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Research Announcement

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DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

Friday, August 5, 2022

Background

The Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation Consortium (OSOTC) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization organized for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes. The Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation Consortium is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with solid organ failure who could benefit from an organ transplant.

Purpose

This research initiative is intended to identify and establish new or novel projects that focus on supporting collaborative research projects focusing on heart, lung, heart-lung, liver, pancreas, pancreas/kidney, kidney, or small bowel transplantation in Ohio with the ultimate goal of improving public health.

Eligibility Requirements

Applications will only be accepted from OSOTC member hospital organizations. The Principal Investigator (PI) shall be a current transplant professional at an OSOTC member hospital. OSOTC organ-specific committees are also encouraged to apply.

Mechanisms of Support

The OSOTC Cushion Fund may provide a range of funding from $10,000 to $50,000 per year to fund one or multiple research grants as determined by the Board of Directors. The amount of grant dollars eligible for distribution will be based upon the December 31st balance in the OSOTC investment fund in a given year. The use of OSOTC funding for personnel costs, indirect costs, travel expenses or meeting registration fees are not acceptable; these costs will not be funded and should not be included in the proposed budget. Funds to support statistical analysis may be included in the application, not to exceed $5,000.00. In the event that the Cushion Fund balance falls to $250,000, this policy will be reviewed by the Board of Directors.

Research Objectives

The OSOTC is interested in receiving applications to conduct multi-disciplinary collaborative research in clinical, translational, psychosocial or other areas closely related to transplantation. While multi-institutional collaborative research (as defined as the joint application of at least two OSOTC centers working closely in the areas of concept, design, data collection, interpretation, and writing of results) will be prioritized, the OSOTC will also accept single center collaborative applications.

  1. Translational projects: the application of discoveries from basic biomedical, behavioral research towards the treatment or prevention of transplant-related disease with a goal of improving the health of transplant patients.
  2. Clinical research: patient-oriented research conducted with human subjects or human materials for which an investigator directly interacts with human subjects or epidemiologic and behavioral studies, outcomes research, and health services research.
  3. Psychosocial projects: patient-oriented research focusing on psychological, social, and ethical issues in transplant to create an improved quality of life for transplant patients.

Application Procedures

Applications will not be formally reviewed until the OSOTC receives a complete application, consisting of the following documents:

  1. A research plan that addresses each of the elements listed under “Review Criteria” (limited to 5 pages maximum);
  2. The curriculum vitae of the primary investigator (PI) designated on the research plan;
  3. Letters from all participating OSOTC member programs or single institutional departments demonstrating collaboration for this project including the following:
    1. Consensus regarding the proposed fund appropriation based on the proposed budget;
    2. Details of what each center, program, or department is contributing to the research grant in the areas of concept, design, data collection, interpretation, and writing of results; and
  4. IRB letter of approval, if applicable. If IRB approval is not in place, please send IRB letter after grant approval, if applicable. IRB status has no bearing on grant review.

The application materials, as noted above, may be emailed to [email protected] by the application deadline or postmarked by the application deadline and mailed to:

Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation Consortium
Attn: Research Grants
1144 E. Home Road, Suite B
Springfield, OH 45503

Review Considerations

Applications will be reviewed by the organ-specific committee deemed appropriate by the OSOTC Executive Committee or an external review may be more appropriate. In the event that external review is necessary, the PI will be asked to name two external reviewers with expertise in the field with contact information. The review criteria are the traditional considerations underlying scientific merit. Applications will be reviewed for scientific and technical merit. Applications compete on the basis of scientific merit. Applications will be approved as is, preliminarily approved pending requested changes, held for further information, or denied by the majority vote of the OSOTC Executive Committee. The OSOTC Board of Trustees will provide final determination.

Award Criteria

Applications will compete for available funds with all other approved applications to the OSOTC. The following will be considered in making funding decisions:

  1. Quality of the proposed project as determined by peer review
  2. Availability of funds
  3. Program balance among research areas of the announcement

Review Criteria

Applications will be reviewed using the following categories and point assignment for a total of 100 points possible:

