VPR NIH BRIDGE FUNDING PROGRAM
Deadline: Monthly on the 5th.
Purpose:As the NIH budget continues to be more restrictive, it has become more difficult to sustain uninterrupted NIH funding. The Office of the Vice President for Research (VPR) has established a "Bridge Funding Program" for NIH investigators whose competing renewal application has not been funded. Bridge Funding is intended to provide temporary support for ongoing NIH research projects that are likely to be funded upon submission of amended renewal applications. This program provides matching funds from the VPR office to allow the investigator up to three (3) NIH review cycles of support.
General Guidelines:
Requests for Bridge Funding will be limited to those individuals whose NIH competitive renewal application was not funded. Research Career Development Awards and administrative components of P01/center grants are excluded from participation in this program. The principal investigator (Bridge Funding applicant) must have submitted a competitive renewal application that received a priority score of 25% or lower (i.e. 0-25%) to be eligible. The application for Bridge Funding can be submitted after the initial review of the first competitive renewal proposal and/or after review of Amendment 1 (A1) or Amendment 2 (A2) competitive renewal applications if necessary. If extramural grant funds (for the requested project) become available to the investigator during the Bridge Funding period, any remaining Bridge funds will be returned to the VPR office.
The maximum amount of funds that will be made available from the VPR office will be $30,000 per award application cycle. Each application cycle will be a six month period. Any funds that can be made available to the investigator by the department/dean/center office should be used as the first source of bridge funding.
A cumulative 1:1 match is required by both the investigator's department and/or school (Dean's office). For example, the department and school must contribute a cumulative match of $30,000 in order to request $30,000 from the VPR Bridge program. If a center is involved, a cumulative match of 2:1 will be required. The department/dean/center total match must be $60,000 in order to request $30,000 from the VPR Bridge program. Salary for the principal investigator used to offset prior effort on the previous NIH funded segment is allowable for usage as matching funds.
VPR Bridge funds cannot be used for any salaries except technicians; departments/deans/centers should bear the salary components of faculty, graduate students and residents/fellows carrying out grant-supported research. Funds can be used for technicians salaries, supplies, animal charges and the like. Travel and equipment will not generally be funded. Review of Bridge Funding applications will be carried out by the University Research Council with decisions expected within sixty (60) days of submission.
Visual Flow Chart of UTHSCSA Bridge Funding Program
Application Components: Proposals that do not carefully follow the instructions listed below will be returned without review.
1) Proposal Cover Page and Checklist. Must be signed by Applicant PI, Chair, Dean and if applicable Center director.
2) Certification of Proposal (COP). Instructions for filling out the COP.
3 ) Description and Background & Significance of the project to justify VPR Bridge Funding (limited to three (3) pages).
4 ) Detailed Budget including summary of other bridge funds available (matching funds) to the investigator and a plan for the use of the Bridge Funding.
5 ) Signed letter/s from Dean/Chair/Center Director for commitment of funds.
6 ) One-page statement from the PI with other information that strengthens the case for Bridged Funding.
7 ) NIH Summary Statements for all renewal reviews.
8 ) Competitively reviewed research plan (both proposals for A1 and all three proposals for A2 application) including introduction pages and budget pages.For Bridge Funding requests based on A1 and A2 applications, in addition to the above requested information, the investigator should provide (1) a full list of publications and presentations authored or coauthored by the applicant during the previous six month period; (2) a complete list of expenses charged against the Bridge Funding provided to date if applicable; (3) a description of progress to date and (4) copies of all grant submissions and summary statements during the previous six month period.
Questions regarding programmatic issues can be directed to Elissa Sanderson, Research Coordinator, Office of the Vice President for Research at 567-2089 or sandersone@uthscsa.edu.Submission Instructions:
Applications must be submitted electronically through the UTHSCSA Sponsored Programs Proposal Upload System.
Please direct any questions regarding the upload system to Pepper Cumming in the HSC Office of Sponsored Programs, 567-2330, cumming@uthscsa.edu.
- Applications must be uploaded as a PDF file.
Instructions for Converting Word Documents to PDF - you must convert your proposal document to a pdf file. You must have the full version of Adobe Acrobat to save and combine files in pdf, the free Acrobat Reader is NOT sufficient.
- You must use Internet Explorer to enter the upload system.
- Applications should NOT be e-mailed nor paper copies sent.
- After uploading your document please wait, you will get a confirmation on your computer screen that your application was uploaded successfully.
- Applications that you have uploaded can be viewed simply by logging into the upload system and clicking on the link to -step 2- View your proposals and/or upload proposal document.
- If after you upload your document you find you need to make a correction, follow step 2 above to view your proposal and/or re-upload proposal document by simply uploading the corrected copy-DO NOT register again as this will submit two proposals with the same title.
UTHSCSA faculty or staff will need to "log in" using their UTHSCSA domain username and password.
If the "log in" box only asks for username and password you should enter your username as follows: uthscsa\username note the "\" this is the key located above the "enter" key on your keyboard.
Please continue to the Office of Sponsored Programs Proposal Upload System by clicking the link below:
Return to Office of Sponsored Programs