CTSI Core Voucher

Principal Investigator

• UCLA Westwood: All full-time faculty with appointments in any of the Professorial Series, as well as clinical instructors in the School of Medicine, are eligible to apply. Junior Investigators (within 5 years of their academic appointment) will receive priority consideration. More information regarding the Professorial Series may be obtained at: Academic Affairs and Personnel - Professional Series. 

  Investigators with appointments in the Professional Research Series (defined at: Academic Affairs and Personnel - Professional Research Series) may apply by one of two mechanisms. (1) Those participating in supervised research should apply under their lab mentor’s name as a Co-Investigator. (2) Those requesting support for projects that are independent of their lab mentor may be eligible to apply directly, but must first contact CTSI T1/T2 Accelerator Program no later than Monday, March 25, 2024, prior to submitting their application.

• Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA: All full-time investigators are eligible to apply; junior investigators (within 5 years of their academic appointment) will receive priority consideration. For questions, please contact Raquel Gutierrez (gutierrez@lundquist.org).
• Cedars-Sinai: All Cedars-Sinai faculty are eligible to apply; junior faculty (Assistant Professor or equivalent) will receive priority consideration. For questions about eligibility, please contact Hannah Coleman (hannah.coleman@cshs.org).
• Charles R. Drew University (CDU): All CDU faculty are eligible to apply.

Each eligible Principal Investigator may submit one and only one application.

Co-Investigator (1 per application)

• Non-faculty researchers (professional researchers, project scientists, research scientists, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students) are eligible to be listed as a Co-Investigator on a faculty member’s application. Please note that a faculty member may still only submit one application.

Previous voucher recipients may apply only if a different proposal is being submitted. Continuations/extensions of previously awarded proposals are not eligible.

Review Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed and ranked based on:

1. Translatability – Does the proposal directly address a significant problem in human health? Is the intention of the project to provide information that could have clinical impact in the foreseeable future?
2. Innovation – Does the project use a conceptually or technically innovative strategy? This component is given the highest priority.
3. Approach – Is the approach scientifically sound and likely to yield interpretable results?
4. Core Utilization – Can this project utilize core services immediately at time of award? Can the requested core services be completed within the next 6 months? (Communication with core directors regarding timeline feasibility is highly encouraged.) If your research requires IRB and/or IACUC approval, are the necessary protocol approvals in place?

Applicants are highly encouraged to discuss their proposals and budget with the relevant cores and core directors prior to submitting the application.

Application Requirements and Processes

All applications must be submitted through the online system. Applications may be submitted March 4 – April 1, 2024 at 5:00 PM PT. Please carefully follow all instructions on the application.  

Applicants must have a UCLA logon ID (previously known as BOL) to access the online application. One may be obtained at: UCLA Identity and Accounts Manager. Applicants are encouraged to complete this process well in advance of the application deadline.

Investigators must be pursuing a project that could immediately benefit from access to the more than 65 cores located on the Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA, Cedars-Sinai, or UCLA Westwood campuses. View the Research Cores eligible for a CTSI Core Voucher Award. For questions about cores not listed, please contact the CTSI T1/T2 Accelerator Program.

Applicants must provide the following:

• Project description demonstrating need for specific core(s). (maximum 2000 characters including white spaces, ≈ 300 words)
• Budget justification for the requested core(s). More than one core can be selected if the total amount is ≤ $10,000, and if the requested services support the same project/proposal (maximum 500 characters including white spaces, ≈ 80 words)
• Description of the availability of samples, specialized reagents, constructs, technology, IRB/IACUC approvals, etc. required for the core services requested. If not currently available, describe the timeline for obtaining such material. (maximum 500 characters including white spaces, ≈ 80 words)
• For previous voucher awardees, justification for any possible overlap between this proposal and previously awarded voucher. (maximum 500 characters including white spaces, ≈ 80 words)
• Current NIH biosketch(es) that includes a list of current funding in PDF format – please merge Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator biosketches into one PDF file, if applicable.

Applicants must adhere to the strict character limit and biosketch file format to ensure a successful submission.

An acknowledgment e-mail will be automatically sent once an application is successfully submitted.

