Centers

2012 Pilot Projects Announcement!

The goal of the Pilot Project Program is to provide funding, access to Core facilities and intellectual support to research proposals primarily of junior faculty within and outside the Center that are devoted to the study of environmental components of three human disease categories: Neurotoxicology/Neurodegenerative Diseases, Respiratory Disorders, and Cancer. The broad objective of research in these areas is to improve the health of communities in northern Manhattan and provide educational and outreach services that allow effective prevention strategies to be implemented. This Center Pilot Project Program also addresses issues of concern to the communities of West Harlem, Central Harlem and Washington Heights/Inwood.

Senior Center investigators and members of the Internal Advisory Committee stimulate an interest in and aid in the development of pilot project applications among appropriate colleagues, collaborators, and departments. The Pilot Project Program continues to be advertised by other "democratic" means, e.g., through the Office of Grants and Contracts Monthly Bulletin. In addition, the program is advertised by e-mail and posted throughout Columbia University and LDEO two months in advance of receipt dates.

Application Review

The Internal Advisory Committee provides the initial scientific review of all pilot project applications. When additional expertise is required, outside reviewers are selected for specific applications. The projects are reviewed according to scientific merit and originality, use of core facilities, relevance to the Center's mission and themes, qualifications of the applicant and probability of generating future R01 funding. This initial review triages the application pool from about seven to ten proposals per year to four to six. The remaining applications are then evaluated and discussed by the External Advisory Committee during their annual visit. Both reviews follow the typical NIH Study Section scoring and provide overall descriptors and priority scores.

Funded Projects

Descriptions of recently awarded pilot projects follow:

2011

• Examining the Effects of Chlorpyrifos on Attention and Neurodevelopment
• Function of Hairless in UV-induced Skin Cancer Susceptibilty
• Investigation of a Role for Manganese in Regulating Mitochondrial Dynamics
• Exposure to Elevated Levels of Combustion Realted Air Pollutants and Asthma among Non-Atopic Children in Beijing, China 

2010

• Aberrant microRNA and AFB1-, PAH-albumin adducts in HCC development
  

2009

• The role of p38 MAPK and NOX in the development of oxidative stress-mediated non-melanoma skin cancer
• The role of airborne dust and climate in meningococcal meningitis outbreaks in the Sahel

2008

• Polymorphisms in the XRCC1 DNA repair enzyme increases specific p53 mutations following exposure to reactive vinyl chloride metabolic products
• Do improved cookstoves reduce exposure to air pollution? A randomized trial in Ghana
• Measurement of inflammatory biomarkers in exhaled breath condensate in an inner-city environment
• Calibration of energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for PM2.5 filters and comparison of elemental composition of biomass emissions from four countries
• The impact of air quality on the productivity of agricultural workers