Institute for Cancer Research

Shared Resource Projects

Funding Opportunity Number

PICR-SR-FY2024-01

Funding Opportunity Title

SHARED RESOURCE PROJECTS 

Key Dates

Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Announcement September 28, 2023 January 17, 2024
Due November 1, 2023 February 26, 2024

Administrative Contact

Kim Sagendorf (ksagendorf@purdue.edu)

Funding Opportunity Description

The Executive Committee of the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research (PICR) will allocate funds to support Cancer-Focused projects that will utilize PICR supported shared resources including; Transgenic and Genome Editing Facility (TGEF-SR), Biological Evaluation (BE-SR), Flow Cytometry (FC-SR), Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry (LSMS-SR), Biomolecular Structure (BS-SR), and Computational Genomics (CG-SR).  For the LSMS-SR, projects supported should use Lipidomics/Metabolomics and Proteomics facilities. For the BS-SR, projects utilizing the Campus-wide NMR and Purdue Cryo-EM Facilities are preferred as well as any support for Macromolecular Structure.  Projects that require sequencing services, either commercial or Purdue, are expected to utilize and/or coordinate with the Computational Genomics shared resource.  NEW – Spatial Transcriptomics support has been added and can be applied towards the value-chain of facilities needed to complete an analysis.

For meritorious projects, funds will be awarded to contribute to the costs of acquiring new and important data in support of grant or manuscript submission/revision. Funding for this opportunity is supported by generous donations by the Indiana Elks and other donor gifts and endowment funds to the PICR.

CLICK HERE to submit your electronic application by 5 pm on the cycle due date. No exceptions. The electronic submission system will not allow applications beyond the deadline. Once here, you can enter your Purdue e-mail and password. 

Qualifications/Restrictions:  Applicants must be members of the PICR. Only one application indicating the use of one shared resource per institute member is allowed. No exceptions.

Cost share: This announcement does not require cost sharing.

Funds Available and Anticipated Number of Awards: The number of awards is contingent upon PICR endowments, gifts and other funds and the submission of meritorious applications.

Award Budget: See the individual descriptions that follow. Each shared resource has separate budget guidelines, and the suggested budget numbers are flexible if sufficient justification is provided. (Not included in two-page limit)

Award Project Period: See the individual descriptions that follow, however it is expected that work will commence within less than one (1) month of the date of award.  A project period of no more than six (6) months will be assigned to projects. Spending will be monitored.  If the regulatory process exceeds three (3) months, the award may be terminated.

Award Restrictions: This award may only be used to pay for services in the indicated facilities in this announcement.

Award Requirements:  Acceptance of an award will indicate your willingness to serve on the PU-ICR’s Pilot Grants Review Committee and to possibly represent the PU-ICR at the annual Indiana Elks Convention.  The awardee MUST acknowledge the PU-ICR. Suggested publication acknowledgement:

“The authors gratefully acknowledge the <insert shared resource name> and support from the Purdue University Institute for Cancer Research, P30CA023168”

No Cost Extension (NCE): No cost extensions are discouraged and will only be granted in rare cases and on a case-by-case basis. Requests must be made to the administration of the PU-ICR in writing and well in advance of the project completion date.   Any problems associated with facility processing of the project should be communicated before the end of the award period to the PU-ICR.

Regulatory: Please note the award is contingent upon obtaining all of the necessary regulatory approvals (e.g., IRB, IACUC, PACUC) or a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) pertaining to the work that has pending approvals.

Reporting: Responding to periodic request of progress is required.  Triage of future applications may occur if reporting requests are ignored.