Additional Requirements

Awarded investigators will be required to provide their NIH eRA Commons ID, their field of specialization, and their IRB, IACUC, and/or ESCRO numbers if applicable. Proposals must be ready to begin using core services as soon as vouchers are awarded - all IRB, IACUC, and ESCRO approvals must be in place at the time of award.

Voucher awards must be expended within 8 months of award notification. Recipients must disclose the UCLA CTSI grant number UL1TR001881 as a funding source to the IRB and/or ARC as applicable, and must cite the grant in all publications that result from this CTSI-supported research. In addition, voucher recipients must report the following information to the UCLA CTSI by November 30 each year:

1. All publications that resulted from CTSI-supported research with PubMed ID
2. All PHS and non-PHS federal support that contributed to the CTSI-supported research

Completed applications must be submitted March 4 – April 1 at 5:00 PM PT. Awards are expected to be announced by July 2024.

For questions regarding the content and scope of this RFA, or faculty eligibility, please contact:

• UCLA Westwood and Charles R. Drew University:
  Amanda Washington 
  Office: (310) 794-5263
  E-mail: Amanda Washington, ctsicorevoucher@mednet.ucla.edu
• Lundquist/Harbor-UCLA:
  Raquel Gutierrez
  Office: (310) 222-2503
  E-mail: Raquel Gutierrez, gutierrez@lundquist.org
• Cedars-Sinai:
  Hannah Coleman
  Office: (310) 423- 8969
  E-mail: Hannah Coleman, hannah.coleman@cshs.org

For technical difficulties regarding the online application process, please contact:

• Computing Technologies Research Lab (CTRL)
  Office: (310) 206-6556
  E-mail: RFP support, rfpsupport@mednet.ucla.edu

View the current list of research cores eligible for a CTSI Core Voucher Award. In addition to viewing the fully list of cores, you can also search by site and core type.

If you want to use a core not on this list, please contact the CTSI T1/T2 Accelerator Program to discuss options. (See additional UCLA cores.)

1. Are adjunct professors / adjunct clinical instructors eligible to submit as a PI?  Yes, all faculty listed at https://www.apo.ucla.edu/content/professorial-series are eligible PIs.
2. Are resident fellows eligible to submit as a PI? Typically resident fellows (and other non-faculty positions that precede the clinical instructor series) are not eligible and must wait until they become an assistant clinical instructor before applying as PI. To confirm PI eligibility, please contact CTSICoreVoucher@mednet.ucla.edu. Otherwise, fellows may submit an application as Co-Investigator along with PI, and will be required to include their biosketch in their submission.
3. Do faculty mentors need to have active funding to apply for a Core Voucher? No, faculty mentors do not need to have active funding at the present time to apply for a Core Voucher award.
4. Can graduate students apply as Co-PI? Do they need to also submit a biosketch along with the PI? Graduate students are eligible to be listed as Co-Investigator along with their PI. If a graduate student chooses to apply as Co-I, they will be required to submit a biosketch. Otherwise, graduate students are welcome to also submit the application on their PI's behalf and not be included as Co-I.
5. How many applications can PIs submit? PIs may only submit one application per cycle.
6. If an applicant received a CTSI core voucher in a previous cycle, are they eligible to apply for a second (or third etc) time? Previous voucher recipients may apply only if a different proposal is being submitted. Continuations/extensions of previously awarded proposals are not eligible.
7. Can the core voucher be used for research services performed within the CTRC? CTRC services fall outside of the CTSI Core Voucher Program. However, the CTRC also offers vouchers. If you are interested in pursuing CTRC services and vouchers, please reach out to CTRCServices@mednet.ucla.edu for assistance on submitting a CTRC voucher application.
8. Can I request medical record dataset extractions as a core service? Yes, to do so, applicants can enter their core selection in the "Other" box as "CTSI Biomedical Informatics Program" on the application. Please see the Biomedical Informatics Program webpage for more information.
9. Can an applicant select more than one core given that the total amount does not exceed $10,000, and that the requested services support the same project/proposal? Yes, more than one core can be selected but the total amount cannot exceed $10,000. Additionally, only one project can be proposed in the application so if 2+ cores are selected, the core usage must all support the same project being proposed
10. Can I include the cost for reagents and supplies required for preparing the experiments for the core services? The Voucher budget can only be used towards services provided by the core (e.g. it cannot be used by the PI’s lab to purchase reagents and supplies).