Eligibility

Applicants must be PGRN members. Trainee members are eligible with faculty sponsorship documented in a letter of support.  An individual can be listed as a principal investigator (PI) or co-principal investigator (co-PI) on only one proposal to the PGRN Research Grant opportunities in each funding cycle.

• Sample requirements: Applicants must have samples in their possession at the time application is submitted. Awardees will need to send extracted DNA (QC’d according to Qubit), minimum of 1000 ng of high-quality input genomic DNA per sample (50% ≥ 30 kb & 90% ≥ 10 kb). If awardee is US-based, tissue and/or blood may be sent (no saliva or buccal samples as high molecular weight DNA is needed).

Proposal (no more than 4 pages, excluding references, budget justification, biographical sketches, and letters of support)

The following sections should be included in your proposal. Applicants have flexibility in the organization, but all the following sections are required.

1. Aims - no more than 1 page Background and significance
2. Statement of diversity and inclusion of understudied populations - including description of the study population and knowledge gap to be filled with the research

3.       Research strategy and approach – Include statistical analysis. Studies focused on diverse and understudied populations are encouraged.

4.    Sample attestation  - attestation that samples are in hand and of sufficient quantity and quality to qualify for this funding mechanism

5.    Consnet attestation - attestation that the appropriate consent/permissions are in place for data sharing. This is not a requirement for funding but is strongly encouraged. If data sharing is prohibited due to individual or community consent processes and policies, please explicitly state this in your proposal  

6.    Timeline

Investigator(s) Biographical Sketch/CV

A brief (max 5 pages) NIH or equivalent biographical sketch is required for all investigators with funded effort on the grant. NIH biographical sketch format, instructions, and examples can be found here: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/forms/biosketch.htm.  If a biosketch is not available a CV (5 pages max) can be provided.

Budget and justification (half page)

Provide an overview budget justification that describes how the project will be funded/supported beyond the sequencing provided by this award. Budgets should be realistic and any additional funds available to support the project should be discussed at a high level. A detailed budget for items that are part of the infrastructure that support the project, but are outside of the scope of the grant, are not required.

Indirect fees are not allowed for this grant as the sponsor will provide in-kind support for sequencing only

Letters of Support

Your application should include letters of support from collaborators and other significant contributors.

Criteria for Review

Proposals will be reviewed by an Expert Review Panel organized by the PGRN Scientific Committee. Scorable criteria include significance, study design and analysis, diversity of the study population, and feasibility of completion during funding period. Investigators will be assessed as acceptable or not, consistent with new NIH criteria.  Each proposal will be reviewed by at least two reviewers and applicants with competitive scores will be reviewed for prioritization for funding by the entire review panel. Reviewer comments will be summarized and shared with all applicants after the final funding decision. The final selection for funding will be made by the PGRN Executive Council.