Benefiting Research Innovation Development Growth and Education (BRIDGE)

Program Objective

The Benefiting Research Innovation Development Growth and Education (BRIDGE) grant’s objective is to encourage the advancement of research related to colorectal diseases by supporting researchers in their efforts to obtain sustainable funding by providing funding to  (i) acquire key data or publications to enable competitive application as a faculty member transitions from a foundation career development award (i.e. RF of the ASCRS CDA/LPG type award) to an extramural award (i.e. NIH K or R type award), a competitive Foundation Award (i.e. American Cancer Society, Damon Runyon, etc), Department of Defense Award; and to (ii) provide a viable means to support attainment of multiple-year, sustained research funding in colorectal diseases.

Funding

BRIDGE grants may not be sought for funding for which an applicant has received financial support from other external funding sources. Program grants may only be used to support direct research costs.

Each BRIDGE grant is for up to $50,000.00 to be used over a designated 12-month budget period. BRIDGE grants are disbursed in two equal installments, with the first installment contingent on the applicant executing and the Foundation timely receiving from the applicant the Foundation’s BRIDGE grant agreement, and the second installment contingent on the applicant completing and the Foundation timely receiving from the applicant the midterm report required by the Program grant agreement.

To apply for a BRIDGE grant, an Applicant must seek a program grant for eligible research direct costs, all of which must be incurred within the budget period. Direct research costs may include, but are not limited to:

• Supplies directly used in the eligible research
• Personnel to support the proposal (analyses, technical assistance)
• Technical and support personnel enabling the acquisition of data and analyses (salary support for the applicant is not permitted)
• Statistical programs and databases
• Data analysis
• Airfare (coach) and 2 nights hotel for Annual Scientific Meeting

The BRIDGE grant may not be sought for indirect costs. The BRIDGE grant may not be sought for costs related to consortium or contract arrangements with collaborating organizations.

Application Deadline

August 15 

Review/Notification Date

October/November

Eligibility: 

• Applicant/Organization Eligibililty:
  • A United States or Canadian educational or scientific government organization or a nonprofit organization, in good standing in the state of its formation, organized and operated exclusively for charitable,
    educational, and/or scientific purposes, and exempt from federal income tax pursuant to IRC 501(c)(3); and
  • Engaged in investigator-initiated, hypothesis-driven, original research, relevant to the pathophysiology or management of diseases of the colon, rectum, anus, or small bowel, conducted in the United States or Canada.
• Research Eligibility:
  • To apply for a BRIDGE grant, an applicant must seek a BRIDGE grant to support investigator-initiated, hypothesis-driven, original research relevant to the pathophysiology or management of diseases of the colon, rectum, anus, or small bowel, conducted in the United State or Canada, by an Eligible Investigator. Research involving human subjects must be supported by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval to be considered Eligible Research. Research involving vertebrate animals must be supported by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval to be considered Eligible Research. Evidence of IRB/IACUC approval must be included with the application. Due to the 1-year duration of the proposal, clinical trials will not be permitted.
• Investigator Eligibility:
  • Independent clinical practice with expertise in colorectal surgery as demonstrated by:
    • Completion of ACGME accredited colorectal residency program
    • Member of the ASCRS
    • National reputation as an expert in colorectal surgery
  • Has sufficient education, training, and experience and is otherwise qualified to conduct the eligible research.
  • Has designated time, (i.e., at least 25% non-clinical time), to conduct the eligible research.
  • Has access to institutional resources necessary to conduct the eligible research.
  • Will be supported by the investigator’s department chair or other responsible superiors while conducting the eligible research.
  • Has not previously and will not during the budget period benefit from a BRIDGE grant or similar grant from another funding source.
  • Attends the ASCRS Annual Scientific Meeting during the funding period and able to present findings at the pleasure of the Research Foundation Board of Trustees.

Submissions

Preparing Application Materials

Important Information*

• Keep a record of Control ID number, which can be found on the top right corner on each page of the submission template. When communicating with the Research Foundation and the ScholarOne Customer Care Team, please include the Control ID as a reference.
• Note that some institutions have firewalls that make it difficult to receive communications from the submission site. To ensure uninterrupted email delivery, please whitelist amazonses.com and abstractcentral.com domains.
• Do not forget to click the submit button (at the bottom of Step 6: Review and Submit). If the system is exited without submitting, the submission will be saved and will appear in the “DRAFT” section of the system “View Submissions” page upon re-entering the system.
• Notifications and correspondence will be sent to the email address in the ASCRS account. Correspondence can be obtained by clicking on the Messages in the grey bar at the top right of the screen in the system.
• Applicants should receive a confirmation email after submission (please check spam/junk folders for this email). To prevent this, add [email protected] and [email protected] to address book. If an email confirmation is not received, please contact [email protected].
• Applicants should use Chrome to submit grant applications. Pop-up Blocker must be turned off for submission.

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Application Review

The Research Foundation reviews all completed grant applications submitted by the deadline through a peer review process. The evaluation is carried out by a task force composed of members from the Research Foundation’s Research Committee, the Young Researchers Committee, and the Board of Trustees. All members of the task force are ASCRS members who serve on a pro bono basis. To maintain objectivity, task force members do not participate in the evaluation of applications from individuals or institutions with whom they have a conflict of interest. The task force employs a weighted scoring system that considers multiple factors, including the qualifications of the candidate, the research environment, the quality of the research plan, and the feasibility of the BRIDGE award to maximize overall impact.
Applicants are encouraged to consider the committee’s scoring process when developing their application materials.

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