Core Catalyst Pilot Award

This service is provided by the Pilot Program 

The Core Cataylst Pilot Award is focused on rapidly deploying funds for the use of CUIMC’s state-of-the-art core facilities in translational science, particularly for clinical research. In many cases, CUIMC core facilities, or combinations of cores, can support end-to-end analysis of pre-clinical or clinical samples even if thefor a PI who does not have dedicated laboratory resources.  

Relevant research questions could involve cellular and molecular analyses across the translational spectrum – from pre-clinical studies to clinical trials – in collaboration with any of CUIMC’s institutional or departmental core facilities, including the Irving Institute’s Biomarkers Core Laboratory.  

• Project Period: December 15, 2026 - May 31, 2027. 
• Award Amount: $50,000 

Proposals should: 

• Propose an innovative pre-clinical or clinical research question that can be answered via biospecimen analysis in collaboration with a CUIMC core facility.  
• Identify an appropriate set of previously collected biospecimens for rapid analysis. 
• Describe how the resulting data could support future funding opportunities and ultimately lead to advances in patient care and health. 
• Describe the project’s potential to change how biospecimens are analyzed in future pre-clinical or clinical studies and the insights such analyses could yield. 

Eligibility 

• Principal investigator(s) must have a faculty appointment at Columbia University of assistant professor or higher. 
• Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible to apply as principal investigator. 
• Teams may include outside consultants/collaborators (e.g., community stakeholders, other academic organizations, and industry partners) with unique experience or expertise in innovative approaches not currently available at NYP/Columbia. However, sub-awards are not permitted. 
• During each application cycle, only one submission is permitted per principal investigator (PI). However, PIs may be listed as co-investigators or consultants on other applications. 

Deadline 

Apply by October 13, 2026 

Cite it, Submit it, Share it!

If your research has benefited from one or more Irving Institute resources, please remember to:

• Cite our CTSA grant in any relevant publications, abstracts, chapters, and/or posters:
  • "This publication was supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through Grant Number UM1TR006153. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.” 
• Submit your publications to PubMed Central (PMC) for compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy.
• Share your research updates with us by sending an email to: irving_institute@cumc.columbia.edu(link sends e-mail)