Discovery Fund

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Since 2013, the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, formally known as AD&T, has conducted an annual seed grant program, the Discovery Fund, to identify the most promising new ideas in research related to BIPH themes. The goal is to help faculty test new ideas and collect the preliminary data needed to prepare competitive extramural grant applications to carry those ideas forward. Discovery Fund awards are typically made to multi-PI projects, have budgets of approximately $35,000 to $45,000 for one year, and typically cover personnel, supplies, and small equipment items, as needed.

During the first five years of the program (2013-2017), the Discovery Fund has proven to be successful in identifying and nurturing new ideas. The program distributed a total of $949,821 to 26 projects, averaging $36,532 per project with 5 projects funded each year. These projects involved 43 faculty members.

The impact of these projects has been substantial, as they have attracted $10,523,541 in external funding, resulting in an impressive 11:1 return on investment. Additionally, the projects have led to the publication of 62 research papers and the presentation of 35 posters. Furthermore, the fund has provided direct funding to 40 postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduates.

Overall, the metrics collected highlight the program's effectiveness in fostering innovation, securing additional research activity, and supporting the development of promising new ideas in research related to BIPH themes.

Overview

The Berthiaume Institute seeks proposals that address compelling problems related to precision health in any of the institute’s research themes: 

Requested funds may be used:

  1. for the exploration or development of new ideas and/or tools (“seed funding”) 
  2. as matching grants to projects that are currently supported by extramural funding, with the intent of building on existing data and/or technologies and rapidly moving promising results to translation or implementation (“harvest funding”).

Applicants are encouraged to apply to the theme/topic and mechanism that best advances their idea or project. Projects can be designed around a one-graduate-student, one-year model, or they can be collaborations that involve multiple investigators, or projects of longer duration.

Seed Funding Mechanism

The goal of these awards is to test new ideas and collect the preliminary data needed to prepare competitive extramural grant applications to carry those ideas forward. The budgets of these projects typically cover personnel, supplies, equipment, and/or core facility fees.

Apply

All proposals should be submitted by e-mail to biph@nd.edu as a single PDF file containing all of the elements listed below:

  1. Title page, including contact information for the PI(s)
  2. Two-page project narrative, including:
    • short summary
    • goals/aims
    • research plan
    • milestones
    • other personnel and resources leveraged
  3. Bibliography (no page limit)
  4. Budget, with justification
  5. Two-page CV for all PIs

Harvest Funding Mechanism

These matching grants should extend the scale or scope of currently funded research that addresses one or more of the BIPH themes in some way. This could include, for example, assay validation, prototype development, engineering designs, materials testing, computational modeling, etc. The funds can be used to support new work by graduate students/postdocs, purchase of supplies or materials, supercomputer access time, infrastructure needs, or other appropriate costs of executing the specified research.

Apply

All proposals should be submitted by e-mail to biph@nd.edu as a single PDF file containing all of the elements listed below:

  1. Title page -- including contact information for the PI(s)
  2. Two-page project narrative, including:
    • project summary of the externally funded project, including sponsor, dates, and total direct costs
    • statement of proposed new work, including relevance to programmatic areas, specific experimental or computational research objectives, and potential impact of the proposed 
    • research plan
    • milestones
    • other personnel and resources leveraged
  3. Bibliography (no page limit)
  4. Budget, with justification
  5. Two-page CV for all PIs

If there is ambiguity about external funding data, the NDR Cayuse system will be considered the official record.

Deadline

The online application is now closed. The next application cycle will open in May 2024.

Criteria

All proposals, of both types, will be reviewed for:

  • scientific excellence
  • relevance to program objectives
  • feasibility of the research plan
  • potential for technology translation (if applicable)
  • capacity to attract sustainable external support or leverage existing resources

After peer-review ratings are received, proposals will be ranked, and a proposed set of funded projects presented to the BIPH Steering Committee for approval.

Questions?

Please direct questions to Arnie Phifer, BIPH Associate Director, at aphifer@nd.edu.

Previous Awardees

2022

  • Dr. Meenal Datta (AME)
    Mining Myeloid "Mechanomics" to Identify Novel Drug Targets in Glioblastoma
  • Dr. Paul Bohn (CBE/CBC) and Dr. Nosang Myung (CBE)
    Wearable Assessment Technology for Continuous Hazard Detection and Operational Guidance - WATCHDOG
  • Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE) and Dr. Hsueh-Chia Chang (CBE)
    A primary care blood screening test for Alzheimer's disease
  • Dr. Yichun Wang (CBE), Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE), and Dr. Xin Lu (BIO)
    A high throughput and high-efficiency platform for therapeutic exosome production and evaluation