Proposal Guidelines:

  1. Proposal Length: The proposal should be single-spaced and a maximum of two pages in length (Arial, 11pt) with no less than 0.5 inch margins.
  2. Required Proposal Structure:
    1. Title, Applicant(s) name, Applicant’s program and proposed facility
    2. Brief Significance and Background
    3. Cancer-relevance: Please describe clearly the cancer-relevance of your proposed project in the Background and Significance section.
    4. Approach: Please see the facility descriptions for specific information.
    5. Timeline and Specific Outcomes: Describe the expected outcomes and evidence that it will be ready to start within one (1) monthsI.  The applicant must specify the following:
      1. A peer-reviewed grant submission that will incorporate the data acquired from the shared resource, and/or
      2. Contributions of the shared resource data to a new or re-submission peer-reviewed publication.
      3. The granting agency or journal should be clearly identified as well as the timeline given for the submission. Preference will be given to proposals that have been scored but not funded and are in need of additional supporting data.
  3. Interaction with the shared resource staff to plan the budget and design of experiments is required.
  4. For the electronic submission, the items to upload should include (all combined into 1 file):
    1. Two-page proposal
    2. Cited literature (not in the page limit)
    3. NIH Biosketch
    4. Current and Pending Funding   

Review Criteria:

  1. The scientific impact of the shared resources on the cancer-relevant project and the usage in securing additional funding of the project or in getting a manuscript accepted.
  2. The feasibility of completing the project within 6 months.
  3. Cancer relevance
  4. The appropriateness of the budget requested for supplies, where applicable.
  5. Productivity from previous internal awards will be assessed and weighted appropriately.
  6. Reviewers could consist of senior/program leaders, for scientific impact, and shared resource directors for project feasibility.

PICR SHARED RESOURCES:

Transgenic and Genome Editing (TGEF-SR)

If producing a transgenic mouse: a description of the proposed transgene and evidence that the transgene is available or will be generated shortly.

  1. A statement indicating how a new transgenic mouse model and/or other data produced will advance cancer research.
  2. Up to $3,500 facility credit can be given. A budget of up to $500 may also be requested to prepare samples for analysis in addition to the facility credit. An explanation of the need for additional funds to prepare samples will be required.
  3. CRISPR-Cas9 Design and Build
    1. Funds for projects will be used to support usage of the TGEF facility’s new and state-of-the-art CRISPR-Cas9 services, provided in conjunction with a vendor (or internally at Purdue), to build an organism (i.e. mouse) with the TGEF. The amount to support the project will not exceed $5,000 (Note: funds for invoices will be direct pay by the institute business office).
  4. Applicants are encouraged to contact Judy Hallett, Director of the TGEF (email: halletje@purdue.edu) to discuss technical aspects and feasibility of the potential projects or to help with CRISPR vendor selection, if applicable.

 Flow Cytometry (FC-SR)

  1. Funds for projects will be used to support usage of the facility equipment and especially those projects that make use of the new and state-of-the-art flow cytometry/sequencing instruments located in this facility.
  2. A description of the proposed project.
  3. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and your project.
  4. Up to $2,000 facility credit can be given. A budget of up to $250 in supplies may also be requested to prepare samples for analysis in addition to the facility credit. An explanation of the need for additional funds to prepare samples will be required.
  5. Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Jill Hutchcroft, Facility Director of Flow Cytometry (email: hutchcroft@purdue.edu) to discuss technical aspects and feasibility of the potential projects.

Biological Evaluation (BE-SR)

  1. A description of the proposed in vitro and/or in vivo project
  2. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and your project.
  3. Up to $6,000 facility credit can be given. A budget of up to $500 may also be requested to prepare samples for analysis in addition to the facility credit.  In addition, a budget up to $500 may also be requested for facility credit within the Purdue Bioscience Imaging Facility for use with the described project.  An explanation of the need for additional funds to prepare or image samples will be required.
  4. Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Bennett Elzey, Scientific Director of the BE (email: belzey@purdue.edu) to discuss technical aspects and feasibility of the potential projects.

