Collaboration Initiation Grant

1. The collaborating team must be comprised of 1) a Principal Investigator (PI) with a primary faculty appointment within a department of the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and 2) the collaborating PI must have a primary faculty appointment in the either the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurology or Radiology at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
2. The CIG funds must support a new collaboration between laboratories of the co-PIs; existing collaborations with evidence of independent funding are not eligible for this award.
3. Preference will be given to collaborative teams comprised of early-stage investigators.
4. Postdoctoral trainees or medical residents in either School with suitable expertise to design and carry out the planned experiments are eligible to serve as a co-PI. Additional documentation must be provided stating that their mentor will support their research for the duration of the project.
5. There is no citizenship requirement for CIG award applicants. 

1. Awards of up to $30,000 for one year.
2. A single no-cost-extension (NCE) of CIG award funds for up to one year is potentially available but will depend upon successful progress and promise of adequate data to support extension.

1. Applications must be submitted by 4:00 p.m. on March 15, 2025.
2. Awards will be announced by May 1, 2025 and funding is expected to begin June 1, 2025.

All CIG award applications will be reviewed for scientific merit, originality, relevance to Women’s Health Technologies, inclusion of an engineering component, and the potential for the research team to establish a lasting collaboration capable of competing for extramural Federal funding. 

• All awardees must have appropriate institutional regulatory approvals (Human Research Protection Office, Animal Studies, etc.) before funds will be released.
• Grantees will be required to present their work at a WashU research seminar series (e.g., Center for Women’s Health Engineering seminar) and submit an annual progress report describing the major findings of their work as well as any related publications and applications for funding. 
• Grantees agree to serve as a reviewer for CIG awards in subsequent years, as needed.

• Research Plan: 2-page document containing relevant background in support of the proposal, innovation of the engineering approaches, preliminary data where available, and concise experimental plan. 
• Facilities: 1-page document containing relevant equipment available to the collaborative team including planned use of WashU Core Facilities.
• Biosketches: NIH-formatted biosketch for each PI (5-page maximum each).
• Budget: 1-page document with table of requested expenditures and justification.
• IRB/IACUC approval letter, as needed.
• Entire package should be submitted to womenshealthengineering@wustl.edu as a single PDF. 

• Secretarial/administrative personnel salary support 
• Office equipment and supplies 
• Equipment costing $5,000 or more 
• Computers
• Tuition
• Domestic or foreign travel 
• Publication costs, including reprints
• Dues and membership fees in scientific societies
• Purchasing and binding of periodicals and books
• Rental of office or laboratory space