Dermatology -- News and Events

Call for brief proposal outlines for Pilot and Feasibility Grants for a Skin Diseases Research Core Center grant submission.

The Department of Dermatology is submitting an application for a Skin Diseases Research Core Center (SDRC) in response to an RFA from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. The focus of this SDRC is Physiology and Pathophysiology of Epidermis. This topic includes those with interests in various types of stratified squamous epithelia, including their stem cells, development, structure and function, pathophysiology, and their use for targeted drug delivery. The topic would also encompass inflammation of epidermis, early skin or mucosal cancers, affects of extracellular matrix on epithelia, and normal and diseased melanocytes. Finally, clinical studies that involve skin disease or analysis of skin phenotypes and that would make use of our core facilities would be appropriate. The scientific cores will include skin histology, immunostaining and in situ hybridization; skin tissue and keratinocyte procurement; skin stem cell isolation and analysis; and skin xenografting.

As part of our application, we will include two to four pilot and feasibility projects budgeted for direct costs of $25,000 to $50,000 per year for one to two years, with the possibility of renewal for one additional year. The focus of these projects should be that of the SDRC described above. In addition, use of the SDRC cores will be an important consideration.

To be eligible to apply, investigators must meet one of the following three criteria:
1) Investigator with no previous RO1 or PO1 NIH funding; 2) Established investigator without previous work in this area of skin diseases research; 3) Skin disease investigator whose proposal is in a new, distinct area from his/her previous work.

If you are interested in submitting such a proposal, please send a one-two page outline including specific aims, relevance to the SDRC focus, potential use of the cores, your eligibility, and your NIH Biosketch to Sarah Millar (millars@mail.med.upenn.edu) by May 8, 2008. A subcommittee will meet to evaluate these pre-proposals by May 9, 2008.

For proposals most likely to be appropriate, we will then ask for a full proposal of up to 10 pages written in the NIH RO1 format and due by June 9, 2008. We will select 2-4 to be included in our final SDRC application.

Core A Usage By SDRC Members Table 2A
Core B Usage By SDRC Members Table 2A
Core C Usage By SDRC Members Table 2A