Grants season is coming up again! Let’s face it, preparing and submitting a biomedical research grant application is a tedious task that requires a lot of planning. We at GCMI-T3 get dozens of requests every year to be collaborators on the preclinical portion of the grant application, often times the night before the grant is due!
We recognize researchers have very little time, and that’s why we want to help you. If your grant application has a section for preclinical studies, here are a few things we can do:
1. Provide an estimate/quote for the preclinical work.
As you complete the grant application, you will need to know how much to budget for the preclinical work. This is the time where you can gain valuable insights and input from scientists, quality assurance pros, and veterinary experts on what your preclinical process will look like. We usually provide estimates within 48 business hrs., but take into account third party services that we may need to get quotes for e.g. histopathology, clinical pathology, etc. This may elongate the timeline for the quote. The further away from application deadline your request is, the more thorough, and cost-efficient, the scope of work we provide can be. It’s easiest for us when a single pager scope of work containing the following is provided:
· Study Title
· No. of Vertebrate Animal requirements
· Survival length/Timepoints
· Study endpoints/follow-up requirements – special observations/treatments, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, etc.
· Need for Histology, clinical pathology etc.
While we can always try to provide estimates at short notice, we appreciate as much of a heads up as you can give us.
2. Provide a Letter of Support
If you are listing T3 Labs as the contractor/collaborator for the preclinical services, you will need a Letter of Support from us. The Letter of Support typically discusses our ability to perform the preclinical work you have outlined in your grant and our commitment to support the work. This includes our accreditations/certifications, our facilities/equipment capabilities and the $$ amount on the estimate. Here is what we need for the letter of support:
· Name and contact information of the agency you are submitting the grant to
· Name and address of the PI
· Title of the grant application
3. Provide justification and assurance for the care and use of animals
Public Health Service (PHS) requires institutions to establish and maintain proper procedures to ensure the appropriate care and use of all animals involved in research, research training, and biological testing activities conducted or supported by the PHS. We’ll be happy to provide you with text for the justification of animal use and plan for appropriate care.
Several agencies require an IACUC ( Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) approval to support preclinical activities. Find out from your agency if the approval is needed at the time of the submission or right before the funds are released ( if the grant is awarded). Sometimes, grant funds are not released without IACUC approval. We typically write protocols within 48 hrs., but it can take up to 7 days for IACUC approval, and maybe a month if the protocol requires full committee review.
Plan, prepare and help us help you! While we won’t write the grant application for you, we are certainly equipped to fulfill the above requests. With good planning and enough time, all of these activities can be completed without a rush at the back end. Contact T3 Labs today to secure a quote in time for the grant deadlines.
Click here to read NIH’s page on planning for your application. See the next due dates for R01 , STTR and SBIR grants here. The next Cycle 1 SBIR, STTR due date is September 5. The next Cycle II R01 and R03 submissions are July 5 and July 16. Get in touch with us before the holidays so we can help out with the documents. We look forward to successfully collaborating with you on your grant application.