Significance/Problem and Needs Assessment: 15 points
  1. Does the study address an important problem broadly related to transplantation?
  2. If the aims of the application are achieved, how will scientific knowledge or clinical practice be advanced?
  3. What will be the effect of these studies on the concepts, methods, and technologies that drive this field?
Well Defined Target Population: 5 points
  1. Is the target population well justified?
  2. Does the project target potential transplant candidates, potential recipients, or patients with end-stage organ-specific diseases?
  3. Does the project target heart, lung, heart-lung, liver, pancreas, or pancreas/kidney transplant-related issues?
Project Goals/Objectives: 15 points
  1. Are the goals and objectives clearly defined and measurable?
  2. Does the project have statewide or national potential impact – is the project replicable?
  3. Is the project consistent with the OSOTC mission (clarify specific purpose(s))?
Approach/Methodology: 20 points
  1. Are the conceptual framework, design, methods, and analyses adequately developed, well-integrated, well reasoned, feasible (as determined by preliminary data), and appropriate to the aims of the project?
  2. Is the timeline is realistic and appropriate?
  3. Are the projected budget and other resources appropriate and adequate and tie closely to the project objectives?
  4. Does the budget specify how the funds will be allocated to each institution (required)?
Innovation and Creativity: 20 points
  1. Is the project original and innovative?
  2. Does the project challenge existing paradigms and address an innovative hypothesis or critical barrier to progress in the field?
  3. Does the project develop or employ novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, tools, or technologies for this area?
Multi-Institutional Collaboration: 15 points
  1. Is the collaboration clearly stated and explained?
  2. Is the collaboration thoughtful and developed with a genuine goal of multi-institutional collaborative research?
  3. Are centers contributing fairly equally to the research grant in the areas of concept, design, data collection, interpretation, and writing of results?
Evaluation: 10 points
  1. Is the potential impact of the project well defined?
  2. Does the evaluation plan appropriately correspond with project objectives and methodologies?
  3. Does the project include an evaluation timeline?
  4. Is the project replicable for broader study and application?

Fund Distribution

Upon Board approval, the primary institution will be sent a contract that must be signed and returned within 90 days. If the signed contract is not received after 90 days, the contract will be terminated by the OSOTC and we will offer the funds to the next approved grant. Educational grants selected for funding will be distributed in two equal installments. The first payment shall be made to Grantee upon receipt by Grantor of the Grant Contract fully executed, and the second payment shall be made to Grantee after Grantor’s receipt of timely progress reports that contain the required or satisfactory information, as determined by Grantor in its sole discretion. The PI shall submit an annual report (due one year from the funding date) detailing the use of funds, update on research initiative or project outcomes, or any anticipated problems with completing the research as planned. Future funding decisions will be based on compliance with submitting the project annual report and adherence to deliverables below.

Deliverables

The PI must agree to provide the OSOTC with a copy of each substantive presentation or article based on the data set prior to its public release. PI must also agree to present research outcomes at the OSOTC Education Meeting or alternately, an OSOTC Board meeting.

Inquiries

jennifer dorrell of osotc
Executive Director Jennifer Dorrell, MS

The Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation Consortium

1144 E. Home Road, Suite B
Springfield, OH 45503
(614) 504-5705
[email protected]

Collaborative Education Research Grant Award History

For the 2011 grant period, The Ohio State University Medical Center and University Hospitals Case Medical Center were awarded $13,000.00 for the project “The role of social support in liver transplant outcomes.”
For the 2012 grant period, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Case Medical Center were awarded $24,919.50 for the project “Ex Vivo Normothermic Oxygenated Liver Perfusion.”
For the 2013 grant period, Cleveland Clinic and Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center were awarded $22,000.00 for the project “The Role of Memory T-cells in Graft Rejection in Intestinal Transplantation.”
For the 2014 grant period, Cleveland Clinic and University of Cincinnati Medical Center were awarded $24,880.00 for the project “Decreasing steatosis of fatty livers utilizing normothermic machine perfusion preservation and a pharmacologic defatting cocktail.”
For the 2015 grant period, two grants were awarded: 1) Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital were awarded $25,000.00 for the project “Development of a perfusate to support extended duration normothermic ex-vivo organ perfusion”; and 2) Cleveland Clinic, University of Cincinnati Medical Center and University Hospitals Case Medical Center were awarded $10,100.00 for the project “Monitoring Physical Activity in Liver Transplantation.”
For the 2016 grant period, no awards were granted.
For the 2017 grant period, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio State University Medical Center, Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center, and University Hospitals of Cleveland were awarded $25,000.00 for the project “Ohio Solid Organ Transplantation (OhioSOT) Research Network.”
For the 2018 grant period, University Hospitals of Cleveland and Cleveland Clinic were awarded $24,900.00 for the project “Utility of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing and strain Echocardiography in Heart Transplant Recipients.”
For the 2019 grant period, no grants were awarded.
For the 2020 grant period, two grants were awarded: 1) Ohio State University collaborating with Wittenberg University was awarded $16,980.00 for the project “Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing in the Evaluation of Lung Transplant Candidates”; and 2) University of Cincinnati collaborating with Ohio State University Medical Center and Cleveland Clinic was awarded $20, 488.92 for the project “Education on organ donation should start in medical school: Development of a formalized medical student organ procurement curriculum.”
For the 2021 grant period, Ohio State University- collaborating with University of Cincinnati was awarded $50,000.00 for the project “Over- or Under Utilization of Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplantation? Use of Renal Scintigraphy to Measure Native Kidney Recovery.”