CIMIT | grant program

It is the official sheet from your research administration office indicating that your proposal is approved by your institution. If you are at MGH, approval from your Department Chief is needed in lieu of central Grants and Contracts approval. It should be in pdf form. Note that it is not due until April 15, but everything else is due March 16th. If the web-based system does not let a submission go in without it, the PI should send a blank file, then modify the submission when the correct form is received.

5. March 16 is very soon. Will you grant extensions?

No, because our timeline after the submission date is really tight. In cases of major hardship, discuss with your Site Miner.

6. How do we compute overhead on purchased materials and services?

Use 40% indirect cost rate. Quote as you normally would for, say, NIH, and we will sort it out post-Grant.

7. Does the page limit on Body Text include all the items listed as a part of the Body Text?

Yes, including the pictures and tables and everything other than references.

8. Will you accept a video showing how my system works? It's really good!

9. May I submit copies of relevant publications?
No

10. Does CIMIT give multi-year Grants?

Yes. See the Request for Applications.

11. My pre-proposal was accepted. Now what?

Submit a Full Proposal by March 16. Download the RFA instructions PDF, and they are also, step-by-step, on the web-based submission site. The files do not need to be loaded all at once. The PI may log on as many times as he or she wishes until midnight March 16. Remember, you may only submit to the category for which your pre-proposal was approved.

12. What does it mean that Full Proposals are evaluated “as written?”
The reviewers will not suggest modifications to your proposal, nor will they assume that gaps in the work plan will be filled. CIMIT Site Miners and Program Leaders can provide helpful feedback on your proposal before it is submitted. Please seek them out.

13. The instructions on the CIMIT website I got using the "search" function on the site are different from those on your web submission site...which do I use?

A search will sometimes pull up old information. The instructions on the web-based submission site are the correct set. If you use the pull-down menus on www.cimit.org you get the correct set.

14. When are applications due?
CSI and Science Grant pre-proposals are due by midnight, EST, February 9, 2008. Proposals that met the CIMIT criteria of device-focused, multidisciplinary collaborations in the areas outlined in the 2009 CIMIT Grants RFA will be invited to submit a Full Proposal. Full Proposals are due by March 16, 2008. Career Development, Working Group and Clinical Fast-Forward applications are due June 1.

15. When is funding activated?
Notification of successful applicants in the Science and CSI Grants will occur May 4, and funding starts January 1, 2009. Notification of the Career Development, Working Group and Clinical Fast-Forward Grants will occur July 1 and funding starts January 1, 2009.

16. What are the changes in this year's Grant program?

A limited number of two-year Science Grants will be awarded in 2009. In this category, Large Science Grants (up to $250,000 direct/year) and Medium Grants (up to $100,000 direct/year) are available.
The start date for all 2009 grants will be moved to a calendar year cycle rather than the current cycle of the government fiscal year. This change is being made to coincide with the expected receipt of funding by CIMIT. Thus 2009 projects will start on January 1, 2009.
In a change from the 2008 process, the “Body Text” and “References” Files for proposal submission have been combined to simplify word processing. Page limits only apply to the Body Text (and associated figures and tables). You may include as many references as you wish.

17. What are the financial parameters of the Grants?
The 2009 CIMIT Grants Program has been designed to give more significant grants to promising clinicians, scientists and engineers. In the Science Grants, categories are now Small Science (up to $40,000 in direct cost), Medium Science (up to $100,000 in direct cost), Medium Science Two-Year (up to $100,000 each year in direct cost, and Large Science Two-Year (up to $250,000 each year in direct cost). In the Clinical Systems Innovation (CSI) area, up to $100,000 (in direct cost) will be awarded to successful applicants.

18. What are CIMIT's areas of interest?
CIMIT seeks multidisciplinary projects to improve patient care in the following areas: diagnostics, image guided therapies, tissue engineering, neurotechnologies, minimally invasive surgery, trauma/casualty care, simulation and cardiovascular. CIMIT is particularly interested in projects which may affect care of the soldier on the battlefield such as hemorrhage control, management of infection and extension of the “Golden Hour.”.

19. What support does CIMIT provide in preparation?
CIMIT Program Leaders, Site Miners and staff are available to guide the development and submission of applications. In addition, these professionals offer assistance throughout the year.

20. Who reviews the Full Proposal applications?
The CIMIT Science Review Panel and CSI Review Panel are made up of practicing clinicians, engineers and scientists with broad experience in medical innovation. Medium and Large Science Awards and CSI awards are reviewed by external experts and also by a panel of leading physicians and engineers convened by the US Army. A list of Panel members will be posted on the CIMIT website.

21. What about Oral Presentations…Didn't CIMIT have oral presentations by some PIs last year?
Yes, for some of the larger size proposals.

22. What about this year?
It is likely we will do this again

23. How are oral presentations selected?
Only Medium and Large Science and Clinical Systems Innovation Awards are requested to present orally, and only to the Army Review Panel. Presenters are then selected at random, based primarily on their availability for the time slots with the panel.

24. Does giving an oral presentation give the applicant an advantage?
Data from the past three years show that most of the time it doesn't matter. Sometimes the PI succeeds in significantly raising their score with the Army panel. However, about an equal number of times, the PI exposes a significant shortcoming of the proposed work, and lowers the score.

25. Is there anything "special" applicants should know?
Key elements of a strong application are collaboration and innovation. CIMIT encourages work between investigators in different institutions, and among clinicians, scientists and engineers who might not normally work together.