Computational Genomics (CG-SR) including Sequencing and/or C3B Analysis (SEQ)

  1. Funds for projects will be used to support usage of the Hi-Seq and Mi-Seq state-of-the-art facility equipment or other appropriate vendor.
  2. A description of the proposed project.
  3. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and your project.
  4. Up to $6,000 credit can be given for analyses and sequencing. A budget of up to $250 out of the $5K can be used for supplies to prepare samples for analysis etc. Please indicate whether this project will include data analysis by the Collaborative Core for Cancer Bioinformatics. An explanation of the need for additional funds to prepare samples will be required.
  5. Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Nadia Atallah-Lanman (natallah@purdue.edu) and Dr. Phillip San Miguel (email: pmiguel@purdue.edu) to discuss design/technical aspects and feasibility of the potential projects.

Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry (LSMS-SR).  Lipidomics, Metabolomics and Proteomics (MPF and PPF in Bindley Bioscience Center)

  1. A description of the proposed project, expected outcomes and evidence that it will be ready to start within 1 month and be completed within a 6 month time period.
  2. Funds up to $3,500 facility credit will be given.
  3. Applicants are encouraged to contact Amber Jannasch (email: hopfas@purdue.edu) to discuss facility use. Applicants should reach out to Bindley Bioscience Center to discuss technical aspects and feasibility of the potential projects. If the project is proteomics focused, please contact Uma Aryal (email: uaryal@purdue.edu).
  4. Desorption Electrospray Ionization (DESI), developed by PU-ICR member Dr. Graham Cooks, is now available for use and project development in the MPF.
  5. Note: Due to the current backlogs and long timelines for processing samples through these facilities, it is imperative that you get a letter from the facility leader(s) stating that your projects will be prioritized and completed within the 6 month timeline.

Biomolecular Structure (BS-SR) 

The Purdue Cryo-EM Facility (CEM)

  1. Single particle analysis on cancer-relevant targets are being sought to advance the scientific impact of structural biology in cancer at Purdue. Cancer-relevant targets would include proteins and enzymes and their complexes with other proteins, DNA/RNA and small molecule drugs.  Viruses are excluded.
  2. A description of the proposed project and a statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and your project.
  3. Up to $5,000 in facility credit can be given and can include up to $250 in supplies for grid preparation.
  4. Applicants are encouraged to contact Dr. Wen Jiang, Scientific Director (email: jiang12@purdue.edu), to discuss facility use, a budget and a plan for executing the project.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Funds are available to support cancer-focused NMR use for structural biology and/or drug discovery.  Up to $3,000 can be awarded in a given fiscal year.  A strong cancer-focus rationale is required.  Please include the following in the application:

  1. A description of the project.
  2. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and the project.
  3. Please include a statement on expected outcomes as well as describing the past productivity from previous pilot grant awards (where applicable).
  4. For any questions on this support please contact Doug Cuttell (email: dcuttell@purdue.edu).

Macromolecular X-ray (MXR)

Funds are available to support cancer-focused X-ray use for structural biology and/or drug discovery.  Up to $500 can be awarded in a given fiscal year.  A strong cancer-focus rationale is required.  Please include the following in the application:

  1. A description of the project.
  2. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and the project.
  3. Please include a statement on expected outcomes as well as describing the past productivity from previous pilot grant awards (where applicable).
  4. For any questions on this support please contact Doug Cuttell (email: dcuttell@purdue.edu).

Spatial Transcriptomics (ST)

Funds are available to support cancer-focused spatial transcriptomics.  Up to $5000 can be awarded in a given fiscal year.  A strong cancer-focus rationale is required.  Please include the following in the application:

  1. A description of the project.
  2. A statement indicating how the data produced will advance cancer research and the project.
  3. Please include a statement on expected outcomes as well as describing the past productivity from previous pilot grant awards (where applicable).
  4. For any questions on this support please contact Doug Cuttell (email: dcuttell@purdue.edu).

Announcement History and Updates

Funding Opportunity Number Summary of Change
PICR-SR-FY2023-01 Initiation of Announcement