The 2016 University of Tennessee Collaborative Research Network (CORNET) Awards in Cancer request for applications was announced in late September at Vice Chancellor for Research Steven R. Goodman’s Town Hall meeting. The CORNET Awards provide seed money to stimulate innovative, interdisciplinary, team-based research which will give rise to future extramural funding. There are several key players involved in the UT CORNET Awards in Cancer- The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC, all campuses), The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA), The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine (UTCVM), The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
Any UT faculty member who is doing cancer research (inclusive of T0 to T4) at the aforementioned sites, including investigators from ORNL, may apply for a UT CORNET Award in Cancer. To be eligible for a UT CORNET Award in Cancer, each proposal must include, at minimum, one faculty member from at least two participating institutions. Resources are available to fund up to two Awards, for up to $50,000/award, for one year.
To give investigators a chance to exchange information and ideas in person, there will be a UT CORNET Cancer Conference held on Wednesday, November 9, 2016, at The Double Tree by Hilton in Murfreesboro, Tenn., from 10:30 am to 3:30 pm CST. The Cancer Conference is designed to bring together cancer researchers from different UT campuses, allowing them to share their research interests and catalyze new collaborative partnerships that will result in the submission of a UT CORNET Award proposal in Cancer. At the Cancer Conference, attendees will hear from keynote speakers on work being done by investigators at different UT sites and a poster presentation session will feature projects from participants.
The deadline to register for the UT CORNET Cancer Conference via an online portal is Monday, October 31, 2016. For more information on the UT CORNET Cancer Conference, please visit the Office of Research Development’s website: https://www.uthsc.edu/ research/development/intramural-funding/ut-cor- net-cancer-conference.php.
To date, the CORNET Awards have provided over $472,504 in funding to stimulate innovative, interdisciplinary, team research. The winners include nine col- laborative teams that cross UTHSC’s Memphis colleges who were the first recipients of the UTHSC CORNET Awards; as well as the recently announced winners of the UTHSC/UAMS USA CORNET Award which involved researchers from UTHSC and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Dr. Goodman further hinted at his Town Hall about the creation of a Global CORNET Award, which the newly appointed Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and Global Partnerships Stephania Cormier, PhD, will help establish. The second UTHSC CORNET Awards and UTHSC/UAMS USA CORNET Awards are also said to be in the works for Spring 2017.