UPDATE (5/19): The Duke MEDx Pilot Projects grant application deadline has been extended to Monday, June 15. The extension was put in place to give faculty members who wish to submit a proposal the time to do so while safely reopening their labs over the next couple of weeks.
DURHAM – Duke University’s MEDx program is welcoming proposals for its next round of pilot grants, open to human health-centered projects from faculty in the university’s School of Medicine and Pratt School of Engineering.
Proposals, due June 15, must be focused on disease prevention, diagnosis or treatment, with potential for commercialization or use in a clinical environment. If selected, teams will receive up to $50,000 to fund direct costs of research and development.
The program’s selection committee reviews proposals based on the significance or novelty of the project, the team’s approach, feasibility, level of collaboration between biomedical researchers and engineers, and the project’s overall impact on human health.
MEDx puts out calls for pilot project proposals once a year. The program is one of several annual funding opportunities available to medical and engineering faculty members, including targeted grants sponsored by campus organizations and lung research grants.
Donna Crenshaw, MEDx’s executive director, says that this year the program is encouraging teams to be more specific about their plans for clinical translation and/or commercialization. But as always, the application should represent a collaboration between faculty members in the Pratt School of Engineering and the School of Medicine.
This year, MEDx allowed applicants to submit proposals for accelerated review if they were related to the immediate effects of COVID-19, targeting emerging needs related to social distancing, health data collection or other areas with new demand. Accelerated review proposals were due May 7, but teams can still submit projects by the June 1 deadline.
“There was a surprising amount of interest and tremendous diversity of topics with the applications,” Crenshaw said. “I’m constantly blown away by the creativity of our faculty, students and staff, and the increased breadth of interactions between Medicine and Engineering.”
Crenshaw noted that the submission deadline may end up coinciding with Duke’s potential decision to reopen research labs, in which case the deadline will be postponed.
“Reopening labs will be challenging and will take precedence over preparing a MEDx application,” Crenshaw added. “The priority for faculty members will be preparing for and reopening their labs and research programs and ensuring that their staff and students are safe. If we hear that the faculty are challenged to meet the June 1 deadline, we’ll push it back.”
If MEDx keeps the June 1 submission deadline, Crenshaw expects awards would be announced at the end of June or early July. The teams will then receive funding for up to 12 months.
https://wraltechwire.com/event/application-deadline-duke-medx-pilot-project-grant/
