• Read about $100M in new state funds for climate action research.
• Learn a practical tip to improve your proposal writing skills.
• See a list of upcoming seminars.
• Register for a webinar on NIH's upcoming Policy for Data Management and Sharing.
• Take a look at upcoming funding opportunities.
• Learn about four new NIH R21 awards.

State Funding for Climate Action Research

The State of California has allocated $100M to the University of California to fund Climate Action research projects that address critical state needs. More specifically, the UC Office of Research and Innovation will be releasing RFPs in December 2022, inviting proposals spanning the full range of disciplines and cross-disciplines that lead to rapid, translational, and applied research outcomes. Proposals are expected to address key state priorities, leverage UC expertise and resources, and engage partners in communities, industry, academia, and state and local agencies. Awards will be offered as seed funding ($500K–$2M per project) or match funding ($2M–$10M per project). By the end of an award (1–3 years), investigators will be expected to secure additional funding through other mechanisms.

If you are interested in climate action research funding, please keep an eye out for the RFPs here and in future issues of Research Bulletin.

Use Topic Sentences to Increase Reviewer Comprehension

Within a proposal, reviewers look for signposts to help them understand your project idea. Signposts — which include titles, headings, and topic sentences — offer a way to look ahead without actually reading ahead. In other words, they tell the reviewer what to expect. A School Zone Ahead sign tells drivers to expect certain upcoming road conditions (i.e., the likely presence of children at crosswalks). In the same way, a topic sentence tells reviewers to expect a certain focus or point in the upcoming sentences.

Using topic sentences has several benefits. For the reader, they increase comprehension, decrease confusion, and allow for skimming (hey, reviewers are busy!). For the writer, topic sentences increase focus, coherence, and cohesion. These qualities are vital when using written language to elicit action from the reviewers (i.e., persuasion).

If you want your writing to make a bigger impact on the reviewer, make sure to begin each paragraph with a sentence that states its focus or point.

October

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series

Dr. Elsa Abs; Postdoctoral Fellow; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; University of California, Irvine

1114 Natural Sciences I and Zoom (ID: 954 8917 7481; PW: EEB2022)

October

Developmental and Cell Biology Seminar Series

Melissa Pepling; Professor; Biology; Syracuse University

4201 Natural Sciences II and Zoom (ID: 935 0482 6445; PW: 754037)

October

Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Seminar Series

Joshua J. Coon; Professor; Chemistry and Biomolecular Chemistry and Thomas and Margaret Pyle Chair; Morgridge Institute for Research; University of Wisconsin-Madison

1114 Natural Sciences I

October

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series

Dr. Karl Castillo, Associate Professor; Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences; University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

1114 Natural Sciences I and Zoom (ID: 954 8917 7481; PW: EEB2022)

November

Focus on Evolution Seminar Series

Peiwei Chen; Aravin Lab; California Institute of Technology

3622 Biological Sciences III and Zoom

November

Developmental and Cell Biology Seminar Series

Sougata Roy; Associate Professor; Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics; University of Maryland

4201 Natural Sciences II and Zoom (ID: 935 0482 6445; PW: 754037)

November

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series

Dr. Natasha Mhatre; Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Insect Neurobiology; Biology; Western University

1114 Natural Sciences I and Zoom (ID: 954 8917 7481; PW: EEB2022)

SOM Informational Seminar: New 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy

This webinar will introduce the new 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. Starting on January 25, 2023, this policy will require researchers to prospectively plan for how scientific data will be preserved and shared through submission of a Data Management and Sharing Plan. UCI Librarians will review the specifics and share resources, including templates, to help researchers understand and comply with the new policy. They will also cover the NIH Open Access policy, ORCID, and publishing support offered by UCI Libraries. Tuesday, November 8, 2022 12 PM–1 PM Please register to receive the Zoom link.

NSF Inclusive Wildland Fire Science Planning Proposals Webinar

Wildland fire is a prevalent phenomenon, posing both benefits and risks. To begin to address the complex issues posed by wildland fires, the National Science Foundation recently published a Dear Colleague Letter (NSF 22-122), calling for planning proposals that engage diverse stakeholders and rights holders in wildland fire science. Planning proposals should present innovative ideas and visions for advancing wildland fire research via diverse knowledge systems, including strategies for building human capital and organizational capacity in wildland fire knowledge and management.

