# Pilot and Feasibility Program

> **NIH NIH P30** · UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM · 2024 · $339,143

## Abstract

Our goal for the Pilot & Feasibility (P&F) Program is to facilitate new research development, and the career
development of scientists, through pilot projects that synergize with the overall objectives of the DRC. Since our
DRTC/DRC’s inception in 2008, the P&F program has been critical for growth in Center membership and
extramural funding. Our P&F Program was instituted to tap growing interest in diabetes-related research at UAB
and to foster development of junior members, create partnerships, and take advantage of core resources. Our
RFAs have attracted applications across the translational research spectrum, yielding a diversity of funded
proposals, including both clinical and basic research from both junior and senior investigators. To date, we have
funded 78 diabetes-related pilots (out of 372 proposals submitted); 44% were clinical research projects and 67%
were to junior investigators. In the past cycle (2018-2021), we received 58 applications and funded 20 with 50%
involving basic research and 50% clinical research. For the upcoming period our Specific Aims are:
 1) To identify and support new research projects of outstanding quality and innovation for pilot funding,
ultimately resulting in substantial extramural support for development these new lines of investigation.
 2) To support promising junior faculty in career development through funding of outstanding pilots.
 3) To augment the breadth and quality of DRC research by funding innovative projects of established
researchers new to diabetes or of established diabetes investigators testing novel high-impact hypotheses.
 4) To increase the independent investigators in the DRC funded by NIH to conduct diabetes research.
 As evidence of success, 78% of P&F awardees over the past cycle of our program (2017 to 2021) achieved
external funding for this research; when the initial six years of the requested period are considered (2012-2017,
this fraction is ~86%. More than 90% of P&F awardees, including some not initially diabetes researchers, continue
in diabetes investigation. This speaks to the intellectual environment and community nourished by the DRC
Enrichment program, infrastructure support of DRC cores, commitment from academic leaders to recruit and
retain such investigators, and recognition that diabetes and cardiometabolic disease disproportionately affect the
population served by our Health System. To accomplish our aims, we have updated our online application
submission process and increased the expertise and diversity of our P&F Scientific Review Committee. We will
promote internal peer-review of applications taking advantage of programs sponsored by the UAB Center for
Clinical and Translational Research (i.e., the UAB CTSA) to strengthen both pilot applications and subsequent
larger extramural grant applications. With institutional DRC support and vibrant and growing UAB clinical and
basic science departments, our DRC P&F Program will build on its accomplishments to achieve gr...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10873129
- **Project number:** 5P30DK079626-17
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA AT BIRMINGHAM
- **Principal Investigator:** Stuart J Frank
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $339,143
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2008-04-01 → 2028-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10873129

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10873129, Pilot and Feasibility Program (5P30DK079626-17). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10873129. Licensed CC0.

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