The high value of advice from Project Development Teams

January 28, 2025

The Indiana CTSI’s Project Development Teams (PDTs) are panels of multidisciplinary experts that offer tailored consultations to researchers to help move their projects forward.

Sometimes, the PDTs award pilot funding. But some researchers who have consulted with a PDT report that it’s actually a different facet of the experience they found the most value in: engaged, critical, and high-quality feedback that makes their grant proposals stronger and often more successful when applying for extramural funding.

A post-doctoral fellow gains advice, mentorship

Carolyn Damilola Ekpruke, PhD, is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the School of Public Health at Indiana University Bloomington. Originally from Nigeria, where she was born and launched her career, she relocated to the United States in 2021. Her work focuses on the respiratory system, specifically investigating the intricate mechanisms of inflammatory responses in allergic airway inflammation and how they are influenced by critical factors such as sex, the gut microbiome, and the interplay of diet and exercise.

Ekpruke consulted with the Concepts to Clinic PDT in October 2022, shortly after an unsuccessful submission to the Indiana CTSI’s Postdoc Challenge program. As a postdoc, Ekpruke knew when she applied that she would not be eligible to receive funding from a PDT at this point in her career—but she hoped that their feedback could help her develop a stronger proposal.

And that’s excatly what happened, according to Ekpruke.

The PDT members encouraged her to more clearly communicate her ideas in ways that someone unfamiliar with the field could understand, and also to bring statistical analysis into the process to strengthen the justification behind her ideas.

In addition to this helpful feedback, the PDT is also where she met Michael Sturek, PhD, who serves as a part of the committee. The two developed a meaningful professional relationship, with Sturek stepping in as a mentor.

“Whenever I face challenges, I reach out to him,” said Ekpruke. “He not only reviewed my revised proposal but also provided a letter of support and has been incredibly approachable and supportive.”

The combination of mentorship and detailed feedback led Ekpruke to resubmit a revised proposal to the 2023 Postdoc Challenge, where she was successful and received funding to use core facilities to continue her research.

Reflecting on her experience, Ekpruke enthusiastically recommends the PDT Program.

“For younger researchers like myself who are learning to write grants, it’s an invaluable platform. The support and guidance it offers are unparalleled,” she said.

An established researcher takes her research to the next level

Unlike Ekpruke, Sacha Sharp, PhD, did receive funding from the PDT she consulted with—but the content of the feedback and the connections she made throughout the process also proved to be invaluable.

” This is supposed to be a space to help you proceed, and so they’re going to be critical,” said Sharp, who is an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at IU School of Medicine.

Consulting with a PDT helps investigators understand their own research better, Sharp said, and to ask themselves, “what are the things that are essential to my research, and what are the things that are malleable?”

Throughout her decadelong career with the IU School of Medicine, Sharp has served in various capacities, but her research has focused on the experiences of underrepresented populations, specifically Black women.

In 2023, Sharp consulted with the Structural and Social Determinants of Health PDT at the University of Notre Dame. She was pursuing extramural funding to collaborate with experts in obstetrics and gynecology and psychology to address disparities in healthcare access for Black women in Indiana. Indiana has the third highest maternal mortality rate in the nation, and most of those deaths are Black women.

“The literature already highlights the problem,” said Sharp. “We wanted to identify intervenable targets—the tangible, practical things that we can do to quell or mitigate any challenges with access.”

One suggestion from the PDT was that she narrow the scope of her study population since the problem is so large. She did this through the use of focus groups, where they spoke with women about their experiences with a particular hospital, physician, or program.

At the same time, the PDT encouraged her to be expansive and exploratory when gathering this information.

“If we limit our scope too much, we may alienate or not figure out the problems that really need to be tackled,” she said.

The PDT also connected Dr. Sharp with the Indiana CTSI’s participant recruitment team, where they helped her to anticipate a variety of factors that could be impactful in actually getting people to participate, such as transportation assistance or compensation.

Ultimately, it was these “intricate details that are necessary for completing an application for funding or pursuing any kind of research” that would have the biggest impact for her work, she said.

“I think it’s always helpful to be able to have a group of people to share information with and get feedback on, but also to learn to be confident in your research practice and be able to justify your decisions,” said Sharp, who plans to apply for funding through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to pursue her project further.

Add a PDT to your team

That piece of what the PDT offers—the feedback and confidence-boosting support—is hard to quantify, said Tammy Sajdyk, PhD, MS, Associate Director of the Translational Research Development Program and IU School of Medicine/IU Indianapolis Campus Navigator at the Indiana CTSI.

“However, after 16 years of overseeing the PDTs and working with over 800 investigators, it is very clear that meeting with the teams is not just about the money,” Sajdyk said. “It is about the personal interaction with a group of experts who genuinely want to help you succeed.”

|2025-01-28T15:28:19-05:00January 28th, 2025|Comments Off on The high value of advice from Project Development Teams

About the Author: Robyn Hawn

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Robyn serves as the administrative coordinator for the Indiana CTSI Communications team.

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