UF Health Cancer Institute Pilot and Exploratory Study Proposals General Application Instructions

Grant Application System

The UF Health Cancer Institute Office of Research Administration uses Microsoft Forms for the intake of Pilot and Exploratory Study Proposal Applications.

Available for all faculty and staff of the University of Florida, Microsoft Forms collects the PESP application information and attachments and transmits it directly to the Office of Research Administration once you hit submit.

If you have any difficulty completing the grant application in Microsoft Forms, please reach out to the Office of Research Administration at researchadmin@cancer.ufl.edu.

Format

Font (size, color, type density) and Line Spacing
Text in your attachments must follow these minimum requirements:

• Font size: Must be 11 points or larger. Smaller text in figures, graphs, diagrams and charts is acceptable, as long as it is legible when the page is viewed at 100%.
  • Some PDF conversion software reduces font size. It is important to confirm that the final PDF document complies with the font requirements.
• Type density: Must be no more than 15 characters per linear inch (including characters and spaces).
• Line spacing: Must be no more than six lines per vertical inch.
• Text color: No restriction. Though not required, black or other high-contrast text colors are recommended
  since they print well and are legible to the largest audience.

We recommended the following fonts, although other fonts (both serif and non-serif) are acceptable if they meet the above requirements.

• Arial
• Georgia
• Helvetica
• Palatino Linotype

Paper Size and Margins

• Use paper size no larger than standard letter paper size (8 ½” x 11”).
• Provide at least one-half inch margins (½”), top, bottom, left, and right, for all pages.

Page Limits

The following page limits for attachments are required:

Required Information

Project Information

1. Project title: Enter a brief descriptive title of the project. The descriptive title is limited to 200 characters, including spaces and punctuation.
2. Contact principal investigator: This is the contact principal investigator (PI). The contact PI is the individual responsible for the overall scientific and technical direction of the project.
3. Contact PI home department: Please provide the academic home department of the contact PI.
4. Contact PI home department research administrator: Please provide the contact information for the research administrator in the Contact PI’s home department with whom the UFHCC Research Administration team can work on matters regarding this proposal.
5. Total budget requested: Enter the total funds requested from the budget template.
6. Human subjects: If activities involving human subjects are planned at any time during the proposed project at any performance site, check “Yes.” Check “Yes” even if the proposed project is exempt from regulations for the Protection of Human Subjects, or if activities involving human subjects are anticipated within the period of award but plans are indefinite. R – 37 Research Instructions for NIH and Other PHS Agencies – Forms Version F Series R.220 – R&R Other Project Information Form If activities involving human subjects are not planned at any time during the proposed project at any performance site, select “No”. Need help determining whether your application includes human subjects? Check out the NIH Research Involving Human Subjects website for information, including an Infopath Questionnaire designed to walk applicants through the decision process. Note on the use of human specimens or data: Applications involving the use of human specimens or data may or may not be considered to be research involving human subjects, depending on the details of the materials to be used.
7. Vertebrate animals: If activities involving vertebrate animals are planned at any time during the proposed project at any performance site, check “Yes.” Otherwise, check “No”.

Key Personnel

Individuals who contribute to the scientific development or execution of a project in a substantive and measurable way (whether or not they receive salaries or compensation under the grant) are considered Key Personnel. The PI is always considered Key Personnel, but do not list them under key personnel.

Please include the first name, last name, home department, and project role for each key person and select their UF Health Cancer Institute research program affiliation. If unknown, please refer to the UF Health Cancer Institute membership directory.

Proposal Attachments

1. Biosketches for all key personnel: Provide biosketches for the PI and all named key personnel combined as a single PDF file. The current NIH template and guidelines should be used.
2. Current and pending other support for all key personnel: Provide information on all other current and pending research support for the PI and key personnel combined into 1 PDF. At a minimum this should include the sponsor, dates of project, title, major goals, and dollar amounts of all other support.
3. Scientific abstract: The project summary is a succinct and accurate description of the proposed work and should be able to stand on its own (separate from the application). This section should be informative to other persons working in the same or related fields and understandable to a scientifically reader. Avoid both descriptions of past accomplishments and the use of the first person. Please be concise. State the application’s broad, long-term objectives and specific aims, making reference to the health relatedness of the project (i.e., relevance to the mission of the agency). Describe the research design and methods for achieving the stated goals. Be sure that the project summary reflects the key focus of the proposed project so that the application can be appropriately categorized. Do not include proprietary, confidential information or trade secrets in the project summary.
4. Lay abstract: The lay abstract provides an overview of the proposed research for people who are not trained in the sciences. This abstract may be read by peer review stakeholders and UF Health Cancer Institute staff members. Stakeholders are individuals without formal scientific or medical training who are full voting members of peer review panels. The stakeholder uses the general summary to evaluate how the proposed work will benefit cancer patients and their families.
   • UF Health Cancer Institute staff members use these summaries to identify projects that align with the specific interests of donors and may share them with donors.
   • Staff may use the summary for communicating to local media about UF Health Cancer Institute-funded studies. Therefore, do not include proprietary/confidential information.
   • The general audience summary should not duplicate the structured technical abstract and should be written in an understandable way for the general public. Describe concisely the background, significance, question(s) being asked, information to be obtained, and potential impact of your proposed research.
5. Specific aims: State concisely the goals of the proposed research and summarize the expected outcome(s), including the impact that the results of the proposed research will have on the research field(s) involved. List succinctly the specific objectives of the research proposed (e.g., to test a stated hypothesis, create a novel design, solve a specific problem, challenge an existing paradigm or clinical practice, address a critical barrier to progress in the field, or develop new technology).
6. Research strategy: Organize your research strategy into the following sections:
   • Background and significance:
     • Explain the importance of the problem or critical barrier to progress that the proposed project addresses.
     • Describe the strengths and weaknesses in the rigor of the prior research (both published and unpublished) that serves as the key support for the proposed project.
     • Explain how the proposed project will improve scientific knowledge, technical capability, and/or clinical practice in one or more broad fields.
   • Innovation
     • Explain how the application challenges and seeks to shift current research or clinical practice paradigms.
     • Describe any novel theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation or interventions to be developed or used, and any advantage over existing methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions.
     • Explain any refinements, improvements, or new applications of theoretical concepts, approaches or methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions.
   • Approach
     • Describe the overall strategy, methodology, and analyses to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project. Describe plans to address weaknesses in the rigor of the prior research that serves as the key support for the proposed project.
     • Describe the experimental design and methods proposed and how they will achieve robust and unbiased results.
     • Discuss potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success anticipated to achieve the aims.
7. References cited: Each literature citation should include title, authors, book or journal, volume number, page numbers, and year of publication.
8. Expected outcomes and plans for future funding: Describe the planned outcomes for the study as they relate to future clinical studies, peer-reviewed publications, and extramural funding.
9. Impact statement: Explain how the proposed study will exert a sustained, powerful influence on the cancer research, with specific attention to how the study addresses cancer incidence and mortality among populations within the UF Health Cancer Institute catchment area.
10. Budget form: On the template provided, please provide a detailed budget for the proposed study within the budget constraints of the RFA and the UFHCC’s guidelines for allowable costs.
11. Budget justification: Use the budget justification to provide information on each requested budget category identified above and any other information the applicant wishes to submit to support the budget request. Please only provide justifications for categories for which funding is requested.