26. Why does CIMIT require a PDF format for my submission?
Most proposals contain imported data and objects, including but not limited to photography, graphics, graphs, charts, spreadsheets and other compilations of data. Peer review necessitates distribution of proposals to individuals who have different versions of computer software and/or operating systems. Requiring a PDF formatted document of a proposal is the only way CIMIT can guarantee that all information contained in the proposal will appear correctly to all reviewers. Note that most common word processing programs have a “Print to pdf” feature, so it is easy to make the required files and check their appearance.

27. Where do I submit my pre-proposal?
All pre-proposal information must be submitted through the Precision Conference site: www.precisionconference.com/~cimit. No material can be submitted through myCIMIT or directly to CIMIT staff. To access the Precision Conference website, see the CIMIT Grant Submission page.

28. Where and how do I submit my full proposal?
All full proposal information must be submitted through the Precision Conference site: www.precisionconference.com/~cimit. No material can be submitted through myCIMIT or directly to CIMIT staff. Since you have an accepted pre-proposal, you will simply modify that submission using the Full Proposal form. Access this by logging on, and Clicking on “Submissions in Progress.” Your pre-proposal account should be listed under “CIMIT March 2008, #xxx.” Click on “modify my submission,” and you will get to the Full Proposal submission page.

29. Who should I list as collaborators?
List only individuals who have participated in preparing the proposals and will actively perform the work. Avoid honorific or “drive-by” collaborations.

30. In preparing my proposal, may I use pieces of my recent NIH proposal?
Yes, but remember CIMIT has different goals and review criteria. CIMIT does not require extensive bibliographies or Preliminary Studies. However, if there is related work done by another group, distinguish your approach from theirs.

31. Does CIMIT support software?
CIMIT distinguishes between routine software engineering (data processing, interfacing, simple signal processing), and research software in which new algorithmic approaches are required to solve a clinical problem.

Like any other task, software engineering may be supported when it is necessary to meet project objectives.
Research software projects must be approached in the context of a clinical procedure or care pathway, and the project must involve direct collaboration with a physician in the appropriate specialty.

CIMIT does not support classic Information Technology projects (electronic patient record, data mining for decision support, care pathway automation, software systems engineering, etc.) because CIMIT member institutions and industry groups are already investing significant resources in these areas.

In general, CIMIT does not support the development of public domain data repositories that can be used to further medical research. However, CIMIT has supported projects that use such repositories for algorithm validation.
For Clinical Systems Innovation projects, the best gauge of the suitability of a software project for CIMIT funding is whether it is more appropriate for a Hospital IT department, using their much more substantial research resources. Collaboration with Hospital IT groups is an option on a case-by-case basis.

32. Why does CIMIT not support pharmaceutical development?
CIMIT recognizes that the development of new pharmaceutical agents is generally well supported by major industrial labs, while the underlying basic research is supported by the NIH, both at much larger scales than CIMIT. This is also true of the general fields of surface chemistry and coatings. CIMIT has, however, actively supported the development and demonstration of devices for the local delivery of pharmaceutical agents, and, on occasion, agents to improve the contrast of imaging systems when the project is multidisciplinary. Also, CIMIT has supported multidisciplinary teams seeking new approaches to tissue engineering and wound healing.

33. How is "novelty" characterized by CIMIT reviewers?
CIMIT rarely supports novel science or engineering as normally interpreted in those disciplines because such projects typically require many years of development before they may be considered for use in medicine. Rather, CIMIT seeks the novel application of technology which is built on stable (hopefully, commercially available) platforms. Thus the novelty is in the application to a particular medical problem.

34. Why doesn't CIMIT fund development and testing of new MR pulse sequences?
MR pulse sequence development and similar large multidisciplinary fields are well supported by industry and NIH. CIMIT does not view its role as "second guessing" the established sources of such support.

35. Does CIMIT support projects outside the Boston region?
As a general rule, investigators view the facilitation accompanying a CIMIT Grant as a critical component to the financial Grant. Distance precludes effective facilitation. However, CIMIT frequently supports local effort as a part of national collaborations.

36. Will CIMIT support clinical trials?
No. Clinical trials are usually supported by industry or NIH.

37. Is my proposal treated confidentially? How about my reports?
All proposals are managed to ensure that intellectual property rights and confidential plans are protected. CIMIT reporting does not constitute a public disclosure of an idea. However, investigators should exercise discretion in sharing sensitive materials in semi-public environments such as the CIMIT Forum.

38. If I present at an Army review is that a "Public Disclosure"?
No. Army reviews such as the CIMIT proposal peer review or TATRC Product Line Reviews are confidential. However, items presented at an open Army Meeting such as ATACCC would likely be considered disclosed to the public.

39. Why does CIMIT require quarterly reports?
In accepting a Grant from the US Army, CIMIT agrees to submit Quarterly Reports to the Army. Therefore any CIMIT Grants of funds received from the US Army carry a parallel reporting requirement.

40. When will I receive my funding?
CIMIT's goal is to release funding on January 1, 2009.

41. Why does the Army require secondary reviews of animal and human use?
Due to the nature of military service, the regulations governing the experimentation on animals and humans by the armed forces have explicit extra protections for research subjects. Since CIMIT is supported by the Army, these regulations apply to most CIMIT projects.

42. Does CIMIT accept applications for funding from companies?
No. In general, Principal Investigators of CIMIT-supported collaborations have faculty (or equivalent level) appointments, usually at one of the CIMIT consortium institutions. Companies interested in participating in CIMIT activities are encouraged to consider joining the CIMIT Industry Liaison Program.

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