• HS Rats Pilot Projects 2016

Pilot Studies in HS Outbred Rats Supporting Drug Abuse Research Center of Excellence

The NIDA center for GWAS in outbred rats (P50DA037844) focuses on quantitative genetic studies of a range of psychologically complex drug abuse-related phenotypes in outbred rats. In order to broaden the impact of this center and to promote rat genetics studies we call for pilot projects that would like to use heterogeneous stock (HS) rats to collect preliminary data to be used for grant applications that would use the HS. See https://ratgenes.org/cores/core-b/ for description of the HS rats.

We will provide up to 100 HS rats free of charge, including free shipping. We ordinarily charge $100 per rat.

Area of support: This call invites applications from participating institutions (UCSD, University of Michigan, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, University at Buffalo and the Medical College of Wisconsin) and for pilot projects using HS rats for genetic studies.

Eligibility: Assistant, Associate and full Professors (or equivalent); junior faculty are encouraged to apply.
Deadline for letter of intent: February 9, 2016. (Letter of intent is not required but it will allow us to give you feedback that may increase the chances of award).
Deadline for application: March 1, 2016.
Decisions announced: April 1, 2016.
Earliest date of Shipment: May 1, 2016.

To apply: Please send a brief letter of intent explaining why HS rat are necessary for this projects and what is connection between the study and the Center of Excellence. The deadline is February 9, 2016. Proposals that are judged to be meritorious and related to the goals of the center will receive an invitation to submit a full application. Please send the letter of intent to the Scientific Coordinator.

Full application will be requested after evaluation of the letter of intent. It is due on March 1, 2016. It should include:

1. Abstract of the proposal, including statement of relevance to the NIDA center for GWAS in outbred rats (up to 1/2 page).
2. Specific Aims and Research Strategy (up to 2 pages total)
3. Biosketches (NIH format).
4. Bibliography

IACUC approval is not needed until a decision is reached.

Proposals will be scored based on scientific merit, scientific diversity, institutional diversity, and other criteria relevant to the goals of the pilot projects core (https://ratgenes.org/pilot-projects/). We will later work with the awardees on details of exact rat number and shipping arrangements.

For questions please contact: Oksana Polesskaya, Ph.D.