PILOT AND FEASIBILITY PROGRAM: PROJECT SUMMARY Dr. Atul Bhan, Pilot and Feasibility Program Director, will evaluate letters of intent for suitability, assist the Center Director with identification of appropriate reviewers, and examine reviews received. Dr. Bhan is charged specifically with reviewing these initial funding proposals in the context of the overall programmatic goals of the Center in fostering new digestive disease investigators and advancing understanding of IBD. He will also chair the meeting of the CSIBD Executive Steering Committee that decides the ranking of proposals for funding. Dr. Kate Jeffrey will serve as the Associate Director of the Pilot and Feasibility Program. The overall goal of the CSIBD Pilot and Feasibility Program is to provide initial support for laboratory, translational, and clinical research relevant to IBD and to stimulate innovative research relevant to IBD. These goals unfold along the P and F Program’s specific aims: 1) Recruit new investigators into digestive disease research by providing funding for IBD-related nascent research programs; and 2) Generate new ideas related to IBD research by providing funding for innovative high-risk high-payoff lines of investigation. All CSIBD members are eligible to receive funding through the Pilot and Feasibility program. In addition, other investigators within MGH, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Broad Institute, Harvard Medical School, MIT, Tufts, the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health may apply for support through this program. Awardees are expected to attend CSIBD seminars and workshops, interact with other Center investigators, and present their findings to the CSIBD members, in addition to formal reporting to the Executive Steering Committee. Over the past 10 years, 71% of Pilot and Feasibility Program awards have been for young investigators without current or past independent NIH support (Type N proposals), 21% have been for Type EN, and 8% have been for Type E. This ongoing priority in funding is reflected in the representative projects funded in the last four years which are included with this renewal application.