To learn more about this DCL from NSF Program Officers, register to attend an informational webinar on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 at 8 AM–9 AM PT.

Brain Research Foundation 2023 Seed Grant Program

The Brain Research Foundation (BRF) has invited UCI to nominate one faculty member to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) for the 2023 Seed Grant Program.

To be eligible, the PI must be a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor working in the field of neuroscience. The objective of the BRF Seed Grant Program is to support new and innovative projects, especially those of junior faculty, who are working in new research directions. BRF Seed Grant awards are not intended to supplement existing grants. BRF funds research that investigates the underlying neural mechanisms of disease in areas that include molecular and clinical neuroscience as well as studies of neural, sensory, motor, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functioning. The purpose of the Program is to provide start-up money for new research projects and innovative programs that have the potential of becoming competitive for an NIH grant or other external funding sources. Each total award is limited to $80,000 (direct costs) for a two-year grant period.

Because UCI may submit no more than one nominee for consideration, interested applicants are asked to submit a preliminary application to the Office of Research by October 27, 2022 (through the UCI Review application portal), with the following information:

• Summary of research project (1400 words that does NOT include figures or images, consistent with the BRF Guidelines)
  • Include closing paragraph about how research will develop next steps
• NIH Style Biosketch (no more than five pages)

If necessary, an ad hoc committee will convene to review the preliminary proposals. The selected PI will be notified in time to meet BRF’s letter of intent deadline of December 23, 2022.

Questions about the internal campus review process may be directed to Michael Gallo at magallo@uci.edu. Contact Marianne Smith (mrsmith1@uci.edu) in Corporate and Foundation Relations for information about BRF’s funding priorities.

Limited deadline: October 27, 2022

NSF SBE Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF)

The National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) offers Postdoctoral Research Fellowships to encourage independence early in the fellow's career by supporting his or her research and training goals. The research and training plan of each fellowship must address important scientific questions within the scope of the SBE directorate and the specific guidelines in this solicitation. The SPRF program offers two tracks: (1) Fundamental Research in the SBE Sciences (SPRF-FR) and (2) Broadening Participation in the SBE Sciences (SPRF-BP). See the full text of the solicitation for a detailed description of these tracks.

Deadline: January 10, 2023

NIH Biological Basis for how Environmental Exposures Impact Risk for Psychiatric Disorders (R01 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The objective of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to solicit applications that propose to better understand the biological basis by which environmental exposures alter brain and behavioral functioning to increase risk for psychiatric disorders with onset in late-childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood. Since basic and pre-clinical research is critical for the study of neurobiological mechanisms that drive complex behaviors including mental illness, the focus of this FOA is to encourage a range of mechanistic approaches, from in vitro systems to whole organism models, to examine the link between environmental chemicals and possible contribution to the pathogenesis of psychiatric abnormalities. Investigations that further advance our understanding of the joint contribution of genes and environment in the risk for psychiatric disorders are also welcomed. It is anticipated that knowledge gained from the research supported by this FOA will inform the development of improved intervention, prevention and/or therapeutic strategies.

Deadline: February 22, 2023

Congratulations to the four PIs and their teams who started R21 projects so far this fiscal year!

The R21 is a type of research grant from the National Institutes of Health that allows investigators to conduct exploratory research that breaks ground or takes previous research in new directions. These projects are considered high risk, high reward and have the potential to lead to breakthroughs.

Help us to generate information for the Research Bulletin.

Submit details about seminars and other research-related events on campus here. 

Submit funding opportunity announcements here.

If the Research Bulletin was forwarded to you and you’d like to subscribe, sign up here. 

If you’re a faculty member, postdoc, graduate student, or other researcher in the School of Biological Sciences and would like help with a grant submission, please email bio-research@uci.edu.

To let the Pre-Award team know of your planned proposal submission, please fill out this form at least four weeks before the deadline.