The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) is pleased to announce the ICTR/CTSA 2020-2021 Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) grant awardees and the awardees of ICTR’s special call for COVID-19 ATIP pilot grant applications.
- ICTR/CTSA 2020-2021 ATIP grants provide starter funds for projects specifically focused on innovative, translational research that involve faculty from the UMB schools of Dentistry, Law, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, or Social Work; Johns Hopkins University (JHU), the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and UMB-community partnerships. Funding is through UMB’s and Johns Hopkins University’s (JHU) partnership in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical & Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, Grant No. 1UL1TR003098 and the UMB ICTR internal funding mechanism. This year’s round accepted three proposal types:
- COVID-19 ATIP: The UMB ICTR partnered with the UMB President’s Office and UMBC to launch a COVID-19- specific Accelerated Translational Incubator Pilot (ATIP) Grant competition to provide starter funds for projects specifically focused on COVID-19 clinical and translational research. Projects will utilize UMB’s and UMBC’s strengths to rapidly contribute to human health and related outcomes with respect to COVID-19 or the causal virus (SARS-CoV-2), including prevention, control, and response efforts.
As in previous years, these one-year milestone-driven ATIP pilot grants were awarded to a diverse array of innovative projects ranging in focus from preclinical to clinical and public health research. Projects involve collaborations among faculty at UMB schools of Nursing, Social Work, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Medicine and also will foster research alliances between UMB faculty, UMBC, the University of Maryland, College Park, JHU, and with community partners including the COVID-19 Testing Initiative of Maryland, the Wellness Champions for Change, the Creating Healthy Habits among Maryland Preschoolers and other Baltimore-based initiatives, and the Hilltop Institute.
The focus of the ATIP 2020 and COVID-19 ATIP pilot projects are diverse, such as expanding the use of virtual reality for pain management; developing rapid diagnostics and therapeutics for COVID-19; using deep learning to develop prediction models for medical interventions; developing novel medical devices, therapeutics and diagnostic targets; assessing new strategies of drug and vaccine delivery; assessing the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 among healthcare workers; addressing racial socioeconomic disparities in Autism diagnosis/treatment; preventing the spread of COVID-19 for at-risk populations, and more.
Please join us in congratulating the awardees of the ATIP 2020 round and the COVID-19 ATIP awardees listed on the ICTR ATIP webpage and visit the ICTR website often to be the first to find out about the next round of the 2021-2022 ATIP grants in early fall.