2021

  • Dr. Rebecca Whelan (CBC) and Dr. Marya Lieberman (CBC)
    Generation of high-affinity DNA aptamers for drugs of abuse using capillary electrophoresis-based selection
  • Dr. Theodore Beauchaine (PSY), Dr. Brooke Ammerman (PSY), and Dr. Kristin Valentino (PSY)
    Leveraging Biomarkers and New Technologies to Reduce Self-Injury and Substance Abuse Risk Among Highly Vulnerable Adolescents
  • Dr. Jason Rohr (BIO) and Dr. Patricia Champion (BIO)
    Identifying the developmental windows when early-life disruption of the microbiome can have lasting effects on immunity and disease risk
  • Dr. Robert Nerenberg (CEEE) and Dr. Albert Cerrone (CEEE)
    Improved Therapies for Cystic Fibrosis Lung Infections using the Bioacoustic Effect
  • Dr. Geoffrey Siwo (BIO) and Dr. Prakash Nallathamby (AME/BIPH)
    A.I. Aided Rapid Design Optimization of Biomimetic Antibacterial Phage-Mimicking Nanoparticles
  • Dr. Jon Camden (CBC)
    A New Paradigm for Implantable Electrochemical Sensors: N-Heterocyclic Carbenes as a Robust Biofunctional Anchor
  • Dr. Jeremiah Zartman (CBE), Dr. Donny Hanjaya-Putra (AME), and Dr. Hsueh-Chia Chang (CBE)
    Coupling Membrane Potential with a Hybrid Memristor to Control Endothelial Cell Proliferation and Vascular Morphogenesis at the Systems Level
  • Dr. Jeff Schorey (BIO)
    Identify an extracellular vesicle RNA signature specific to active TB patients

2020

  • Dr. Brooke Ammerman (PSY) and Dr. Nitesh Chawla (CSE)
    Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on Problematic Substance Use through the Quality of Sobriety Framework
  • Dr. Marya Lieberman (CBC)
    Development and Implementation of a Paper Analytical Device to Monitor Illicit Drug Supply Chains for Targeted Harm Reduction Efforts
  • Dr. Merlin Bruening (CBE)
    Membrane-based Quantitation of COVID-19 Antibodies
  • Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE) and Dr. Hsueh-Chia Chang (CBE/AME)
    Highly Sensitive Rapid Lateral Flow SARS-COV-2 Antigen Test
  • Dr. Mayland Chang (CBC/CBBI)
    Inhibition of cathepsin-L by (R)-ND-336 as a treatment for COVID-19
  • Dr. Nosang Myung (CBE)
    Nano-enabled Sensor System for COVID-19 Patient Care
  • Dr. Joshua Shrout (CEEE) and Dr. Paul Bohn (CBE/CBC)
    Identifying Behavior and Signatures of Bacterial Secondary Infection after Primary Lung Infection with SARS-CoV2
  • Dr. Bradley Smith (CBC)
    Testing For Acute Kidney Injury Caused By COVID-19

2019

  • Dr. Brooke Ammerman (PSY)
    Identifying Momentary Risk Factors in the Co-Occurrence of Substance Use Disorders and Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors
  • Dr. Matthew Webber (CBE)
    Easily Applied Hydrogels as Opioid Replacements in Post-Surgical Pain Management
  • Dr. Paul Bohn (CBE/CBC) and Dr. Nosang Myung (CBE)
    Optoelectronic Sensor Platform for Synthetic Opioids and their Metabolites
  • Dr. Rebecca Whelan (CBC) and Dr. Jon Camden (CBC)
    N-Heterocyclic Carbene Functionalized Nanoparticles as a Platform for Precision Medicine: Aptamer-Mediated Detection of Ovarian Cancer Biomarkers
  • Dr. Xin Lu (BIO), Dr. Hsueh-Chia Chang (CBE/AME), and Dr. Jun Li (ACMS)
    EXQUISITE: Exosome capture and Quantification to Inform Stronger ImmunoTherapy Efficacy
  • Dr. Sangpil Yoon (AME) and Dr. Siyuan Zhang (BIO)
    Development of Gas Vesicles for Noninvasive and Molecular Ultrasound Imaging of Cancer Diagnosis

2018

  • Dr. Brooke Ammerman (PSY) and Dr. Ross Jacobucci (PSY)
    Using Integrative Data Mining to Improve the Prediction of Suicide: An Initial Application
  • Dr. Thomas O'Sullivan (EE) and Dr. Patrick Fay (EE)
    Optical sensors that enable wearable quantitative time-resolved tissue optical spectroscopy
  • Dr. Brandon Ashfeld (CBC) and Dr. Jeremiah Zartman (CBE)
    Design and Development of New Therapeutics for Trisomy 21 Phenotypes
  • Dr. Maria Holland (AME)
    Cortical Thickness Variation as a Biomarker for Autism Spectrum Disorders
  • Dr. Donny Hanjaya-Putra (AME/CBE) and Dr. David Go (AME/CBE)
    Stem Cells and their Exosomes: to Model and Predict Preeclampsia

