that aim to foster the P&F grantee’s scientific expertise and integrate scientific and professional outcomes into the larger sphere of SDRC and national or international diabetes research. This includes relationships that enhance further collaboration between P&F award applicants or awardees and other members of the SDRC. Success in the SDRC P&F Program will continue to result in new independent investigators focused on solving problems related to diabetes and complications of diabetes, increased SDRC Research Core use, a stronger local diabetes research community with development of regional research collaborations, and scientific discoveries that may lead to new treatment strategies for people with diabetes.