Timeline

Pre-proposal submission
Interested PIs should submit a two-page introduction to the team and project by December 30.
Teams are encouraged to meet with the Coulter Program Directors (usc-coulter @usc.edu) to discuss the project prior to the submission of their pre proposals.

Pre-proposal vetting and invitation to submit proposal
Submitted pre-proposals are reviewed and scored by an internal committee and selected teams are invited to participate in the program. Invitations to participated are sent during the third week of January

Proposal preparation (January – April):
Participating teams work with the Coulter Program Directors, Technology Transfer officers, industry mentors, and interns, to develop a strong proposal. The proposal should address the intellectual property landscape, FDA regulations, reimbursement strategy, market validation, funding to critical milestones, and follow on funding or licensing opportunities.
The final proposal is submitted on April 11.

Oversight Committee review and selection for oral presentation (April):
During the month of April, an oversight committee including industry experts will review the proposals and interview the teams by phone. The oversight committee will then select the teams that will move to the next stage of the program, present to the committee in June and compete for funding. Information and responses to Oversight Committee feedback must be submitted prior to the oral presentations. The teams will be coached in how to present to the committee.

The oral presentations to the oversight committee are scheduled for June 6, 2012.

Eligibility
Sponsored projects must include a faculty member of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and a USC clinical practitioner, whose job responsibilities include direct contact with patients or patient data. The members of the team should committed to the success of the project and coachable.

Please contact the program directors if you need a partner for your project (usc-coulter@usc.edu).

Criteria
The project must relate directly to applications in health care, and the objectives of the project should include an outcome that could trigger follow on funding and that will benefit patients when the technology is commercialized. Evaluation of each proposal will be on the basis of clinical need and potential health care impact, technical feasibility, experience of the investigators, and the potential for commercialization and for successfully obtaining further support. In two or three years of Coulter funding the project should be able to achieve a critical milestone for follow on funding.

The criteria the Internal Oversight Committee uses to evaluate proposals for funding are:

• Research Type/Stage
• Research Plan/Science
• Clinical Impact
• Collaboration
• Intellectual Property
• Commercialization Potential
• Intangibles

Duration
Grants will be for a one-year period, and may be submitted for renewal. Renewal applications must have a comparison of milestones achieved vs. those planned in the original submission. Renewal applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis with new applications.

Grant Size and Use of Funds
The average size of the yearly grant is $100K

Use of funds include:

• Salary and fringe benefits for project personnel
• Materials and supplies
• Equipment
• Travel
• Preclinical animal studies

Note:
Typically the co-PIs, Clinician and engineer, do not charge to the project. In a few cases an early career engineer that does not have sufficient funding may charge 5% of their salary. In the great majority of the projects the money is used to support the PhD or fellow conducting the research.

Grant Distribution
The grants will be distributed during the first week of July. Funds will be transferred to the team research account.

Post-Award
Program management support will be provided to the teams as they execute their plan. The teams will work closely with the program’s directors and staff and with the USC Stevens technology advancement and licensing team as the projects are moved closer to clinical applications.

Quarterly Reports 

• Reports and oral presentations to the Oversight Committee are required quarterly
  
• Progress reports are due on December 14, 2012, April 19, 2013, and September 27, 2013
• Oral presentations are scheduled for January 25, 2013, June 12, 2013, and October 17, 2013

Pre-Proposal Form
The pre-proposal deadline is December 30, 2011.

Interested PIs should submit a two-page introduction to the team and project by December 30, 2011 at 5:00pm. Pre-proposals should be e-mailed to usc-coulter@usc.edu. Teams are encouraged to meet with the Coulter Program Directors to discuss the project prior to the submission of their pre-proposals.

Proposal form
The proposal deadline is April 11, 2012 at 5:00pm.

Proposals should be e-mailed to usc-coulter@usc.edu.

Proposal form supplemental documents to download: (To download all of these files as a zip folder, please click here).

To download these forms as a word document, please right click the link, and select "Save As."

• USC Coulter Translational Reasearch Program Proposal Face Page
• Budget Template
• Biographical Sketch
• Gantt Chart Template

Pre-meeting questionnaire
Innovators are encourage to contact the program team any time during the year to discuss potential projects. Please complete a pre-meeting questionnaire and send it to the Coulter team in anticipation to the meeting. This form is designed to help define the basic outline of your idea, and to establish its relative merit and general objectives for discussion with the program team. You can find the pre-meeting questioner here.

About the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation Wallace Coulter's deepest passion was to improve health care and make these improvements available and affordable to everyone. Thus, it should come as no surprise, that Mr. Coulter dedicated his wealth to continuing to improve health care through medical research and engineering. Prior to his death Mr. Coulter established the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation to fund these areas.
		The Foundation received funding in Decembercoulterfoundationceo, 1999 and will continue this legacy by funding translational research in biomedical engineering with the goal of accelerating the introduction of new technologies into patient care. Prior to the establishment of its two main programs to support translational research in biomedical engineering, the Foundation began working with colleges, universities and professional associations that Wallace Coulter was associated with during his lifetime. His values of endless curiosity, continuous learning, teamwork, consideration and respect for the individual, coupled with the highest level of ethics and integrity are the cornerstone values of The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation. For more information on the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, click here.