Collaboration Initiation Grants in Women's Health Technologies

Collaboration Initiation Grants in Women's Health Technologies is sponsored by Women's Health Technologies Initiative. These grants support the application of engineering technology to develop novel strategies to improve the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of conditions affecting the female reproductive system.

Collaboration Initiation Grant | Center for Women's Health Engineering | Washington University in St. Louis Proposals Due March 15, 2025 The Women’s Health Technologies initiative seeks innovative proposals that apply engineering principles and technologies to the development of novel strategies focused on prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and conditions specific to women.

Additionally, proposals targeting conditions that either disproportionately affect women or affect women differently than men are also encouraged. Examples may include conditions affecting fertility and reproduction, cancer, and neurological disorders.

Collaboration Initiation Grants The goal of the Collaboration Initiation Grant (CIG) Award is to generate a sustaining collaboration between engineering and clinical/translational partners in a relevant area of Women’s Health Technologies that will be competitive for future extramural Federal funding.

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.

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. Preference will be given to collaborative teams comprised of early-stage investigators. 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. There is no citizenship requirement for CIG award applicants. Awards of up to $30,000 for one year.

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. Deadline and Review Process Applications must be submitted by 4:00 p. m.

on March 15, 2025 . 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.

Instructions for Application 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 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 Sarin Soyemi, MD, Jerry L.

Lowder, MD, MSc and Christine M. O’Brien, PhD “In Vivo Raman Spectroscopy-Based Detection of Mesh and Tissue Changes After Pelvic Reconstructive Surgery” Alexandra L.

Rutz, PhD and Amargant i Riera, PhD “Conducting Granular Hydrogel Bioelectronic Devices for Follicle-on-a-chip Technology” Whitney Grither, MD, PhD and Amit Pathak, PhD “Utilizing an ex vivo microfluidic device to study ovarian cancer adhesion under the influence of fluid flow” Alexandra L.

Rutz, PhD and Amargant i Riera, PhD “Granular Hydrogels as a Dynamic Mechanical Environment to Investigate the Role of the Ovarian Microenvironment in Supporting Folliculogenesis” Michelle Oyen, PhD and Anthony Odibo, MD, MSCE “Clinically Informed Computational Models of Placental Function” Alexandra L.

Rutz, PhD and Mary Mullen, MD “In Vitro Bioelectronic Monitoring of Therapy Response in 3D, Patient-Derived Ovarian Cancer Models” Jerry L. Lowder, MD, MSc and Philip V.

Bayly, PhD “Developing a Prediction Model to Guide Surgical Decision Making in Female Pelvic Organ Prolapse Surgery Based on Anatomic Measurements” Christine Mary O’Brien, PhD and Antonina I Frolova, MD, PhD “Wearable laser speckle sensor for postpartum hemorrhage detection” Collaboration Initiation Grant