The U-M Coulter Program brings biomedical innovations into healthcare through a commercial entity. The program funds 4-8 projects per year with typical funding ranging from $80,000 to $150,000. Departmental cost-sharing is not required.

Each project must involve a collaboration between U-M faculty from any College of Engineering department and from a clinical department. Each project aims to generate a new medical device, surgical tool, or clinical diagnostic test and is mentored by a team of industry experts to guide projects to the point of start-up, partnering with industry, and follow-on funding.

DEADLINE: February 14, 2020

MICHR has partnered with Community-Based Organization Partners to establish a funding opportunity to address health consequences stemming from the Flint Water Crisis.

The Building Capacity for Research and Action Award will support community-engaged research partnerships and projects addressing community health priorities in Flint, Michigan.

DEADLINE: February 21, 2020

The 2020 request for proposals for collaborative research through the Michigan Medicine and Peking University Health Science Center (PKUHSC) Joint Institute is now open.

Michigan Medicine’s largest international institutional partnership, the Joint Institute offers Discovery Awards (up to $100,000 a year for two years), Pilot Awards (up to $300,000 a year for two years), and Innovation and Bridge Awards for one-year grants (up to $100,000) to help investigative teams develop new technologies and accelerate translation of research into a product.

DEADLINE: February 28, 2020

U-M and Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) have launched a partnership to accelerate the development of potential new medicines for a wide range of diseases. The new venture will provide up to a total of $10 million in financial support and in-kind industry resources to move various promising drug-discovery research projects within the university toward the ultimate goal of new therapies for patients.

Working with Michigan Drug Discovery, SPARC will support projects selected from across the U-M, with a focus on early-stage translational therapeutic work in the areas of oncology, neurodegeneration, inflammation, dermatology, and ophthalmology. Each selected project will have the potential to receive up to $1.5 million over a three-year period.

INTERNAL DEADLINE: March 27, 2020

Dr. Runge and Dr. Kunkel, along with members of the Fast Forward Medical Innovation team, welcomed donors Stuart and Maxine Frankel to the kickoff event last week for the fund they recently gifted to the Medical School. The event was attended by over 200 research faculty and staff interested in learning more about the $20M donation.

The Frankel Innovation Initiative will fund five to seven projects annually, with each receiving between $250,000 – $1 million.

DEADLINE: April 1, 2020

The Michigan Center for Integrative Research in Critical Care (MCIRCC) is bringing together experts from across disciplines to shape the future care of the "golden hours" that follow a severe traumatic brain injury.

Up to $650,000, plus a $40,000 Accelerator Award, is available to teams developing high-impact proposals of a diagnostic, device, therapeutic, or health IT solution.

DEADLINE: April 2, 2020

In January, the Grant Services and Analysis office released the U-M Medical School's rankings in final Federal FY19 NIH data, announcing that UMMS completed the year with an increase in award dollars and maintained its rank.

Overall NIH ranking stayed at 10th, with a market share of 2.68%. Medical School total funding increased by $25.6M, which is a 6.9% increase over Federal FY18.

Regardless of sponsor or program, research impact plays a critical role in the grant world. Grant proposals should not only demonstrate brilliant ideas and peer-acknowledged methodologies but present as highly aligned with targeted sponsor’s mission.

Often, how to effectively present your research impact and convince funders that they should support your projects is not given deliberate attention. There are elements of the proposal that deserve that extra look.

In a message last week to the biomedical research community, Steven Kunkel, Ph.D., Executive Vice Dean for Research for the Medical School and Chief Scientific Officer for Michigan Medicine, recently announced the Medical School’s new strategic research plan, “ Great Minds, Greater Discoveries.” The multi-year plan will focus largely on people, who Dr. Kunkel notes are “our greatest resource.”

The objective of the new plan is to increase faculty competitiveness and their ability to pursue major scientific questions in a rich and diverse environment that leads to discoveries that inspire new preventions, treatments, and cures. Faculty and staff are invited to attend a kickoff event:

Great Minds, Greater Discoveries Kickoff

Wednesday, February 19

4:30PM-6:30PM

BSRB, Kahn Auditorium

Presentation & Networking Reception

“Our ultimate goal for ‘Great Minds, Greater Discoveries’ is to work together to create transformative knowledge that advances science and improves health,” says Dr. Kunkel. “I look forward to seeing everyone at the kickoff, and our entire research enterprise collaborating in the future on this exciting new initiative.”

The Clinical Trials Support Office (CTSO) recently announced the development of a new clinical research coordinator career ladder. The clinical research coordinator career ladder takes into account the key competencies required at each level, as well as leadership and management responsibilities. It aims to clarify the expected competencies, performance metrics, and certification requirements for each job classification.

Over the next six months, the CTSO will look for feedback from both coordinators and principal investigators that will be used to map all clinical research staff into the new clinical subject coordinator, clinical research coordinator, and clinical research project manager job classifications.

Have you and your research benefited from the support of a mentor? Does your mentor have a track record of successfully mentoring students, fellows, or early-career faculty at U-M?

Consider nominating your mentor for MICHR's 2020 Distinguished Clinical & Translational Research Award, which recognizes the value of mentoring at U-M in helping early-career investigators to reach across disciplinary boundaries in pursuit of science. Nominees may come from any discipline in any school, department, or program at U-M and do not need to have any affiliation with MICHR.

DEADLINE: February 11, 2020

To better navigate the complexities of the U-M biomedical research enterprise, visit the Research Project Lifecycle . This interactive tool provides an overview of the resources available to you, not only within the Medical School Office of Research but also across the University. The "stops" along this lifecycle are highlighted above, and more information is available online .