Specific Aims draft for upcoming miniproposal

I've uploaded a draft to Scribd of the specific aims section for a miniproposal I have due on Friday. The proposal is for $30K from an American Cancer Society (ACS) Institutional Research Grant (IRG) for one year of research. It is a renewal of the previous IRG we received which provided us with $22,500 for one year of research and for which we have been extremely grateful. While that kind of funding is much smaller than the NIH R01 funding we're striving for, it makes a big impact on our lab. I think any lab would appreciate that kind of funding, but it's particularly valuable to us in this start-up phase.

The proposal is due Friday (Jan. 23). To me, these specific aims seem very clear and I like the way they're written...so I think it's almost finished. But if you do happen to read it before Friday morning (or even after), I'd love to have your comments!

And, I should mention that this proposal is 7 pages in "NIH-style." That means it has sections of:

• Specific Aims
• Background and Siificance
• Preliminary Studies
• Research Plan

Here is a link to advice from the NIAID for NIH R01 grant writing: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ncn/grants/app/default.htm

PS: Thank you to Anthony, Andy, and Larry for help in writing this, and for all the help from our collaborators, Mary Ann, Kelly, and Karen!