University Times

Applications are now being accepted by the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute for the American Cancer Society's (ACS) George Heckman Memorial Institutional Grants for Cancer Research.

The primary purpose of the grants is to serve as seed money for promising new projects or novel ideas by junior investigators in cancer research. The deadline for applications is Dec. 16 and the awards will be made by Feb. 1.

In awarding grants, the review committee considers both scientific merit and the perceived needs of the investigators for funding to allow the generation of data for external grant support.

ACS rules require that awards be made only to junior faculty (assistant professors, instructors or their equivalent), who do not currently have a national grant to support their proposed work and have not received a prior institutional grant for their work.

Funding for graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or residents will not be allowed unless their role is to facilitate the research of junior investigators who receive the award.

For junior investigators working in the laboratory of a senior investigator, the requested support must be on a different topic than that for which the senior investigator already has support. Both basic and clinical research are appropriate for the grant.

For this year, approximately half of the funds available will be allocated to projects focused on areas of high priority: a) studies designed to translate basic or laboratory finds to clinical application for the prevention, diagnosis and/or treatment of breast, lung, ovarian, prostate or colorectal cancer; b) studies related to psychosocial or behavioral research (this could include work on psychosocial influences on disease progression, quality of life for cancer patients, patient compliance, dietary control and smoking cessation). Requests for these high priority projects should be limited to $15,000 (direct costs only).

Appropriate types of expenditures are salaries for research assistants, stipends for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows engaged in cancer research, expendable supplies for research, ani- mals and their care, special fees, computer time, equipment under $2,000, publication costs and domestic travel to laboratories to learn new techniques. The need to travel must be well documented.

As in previous years, grant applications concerning any type of cancer research are eligible for funding that is limited to a maximum of $5,500 (direct costs only). In addition to the priority areas identified, applications are encouraged for research pertaining to cancer in the economically disadvantaged.

Further details and applications are available from Denise Walker (692-4672), Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, 3471 Fifth Ave., Suite 201, Kaufmann Building.