2017

  • Dr. Jessica A. Brown (CBC) and Dr. Scott J. Emrich (CSE/BIO)
    Characterization of Human METTL 16 in Miller-Dieker Syndrome
  • Dr. Norman Dovichi (CBC) and Dr. Matthew Champion (CBC)
    Electrophoretic Fractionation of a Complex Microbiome
  • Dr. Jennifer Hames (PSY), Dr. Nathan Rose (PSY), and Dr. Michael Villano (PSY)
    Comparing the Efficacy of a Single-Session Virtual Reality Treatment for Acrophobia to a Gold Standard Treatment and No Treatment
  • Dr. Matthew Webber (CBE) and Dr. Prakash Nallathamby (AME/BIPH)
    Theranostic Targeting of Atherosclerosis with Janus Nanoparticles
  • Dr. Siyuan Zhang (BIO) and Dr. Basar Bilgicer (CBE)
    Overcoming resistance to targeted anti-cancer therapy through single-cell transcriptome profiling guided combinatorial immunotherapy

2016

  • Dr. Tiffanie Stewart (AME), Dr. Prakash Nallathamby (AME/BIPH), and Dr. Gary Bernstein (CBE)
    Magnetoelectric Nanoparticle (MENs) for Minimally-Invasive Deep Brain Stimulation in a Parkinsonian Mouse Model
  • Dr. Joshua Shrout (CEEE) and Dr. Shaun Lee (BIO)
    Development of a Tunable Attribute Precision Screening (TAPS) antimicrobial assessment platform
  • Dr. Jeremiah Zartman (CBE), Dr. Holly Goodson (CBC), and Dr. Mark Alber (ACMS)
    3D non-destructive optical imaging of patient-derived thrombi
  • Dr. Pinar Zorlutuna (AME), Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE), and Dr. Hsueh-Chia Chang (CBE)
    An Organ-on-a-Chip with Real-time miRNA Monitoring

2015

  • Dr. Gary H. Bernstein (EE), Dr. Wolfgang Porod (EE), Dr. Matt Leevy (BIO), and Dr. Sharon Stack (HCRI)
    Magneto-electric Nanoparticles for Cancer Treatments
  • Dr. Jon Camden (CBC)
    A SERS-based approach for sensing biological relevant small molecules
  • Dr. Marya Lieberman (CBC)
    Paper analytical devices for detection and quantification of ground-level air pollutants
  • Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE) and Sunny Shah (CBE)
    A Urine-Based Rapid Screening Test for Patients Suffering from Drug Addiction
  • Dr. Bradley D. Smith (CBC)
    Naked Eye Assay to Detect Influenza Viruses and Measure Drug Susceptibility
  • Dr. Pinar Zorlutuna (AME) and Dr. Jeremiah Zartman (CBE)
    Advancing imaging analysis of competitive cell competition interactions in cancer progression

2014

  • Dr. David Hoelzle (AME), Dr. Jeremiah Zartman (CBE), and Dr. Siyuan Zhang (BIO/HCRI)
    3D Reconstruction of Tumor Biopsies: an Nth-Dimensional Imaging Approach for Next Generation Diagnostics
  • Dr. Joel Boerckel (AME)
    Role of Macrophage‐derived EMAP II in Neovascular Recovery from Hind-limb Ischemia
  • Dr. Gary Lamberti (BIO) and Dr. Dominic Chaloner (BIO)
    Novel Diagnostics for Biotransport of Aquatic Environmental Contaminants
  • Dr. Jon Camden (CBC)
    A New SERS-based Approach for the Detection of Environmental Pollutants
  • Dr. Christian Poellabauer (CSE) and Dr. Patrick Flynn (CSE)
    Using Speech as an Early Marker and Predictive Classifier of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

2013

  • Dr. Scott Howard (EE) and Dr. Satyajyoti Senapati (CBE)
    iDRAD: Low cost, portable, Integrated DNA/RNA Amplification and Detection System
  • Dr. Paul Bohn (CBE & CBC) and Dr. Marvin Miller (CBC)
    Strain-Specific Detection of Multiple Bacterial Pathogens with Siderophore-Capture Plasmonics
  • Dr. David Go (AME), Dr. Marya Lieberman (CBC), and Dr. Matt Champion (CBC)
    Paper-SAWN Mass Spectrometry Analysis for Rapid Analysis of Pharmaceuticals in Complex Biological Matrices
  • Dr. Christian Poellabauer (CSE) and Dr. Patrick Flynn (CSE)
    Validation of Feasibility of Using Phonation as Biomarker for mTBI
  • Dr. Zachary Schultz (CBE & CBC)
    Ultrasensitive Spectro-Electrochemical Microchips For Bioanalysis