Opportunities Fund Management Core

The broad objective of the Opportunities Fund Management Core (OFMC) will be to facilitate early stage support for innovative, exploratory, and R&D projects, particularly those which have the potential to lead to practical products in the fields of radiation biodosimetry and prediction and prevention of acute and delayed injuries. The OFMC will support 1) Pilot projects (basic and translational research) and 2) Advanced Development projects that lead to Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies and Medical Countermeasure (MCM) development. The OFMC will generate an SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for the operation of the Core, which after Steering Committee approval, will be the template for its operation. The OFMC will coordinate the process of soliciting proposals, as well as coordinating the review of the proposals by an external panel of experts convened via teleconference for the purpose. The OFMC will tally the scores given by the review panel at the teleconference, and present the rank ordered list to the Steering Committee for funding decisions. Innovative and translational research will be strongly emphasized in the review process. The OFMC will also be responsible for coordinating all necessary documentation of financial, IRB, and IACUC requirements with sub-recipient institutions, as well as financial oversight and reporting. The OFMC will also coordinate annual progress reports, and collect progress reports with renewal requests to be considered by the Steering Committee. The OFMC will also help to facilitate Presentation opportunities for the pilot project recipients. For instance, pilot awardees may be given the opportunity to prepare a poster for the annual CMCRC meeting, and will be encouraged to present at national meetings, such as the Radiation Research Society Annual Meeting. !