CDLD Pilot Project Program (Pilot Project Awards)

About this program

The Center for Digestive & Liver Disease (CDLD) COBRE at MUSC offers an annual Pilot Project Program that allocates institutional and COBRE funds (at least $100,000/year) to support 3–4 pilot projects that leverage CDLD cores to attract investigators, stimulate collaboration, develop new technologies, and seed extramural GI/liver research. Three award types—Early Career Pilot, New Direction Pilot, and Collaborative Pilot—provide up to $35,000/year each, with the possibility of a one‑year renewal for projects demonstrating sufficient progress toward extramural funding. PIs must be full‑time MUSC faculty: Early Career awards target junior faculty within six years of their first full‑time appointment with no prior independent PI grant and require a mentor; New Direction is open to any rank; Collaborative awards must be led by MUSC faculty and may include collaborators at other institutions. An annual winter RFA (spring due date) requires submission via the SCTR web platform, use of at least one CDLD core, rigorous peer review and EAB oversight, funding of direct costs only, and no faculty salary support.