Request for Clinical & Translational Science Pilot Applications

The UF+FSU Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Hub provides intramural awards to support the growth of interdisciplinary and investigator-initiated clinical and translational science across a broad range of disciplines. The CTS Pilot Program is seeking translational science proposals focused on advancing the development and application of reusable CTS tools. This includes frameworks and methods designed to accelerate CTS.

Download the Full RFA

LOI Submission Guidelines

Successful applicants will describe how the pilot will create practical, scalable resources and/or methods that can be adopted and adapted by other investigators across research settings and patient populations. Priority will be given to proposals that optimize the conduct of multisite clinical trials, reduce clinical trial participant burden, and/or optimize translation of findings into clinical practice/community settings. In addition, priority will also be given to proposals that optimize access to and use of novel data and/or enhance workforce development, as well as projects that address change management (e.g., multi-site implementation, differences in practices or patient populations; drivers of variation in change management approaches).

Projects may represent a distinct new effort or may be embedded as a component of an existing project (e.g., an R01 or similar mechanism), provided the pilot clearly focuses on the development, testing, or evaluation of a reusable tool. Special consideration will be given to submissions that cross-collaborate between UF (in Gainesville and/or Jacksonville) and FSU. Use of Hub resources is encouraged and can be identified by working with the Hub R-Connect Team https://www.ctsi.ufl.edu/research/.

Examples of reusable CTS tools:

• Digital twin models, including models of both systems and processes
• Novel data linkage, including linking phenotypic and genetic data
• Tools to evaluate the impact of agentic workflows, risks, and safety events
• Models and tools for the novel use of unstructured data that can be generalizable to multiple patient populations
• Linking national databases to the UF Health Integrated Data Repository and/or the OneFlorida+ Data Trust
• Health communication frameworks and tools to support translation of findings into practice and patient/provider education
• Practice facilitation models and implementation support packages to translate findings into practice
• Evaluation tools to assess uptake and scale-up of evidence-based best practices
• Frameworks to compare AI tools against current clinical performance and/or deployed models for local benchmarking
• Development of standardized, validated bioassays (i.e., immune profiling, biomarker analyses, pharmacodynamic assays) that can be reproducibly used and scaled across clinical trial settings
• Process development SOPs, workflows, or assays enabling standardized and scalable workflows for investigational new drug development
• Innovative preclinical model development (organoids, explants, or other experimental systems) that accelerate translational research and enhance reproducibility

Who Can Apply?

• Individuals at UF or FSU holding the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor, both tenure-track and non-tenure-track (including research and clinical professors), are eligible to serve as the Principal Investigator (PI). Individuals who are lecturers, instructors, research scientists, or trainees are eligible to be co-investigators (Co-Is).

• Applicants may only submit one application for which they are the Principal Investigator, but individuals may be listed as Co-Investigators on more than one proposal. Clinical/scientific advisory roles on more than one application are also allowed.

• Recipients of previous UF + FSU CTSA Hub pilot awards are eligible to apply, provided this pilot award will support a fundamentally new research project, but only if the previous project is complete.

Timeline

Download the Full RFA

LOI Submission Guidelines