MNORC Pilot/Feasibility Grants

Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center (MNORC)
Application Due Date: Wednesday, August 2, 2023 (11:59 PM)

Purpose

The Pilot/Feasibility (P/F) Grant Program is sponsored by the Michigan Diabetes Research Center (MDRC) and Michigan Medicine Nutrition Obesity Research Center (MNORC). Its purpose is to promote research in diabetes, obesity and nutrition by new and established investigators at the University of Michigan. The ultimate goal of the program is to accelerate the pace of research and enable awardees to generate sufficient preliminary data for successful applications for major research funding from the NIH or other national granting agency. 

Eligibility

Individuals who hold tenure, research or clinical track faculty positions at the University of Michigan are eligible to apply as Principal Investigators of P/F proposals. Eligible applicants are: a) new investigators beginning careers in diabetes-related research or nutrition and obesity; b) established investigators who have not previously worked in diabetes research but wish to focus their expertise on diabetes, nutrition, obesity and related areas; or c) established diabetes, nutritional sciences or obesity investigators who propose innovative research in diabetes that represents a clear departure from their ongoing research. This new direction cannot be an extension or outgrowth of research currently being undertaken by the applicant. Priority is given to investigators in category “a” followed by investigators in category “b”. Individuals who receive a 2023-24 MDRC P/F grant are not eligible to receive a 2023-24 MDRC Diabetes Interdisciplinary Study Program grant.

Proposals

P/F proposals should be for one year of support, with requested funding up to $50,000 direct costs. Each proposal will receive extramural peer review by recognized experts in the area of the proposal from the United States and abroad. Revised proposals from previous cycles are considered new applications and will be reviewed as such. The MDRC/MNORC Grants Program Advisory Council of expert investigators reviews the P/F applications together with their respective peer evaluations and ranks the applications based on scientific merit and relevancy to diabetes, obesity and nutrition research before final funding decisions are made. Funding of P/F grants that receive favorable review is anticipated to begin December 1, 2023. P/F grant awardees are queried annually by MDRC/MNORC administrative staff and are required to provide information on the publications and funding that stem from the P/F grant as this information must be reported to NIH. P/F grant awardees are also expected to present their research at the Annual Caswell Diabetes Institute Metabolism, Obesity and Diabetes (CDI-MOD) Symposium generally held in the spring. If awarded, junior faculty will work with the MDRC/MNORC programs to identify a mentor to assess progress on the P&F project and career development.

Applications must be prepared using the 2023-24 P/F application and instructions and must not exceed the page limits specified in each section. The application should be prepared using Arial 11 point font with 0.5 inch margins. Do not submit appendices since such material will not be reviewed. A University of Michigan PAF form is not required. Applications involving the use of animals must provide documentation of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval before they are funded. Applications involving human subjects must provide documentation of IRB approval before they are funded. Applications involving human embryonic stem cells (hESC) must provide information on the NIH hESC identification/registration number documentation of institutional approval/registration before they are funded.

