Finalists chosen for CIMIT’s $2.1 million Strategic Project grant

CIMIT is pleased to announce it has accepted three pre-proposals to compete for the CIMIT Strategic Project grant that will provide one team with $700,000 per year for three years.

This is a major commitment for CIMIT, whose grants generally range from $40,000 to $100,000. Twenty-seven pre-proposals were submitted, and one pre-proposal was accepted in each of the following sectors: point-of-care diagnostics and treatment systems, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and traumatic brain injury. The review committee said that a fourth category, medical simulation, is not represented because the panel did not receive a pre-proposal that met criteria.

Final proposals are due by midnight, Dec. 17.

“We are pleased with the quality of the pre-proposals,” said John Parrish, MD, director of CIMIT. “We feel strongly about the need to provide better medical care to patients as soon as possible, and research resulting from the Strategic Project will help meet that important goal.”

The winning pre-proposals are as follows:

NOTES. Investigators propose to develop a platform and procedural guidelines for this technique, which involves gastrointestinal surgery executed by putting medical tools through natural orifices such as the mouth. Team members include David Rattner, MD, MGH, William Brugge, MD, MGH, Christopher Morse, MD, MGH, Christopher Thompson, MD, BWH, Richard Rothstein, MD, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Marvin Ryou, MD, BWH and Jeffery Lang, PhD, MIT.

Point-of-care diagnostics and treatment systems. The team proposes to develop label-free viral detection microchips for point-of-care applications. Group members include Mehmet Toner, PhD, MGH, William Rodriguez, MD, MGH/BWH, Scott Manalis, PhD, MIT, and Michael Roukes, PhD, California Institute of Technology.

Traumatic brain injury: The team that forwarded a pre-proposal on traumatic brain injury will be involved in the development and clinical evaluation of novel approaches to managing traumatic brain injury in the acute and chronic phase. Participants include Ross Zafonte, DO, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Martha Shenton, PhD, BWH, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, MD, BIDMC, and Hasan Alam, MD, MGH.