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Full Proposal Guidelines | Coulter ROPe Funds



A recent grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation supports collaborative translational research projects that involve co-investigators from the U.Va. Department of Biomedical Engineering and a clinical department in the U.Va. School of Medicine or U.Va. School of Nursing. The goal of this program is to support collaborative research projects that address unmet clinical needs and lead to improvements in health care and commercial products.

Examples of desirable outcomes include improved diagnosis and treatment of disease through inventions and patents, commercial products, commercial partnerships, licenses and start-up companies. Awarded project teams will benefit from the participation of the Coulter Project Director and the Coulter Partnership board of advisors (a list of board members will be available to applicants). Both short-term and long-term projects are eligible.

Four or more U.Va.-Coulter Translational Partnership grants will be awarded annually through 2011. Grant budget may not exceed $100,000 in direct costs for a one-year period.


Call For Proposals: Full Proposal Guidelines


Application Deadline: February 11, 2008
Program: A grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation supports collaborative translational research projects that involve co-investigators from the Department of Biomedical Engineering and a clinician co-investigator from the UVA School of Medicine, School of Nursing or Health Systems. The goal of this program is to support collaborative research projects that address unmet clinical needs and lead to improvements in health care and commercial products. Examples of desirable outcomes include improved diagnosis and treatment of disease through inventions and patents, commercial products, commercial partnerships, licenses and start-up companies. Awarded project teams will benefit from the participation of the Coulter Project Director and the Coulter Partnership board of advisors (a list of board members will be available to applicants). Both short-term and long-term projects are eligible.
Eligibility: Permanent, full-time, tenure-track faculty in the professorial ranks (assistant, associate, full).
Criteria: Each proposal must have at least two co-investigators, at least one whose primary salaried appointment is in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia and at least one clinical investigator from a clinical department in the UVA School of Medicine, UVA School of Nursing, or Health Systems. The research must relate directly to applications in health care, and the objectives of the project should include an outcome that will benefit patients. Evaluation of each proposal will be based on scientific/clinical merit, potential health care impact and significance, experience of the investigators, and the potential for commercialization and for successfully obtaining further support. The program expects to select 4-6 projects per year for funding.
Submission: Applicants should submit a ˝-page abstract on their project and discuss their proposal with David Chen, director, Coulter Translational Research Partnership (434.243.7357, Email David Chen) prior to submission. David Chen, Tom Skalak, Chair of Biomedical Engineering and selected members of the Coulter Partnership board of advisors will provide iterative feedback to teams. Investigators must submit the final proposal by February 11, 2008 via email to David Chen. The Advisory Board will review the proposals and make recommendations on funding priority. Final candidates will give a presentation to the Advisory Board on March 11, 2008. The program will notify applicants between the second week and third week in March 2008. Funding will begin April 1, 2008.
Applications should not exceed five pages, excluding a cover page, a budget page, and two-page CVs from the co-investigators. Use Arial font of 11-12 point size. The cover page must contain the project title, names of the co-investigators, amount requested, a one-paragraph summary, and the approval/signature of the department chair of the co-investigator who is not in the BME Department (the signature can be scanned as part of your proposal or faxed separately to 434-982-3870). Award recipients will be required to prepare quarterly progress reports for the Coulter Foundation and board of advisors. Approvals for animal and/or human subjects (if needed), will be required “just in time” after awards are announced.
Specific aspects of the final proposals will include:
  • Quarterly milestones and research plan for achieving them
  • Explanation of clinical relevancy of research (e.g., envisioned product, clinical need)
  • Intellectual property status, strategy and plan
  • List of current funding and pending proposals for each co-investigator
  • Plan for funding after Coulter award expires
Duration: Grants will be for a one-year period, and can be renewed on a competitive basis with new applications. Competitive renewal applications must have a comparison of milestones achieved vs. those planned in the original submission. The program expects that some projects may be renewed for up to three years, but that many projects will receive other funding prior to that time.
Budgets: Eligible budget items include salary support (faculty, graduate students, and other research staff), operating supplies, minor equipment items, prototyping expenses, imaging time, and travel directly associated with the research activity. Funds cannot be used for general staff, administrative support, or tuition. Grant budget may not exceed $100,000 in direct costs for a one-year period. Indirect costs cannot exceed 20% of direct costs funded.
New in 2008: To encourage and increase the rate of community information exchange, the finalist presentations for the 2008-2009 Coulter grants will be open. Eligible BME faculty and Coulter team members are welcome to be present for all team presentations and Coulter Advisory Board question and answer sessions.

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Coulter ROPe Funds


We would like to introduce Coulter ROPE (Real Options PipelinE) funds as a unique addition to the Coulter Program at UVA. The purpose of ROPE Funds are multifaceted.
  • The funds are intended to reduce development uncertainty at an appropriate investment level (thus the name, borrowed from “real options,” which function to help reduce uncertainty about early stage concepts so that next stage investment decisions can be made with enhanced information/judgement).
  • ROPE funds will enable teams to make rapid progress towards milestone driven research that is focused on clinical outcomes (real world results).
  • The program will enable active involvement from all investigators interested in translational research, and thus will tightly build our culture by adding multiple strands of involvement to our community.
  • By involving a larger cross-section of our ideas and talent in the pipeline process, the probability of successful outcomes for the whole group's translational effort will be increased in the long-term.


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Wallace H. Coulter Foundation
U.Va. Biomedical Engineering


University of Virginia
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Box 800759, Charlottesville, VA 22908