Questions? Please contact Sandra Wankel 763-9312 wankel@umich.edu

For more information and to apply, visit Competition Space

Pilot & Feasibility Grants Past Awardees

  • Mathia Colwell, PhD, Postdoc Fellow Environmental Health Sciences: Intergenerational Epigenetic biomarkers of Metabolic Diseases Using an in utero Arsenic Exposure Mouse Model ($50,000)
  • Ramiah Jacks, PhD, Postdoc Research Fellow Department of Pediatrics: Regulation of adipose tissue T cells with rapid adipose tissue remodeling ($50,000)
  • Prashant Singh, MBBS, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine GI and Hepatology: A randomized controlled trial comparing clinical efficacy of Mediterranean diet and low FODMAP diet in patients with IBS ($49,500)
  • Andriy Myronovych, MD, PhD, Assistant Research Scientist of Surgery: Hepatic Steatosis and Liver Regeneration after Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy/Partial Hepatectomy in Diet Induced Obese Mice: The Role of FGF15 ($50,000)
  • Brigid Gregg, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology: Changes in human milk nutrition as a complication of diabetes in pregnancy ($50,000)
  • Monica Dus, PhD, Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, LSA: "Regulation of insulin biosynthesis and secretion by m6A mRNA Methylation." ($45,000)
  • Melissa Elafros, MD, PhD, Instructor in Neurology, Medical School: "The Flint Neuropathy Study." ($15,000)
  • Cristina Saenz de Miera Patin, PhD, Research Fellow, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Medical School: "Prenatal photoperiodic programming of the developing metabolic hypothalamus." ($45,000)
  • Sonya Wolf-Fortune, PhD, Research Fellow, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Medical School: "Dysregulation of keratinocyte/macrophage axis in obesity driven diabetic wounds." ($45,000)
  • Eric Buras, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine MEND: "Thrombospondin-1 promotes fibro-adipogenic remodeling and contractile dysfunction of the diaphragm in obesity" ($45,000)
  • Kendrin Sonneville, ScD, Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health: "Piloting the impact of an intuitive eating-based workplace wellness program" ($45,000)
  • Erica Jansen, Research Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences: "Circadian gene DNA methylation as a predictor of 10-year BMI gains among women" ($25,000)
  • Alla Karnovsky, Research Associate Professor, DCMB: "Exploring Diet/Lipidome Interactions to Understand the Development of Adverse Cardiometabolic Phenotypes in the SWAN Cohort." ($25,000)
  • Laura Saslow, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing: "Piloting the impact of a carbohydrate-reduced eating pattern for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease" ($50,000)
  • Daniel Lawrence, PhD, Professor, Internal Medicine – Cardiology: "Metabolic insults, the neurovascular unit and Alzheimer’s" ($50,000)
  • Yewei Ji, PhD, Research Investigator, Molecular and Integrative Physiology: "Toll-like Receptors Act as Brakes on Adaptive β-cell Mass Expansion" ($25,000)
  • Anna Mathew, MD, Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine – Nephrology: "Metabolic approach to Understanding the Role of Eicosanoids in Salt Sensitivity in CKD" ($25,000)
  • Charles Evans, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine – Metabolism, Endocrinology & Diabetes: “Differentiating intrinsic and exercise training-responsible contributions to exercise capacity, obesity, and metabolic health” ($38,000)
  • Xin (Tony) Tong, MD, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Molecular & Integrative Physiology: “Role and mechanisms of E4BP4 in high-fat diet-induced liver steatosis” ($38,000)
  • Abhijit Naik, MBBS, Internal Medicine – Nephrology: "Effect of moderate caloric restriction on glomerular growth after kidney transplantation" ($23,441)
  • Kanakadurga Singer, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatrics: “Probing sex differences in diet induced inflammation through profiling of hematopoietic progenitors” ($45,000)
  • Marianna Sadagurski, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Internal Medicine, Geriatric and Palliative Medicine: “Growth hormone receptor modulates glucose homeostasis in nutrient-sensing leptin receptor expressing neurons” ($10,000 small grant)
  • Raymond Trievel, PhD, Associate Professor, Biological Chemistry: “Characterization of the Molecular Functions of the Obesity-linked Protein Nocturnin” ($45,000)
  • Jun Wu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Life Sciences Institute, Molecular and Integrative Physiology: “Beige fat-specific regulation in mice and humans” ($25,000)
  • Monica Dus, PhD, Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology (MCDB): “Metabolites as key regulators of feeding states” ($25,000)
  • Wei Perng, PhD, MPH, Research Assistant Professor, Nutritional Sciences: “Metabolomic patterns and development of metabolic risk in US and Mexican children” ($25,000)
  • Ingrid Bergin, DVM, MS, Assistant Professor, Unit for Laboratory Animal Medicine: “Effects of calcium and multi-mineral supplementation on gut microbes and microbially-derived metabolites in patients at risk for colon cancer” ($25,000)
  • Robert W O'Rourke, Associate Professor of Surgery, Medical School: "glutamine as substrate for de novo lipogenesis in adipocyte-pancreatic cancer metabolic crosstalk- a pilot study" ($33,000)
  • Christa Patterson, Research Investigator, Internal Medicine, Medical School: "Role of Atf3 in central leptin regulation of physiology and neuronal function" ($33,000)
  • Hiroyuki Mori, Research Investigator, Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Medical School: "Role of Wnt11 as a mediator of HIF-1α effects in adipose tissue biology" ($33,000)
  • Elizabeth Speliotes, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Assistant Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, Medical School: "NAFLD Metabolomics" ($25,000)
  • Rebecca Hasson, PhD, Assistant Professor (School of Kinesiology): "Stress-induced eating behavior: implications for pediatric obesity disparities in Latino and African-American Youth" ($50,000)
  • Jun Hee Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor (Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology): "The role of Sestrin1 against obesity-associated muscle metabolic pathologies" ($50,000)
  • Lei Yin, PhD, Assistant Professor (Dept of Molecular and Integrative Physiology): "Nutrient-dependent Regulation of Molecular Clock" ($50,000)
  • Shanti Eswaran, MD, Clinical Lecturer (Department of Medicine - Division of Gastroenterology): "Low FODMAP diet vs. usual care for patients with irritable bowel syndrom with diarrhea (IBS-D): a randomized, controlled trial and gastroinestinal microbiome analysis" ($50,000)
  • David P. Olson, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor (Pediatrics and Communicable Disease): "The Role of Vasopressin Neurons in Energy Balance" ($50,000)
  • Ana Baylin, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology: "Fatty Acids and Risk of Overweight in School-Aged Children" ($50,000)
  • Siming Li, Assistant Research Scientist, Life Sciences Institute: "Dissecting transcriptional control of brown adipocyte development through genome-wide functional screen" ($50,000) 
  • Carey Lumeng, MD, PhD and Susan Woolford, MD, Assistant Professor, Pediatric and Communicable Diseases: "Inflammatory monocytes in childhood obesity" ($33,000)
  • Dana Dolinoy, PhD, Searle Assistant Professor, SPH Environmental Health Science: "In Utero BPA exposure: Effects on metabolic homeostasis mediated by epigenetic labile loci" ($33,000)
  • Jorge A. Iniguez-Lluhi, PhD, Associate Professor, Pharmacology: "Novel bifunctional glucocorticoid receptor ligands with favorable metabolic profiles through the display of novel chemical functionalities" ($33,000) 
  • David Lombard, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Dept of Pathology and Research Professor, Institute of Gerontology: "Role of acetylation in regulating the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex" ($50,000)
  • Julie Lumeng, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Pediatric & Comm Diseases, Asst Research Scientist, Center for Human Growth and Development: "Diurnal salivary cortisol in association with cardiovascular risk markers and weight status in low-income preschool-aged children" ($25,000)

Director

 

Contact Us

Sandra Wankel, MSA

MNORC Program Manager
734-763-9312
wankel@med.umich.edu