KL2 Program
Anticipating a call for K applications but timing is to be determined.
About
The ACTRI KL2 Grant Support program is an institutional equivalent of a K23, K01 or K08 award, a research training grant for junior faculty, provides up to three years of research career development support and up to $120,000 for UC San Diego instructors or assistant professors.
This is not a post-doctoral fellowship, but is intended for UC San Diego and ACTRI partner research institution (including UC Riverside) instructors or assistant professors in any academic series as well as fellows, research assistant professors or postdoctoral researchers who will have completed their training and have a faculty appointment (tenured or non-tenured) by the time of receipt of funding.
Eligibility
Applicants appointed (or pending appointment) in all departments/divisions of UCSD are eligible as well as in a ACTRI partner research institution including Sanford-Burnham-Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, Salk Institute, and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. In addition, eligible faculty and postdoctoral researchers from UC Riverside are also eligible to apply.
Candidates must be 5 years or fewer post-completion of a post-doctoral or medical fellowship. Candidates must have a letter of support from their departmental or division chair to apply. Individuals who have already received a R01 or R01 equivalent grant as PI are not eligible. Awardees of a K grant, mentored K or equivalent are not eligible, with exceptions. Contact us for more information. Applicants must be US citizens, non-citizen nationals of the US or permanent residents holding legal verification. Candidates from groups underrepresented in health and biomedical sciences are strongly encouraged to apply. The NIH has recently formalized the definition of underrepresented groups: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-20-031.html
Awardees must commit to 75% research effort and the awardees' home departments must commit to honoring this 75% research effort as documented in the Chair's letter. In return, ACTRI will grant up to $120,000 towards salary, plus benefits. Practicing clinicians in certain procedurally-oriented fields such as surgery may be eligible to commit 50% research effort. Please contact us for more information about this exception for procedurally-oriented fields.
Extensive formal and informal mentoring will be provided to awardees. Awardees are expected to develop and complete a training plan that includes relevant Clinical Research Enhancement through Supplemental Training (CREST) courses, career and grant writing training or other courses available at UC San Diego or elsewhere. For more information regarding CREST courses, see here. The application is to be prepared in a similar format as an Individual Career Development (K) Award application to the National Institutes of Health. In addition, proposals will include a one-page, 250-word maximum summary written in lay language, which will be independently reviewed by a community member panel.
Proposals will also include a letter of support from the candidate's primary mentor, which includes the mentor's plan for the candidate to achieve research independence (e.g. R01 awards and/or transitioning to other K awards) within three years. If the candidate does not have a faculty appointment at the time of application (for example, if the applicant is a project scientist or post-doctoral researcher on a contract), the departmental or division chair's letter must specify which position title is proposed, indicate where the file currently is in the review process, and include a projected timeline for faculty appointment. Letters that do not specify the status of the appointment and its timeline will not be sent for review. Please be advised that funding will not be initiated until the file is approved for the proposed appointment by the department and is in process with CAP.
Upon receipt of all applications, the process continues with the following steps. After competitive review, all applicants will be notified and successful applicants will then undergo a secondary regulatory review (similar to the Just-In-Time process for NIH Grants) from the parent funder of the KL2 program, NCATS. At that time, successful applicants will provide a brief budget and budget justification for the $25,000 research and training activities funding (note, a budget and budget justification does NOT need to be included in the application materials).
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Application Instructions
The format for this application resembles that used in individual K grant applications. Please use the links below for guidance, when appropriate.
Applicants should use the following table to guide the structure, content and page limitations of their proposals:
| Item | Description | Maximum Number of Pages |
| Abstract | Brief summary of proposed research project | 250 words, on separate page |
| Specific Aims | - | 1 |
| Candidate Information, Research Strategy, & Mentoring Plan |
Candidate's Background, Career Goals and Objectives, and Research Strategy, including references. Please click here for guidance AND A plan for mentoring and all relevant career development/training activities during award period.
|
12- not including references |
| Training in the Responsible Conduct of Research | Please click here for guidance | 1 |
| Mentor's Support Letter, BioSketch, and Other Support Page |
The mentor's support letter should specify mentor's plans for supporting the applicant's training.
|
Lead Mentor: 2 page max mentor letter / 5 page max NIH BioSketch / Other Support no page limit Co-Mentors: 2 page max mentor letter only |
| Institutional Commitment to Candidate's Research Career Development (i.e., Chair's letter) | The chair's letter must indicate department's plan for applicant, proposed academic title, and space.
Practicing clinicians in certain procedurally-oriented fields such as surgery may be eligible to commit 50% research effort. Please contact us for more information about this exception for procedurally-oriented fields. If the applicant does not yet have a faculty appointment (for example, if the candidate is a project scientist or is on a MOP contract), the chair's letter must also include the following:
|
2 |
| Applicant's Biographical Sketch |
BioSketch must be in current NIH BioSketch format. |
5 |
| Community (Lay) Summary | For independent community reviewers, draft a lay-language summary of your proposal, answering the question, “How important is funding this research to improving human health, either in the near future or distant future?” |
250 words, on separate page
|
KL2 Outcomes Dashboard
