Funding Opportunities
Translational Team Science Pilot Award Program
The TrEVR Center Translational Team Science Pilot Award is designed to enable novel and innovative investigations of vision and vision-related pathology with high translational potential. Successful applications will leverage the expertise of a diverse team of investigators to explore disease mechanisms, therapeutic strategies, or tools with the potential to impact the diagnosis, management, or treatment of vision-related disease.
Award Period: July 1 - June 30
Funds: $25,000 + matching funds to cover the publication cost of one article in a peer-reviewed journal acknowledging the TrEVR center.
Eligibility
- Multi-disciplinary investigative teams with multiple PIs (equal vestment and effort) are required. Additional collaborators/Co-Is beyond the primary multi-PI team can also be included.
- Submitting/contact PI must be a TrEVR Center Regular Member.
- Novel collaborative projects between TrEVR Center Regular Members are highly desirable.
- Diversity within the investigative team (i.e. clinician-scientists, biostatisticians, basic scientists) is highly desirable.
2024 Pilot Awardees
- “AI-assistant Retinal-imaging-based Ocular Biomarkers for Retinal Cytotoxicity and Glaucoma”
Team: Da Ma, PhD (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, WFUSM), Rebecca Sappington, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM), Fang-Chi Hsu, PhD (Biostatistics and Data Science, WFUSM), Marco Feligioni, PhD (Neuronal Cell Signaling Laboratory, European Brain Research Institute)
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“Nanoparticle Delivery of Intranasal Insulin for Diabetic Retinopathy”
Team: Sally Ong, MD (Ophthalmology, WFUSM), Jian-Xing Ma, MD, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM), Rebecca Sappington, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM), Qingguo Xu, PhD (Depts. Pharmaceutics, Ophthalmology, and Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Commonwealth University)
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“The Radiation Late Effects Cohort as an Ocular Disease Resource”
Team: George Schaaf, DVM, DACVP (Pathology – Comparative Medicine, WFUSM), Mark Cline, DVM, PhD (Pathology – Comparative Medicine, WFUSM), Da Ma, PhD (Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine, WFUSM), Rebecca Sappington, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM), Brian Gilger, DVM, MS (Ophthalmology, North Carolina State University School of Veterinary Medicine)
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“TREX1- cGAS-STING Pathway in Diabetic Eye Disease”
Team: Tom Hollis, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM), Jay Ma, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM)
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“Reprogramming Urine-Derived Stem Cells to autologous RPE for Age-Related Macular Degeneration Therapy”
Team: Yuanyuan Zhang, MD, PhD (WFIRM), Sally Ong, MD (Ophthalmology, WFUSM), Gennadiy Moiseyev, PhD (Biochemistry, WFUSM)
NEXT DEADLINE: April 1, 2025
ARVO Travel Award Program
The TrEVR Center ARVO Travel Award Program is designed to offset the cost for TrEVR Center members-in-training to attend and present research at the annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Disbursement of funds will consider financial need, presentation modality, and diversity and inclusion of all forms, including department, program, and scientific content.
Funds: $250 - $1,000 per award
Eligibility
- Awardee must be a registered TrEVR Center member-in-training.
- Primary mentor must be a registered TrEVR Center regular member.
- Awardee must be the first and presenting author of the poster or paper presentation.
- Members-in-training receiving a travel award from ARVO or with NIH NRSA or similar support are not eligible.
2024 Travel Awardees
Wentao Liang, MD, PhD (Mentor: Jay Ma, MD, PhD)
Sean Wang (Mentor: Sally Ong, MD)
Jonathan Groothoff (Mentor: Sally Ong, MD)
Annie Elander (Mentor: Sally Ong, MD)
Walter Duy (Mentor: Atalie Thompson, MD, MS)
Vy Vyong (Mentor: Patrick McNutt, PhD)
Alexis Tanase (Mentor: Paul Laurienti, MD, PhD)
NEXT DEADLINE: March 1, 2025