Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Program

The overall objective of the University of Washington (UW) Nutrition Obesity Research Center Pilot and Feasibility (P&F) Program is to provide an infrastructure to support and effectively train the next generation of basic, translational, clinical and epidemiological scientists in the fields of nutrition, obesity and metabolism with a goal to enhance our knowledge and understanding of body weight regulation, the etiology and pathogenesis of nutrition-related disorders, to identify novel, therapeutic targets to prevent and treat obesity and to educate the broader community. The Specific Aims of the Program are to:

• To provide junior investigators of high promise the opportunity to obtain crucial pilot data needed to launch their career and to compete successfully for independent peer-reviewed funding.
• To provide a mechanism for encouraging talented junior investigators to embark on academic careers in nutrition/obesity research.
• To support pilot projects by established investigators in other research fields into the area of nutrition and obesity research.

The UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) and Diabetes Research Center (DRC) are jointly soliciting applications for Pilot and Feasibility Research Awards. Proposals may include basic, clinical, translational, or population-based studies with a focus on nutrition, metabolism, diabetes, and/or obesity.

Purpose: Pilot and Feasibility Research Awards are funded by the National Institutes of Health and UW. Their purpose is to foster development of new investigators, particularly junior faculty, in the fields of nutrition, metabolism, diabetes, and obesity research at the UW.

• LOIs and reviewer nomination forms are due by January 12, 2025 and are to be uploaded here.
• Applications require approval by the applicant’s departmental chairperson or division head.  Approvals for human subjects, animal use and/or biohazards must be obtained prior to initiation of funding but are not required for submitting the application. Full applications are due by February 28, 2025.

Eligibility:

• New or established UW faculty who wish to develop a research program related to nutrition, metabolism, diabetes, and/or obesity.
• Established UW investigators in the above mentioned fields who wish to develop an innovative project related to nutrition, metabolism, diabetes and/or obesity that differs significantly from their ongoing research interests.

Note:
(1) Funding priority will be assigned to meritorious applications from junior faculty that have not previously been in receipt of major peer-reviewed funding. Junior faculty must propose a line of investigation that supports a career trajectory towards independence.
(2) Applicants must have full-time faculty appointments at the commencement of the award.
(3) Applicants with a UW affiliate appointment are eligible for funding, however they must obtain a waiver for indirect costs from their institution.

Applicants who identify as underrepresented minorities and/or are proposing research related to underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply.

Support:  Applicants may request up to $50,000 per year for one or two years. Approval for a second year will depend upon demonstration of satisfactory progress and availability of funds. The number of awards and funding levels to be granted will be based on the scientific merit of successful proposals as well as the specific funding priorities of the collaborating institutions. The awards can be used for principal investigator salary, technical support and research expenses. Salary support for postdoctoral fellows or graduate students is not allowed. Funding begins July 1, 2025.

Application:  Prospective applicants must submit a mandatory letter of intent (LOI) that summarizes pertinent information needed to assess eligibility. In addition to the LOI, applicants are required to submit a list of suitable reviewers. Please download the 2025 P&F Letter of Intent Form and Reviewer Nomination Form. LOIs submitted in other formats will not be accepted.  Click here to download a copy of these instructions.

Eligible applicants will be given detailed instructions regarding the application process. Applicants are encouraged to discuss their research plans with DRC and/or NORC P&F Program Directors prior to submission. Contact information and FAQs can be found here.

 

2024 UW NORC P&F RECIPIENTS:

Dr. Leticia Sewaybricker, MD, PhD, has been awarded the Pilot and Feasibility Award through the UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center for his project entitled: “Use of hypothalamic imaging in infants to understand postnatal weight gain.”

Dr. Leticia Sewaybricker received her MD at the University of Campinas, Brazil, and subsequently completed both her residency and fellowship at the University of Campinas in Pediatrics. Dr. Sewaybricker then completed her PhD at the University of Campinas, Brazil in Child and Adolescent Health before completing her postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Washington under the mentorship of Dr. Ellen Schur. Dr. Sewaybricker is currently an Acting Instructor of Medicine within the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. She is a physician-scientist dedicated to studying prenatal influences on brain regulation of body weight and cardiometabolic function in children.

Project description: Early life exposures include both pre and postnatal factors that influence health throughout life. Among early life risk factors, rapid postnatal weight gain elevates the risk for obesity and other chronic diseases over the lifespan. Infants who experience fetal growth restriction more commonly present a rapid “catch-up” growth. The biological mechanisms involved in rapid postnatal weight gain are uncertain but could be through an effect of the prenatal environment on the hypothalamus. This work proposes to apply neuroimaging of the hypothalamus in infants to better understand the central nervous system contributors to postnatal weight gain. Previous studies have demonstrated that microstructural abnormalities (gliosis) in a key brain region for energy homeostasis, the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), precede obesity in animal models of diet-induced obesity, and is also associated with obesity in both children and adults. The aims of this proposal are to: 1) determine the role of neonatal hypothalamic gliosis in rapid postnatal weight gain; 2) using MRIs collected in infants with prenatal cannabis exposure (PCE) as a model of fetal growth restriction, determine if hypothalamic gliosis is increased in infants with PCE, and if this is associated with increased body weight gain. This work will advance our knowledge of central mechanisms that might link prenatal exposure to obesity risk and support future grant applications studying brain contributions to the early life origins of obesity.

Dr. Kendra Francis-Stream, MD, has been awarded a Pilot and Feasibility Award through the UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center for her project entitled: “Mechanisms of exclusive enteral nutritional therapy in Crohn’s disease.”

Dr. Francis-Stream received a BA at Pomona College, CA before completing her MD at the University of Washington. She subsequently completed her residency and fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital and the University of Washington within the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Francis-Stream was recently promoted to an Assistant Professor within the Department of Pediatrics and the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. She is a pediatric gastroenterologist with clinical expertise and a research interest in the pathophysiology of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease.

Project description: Intestinal bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are increasingly common chronic inflammatory conditions of the gastrointestinal tract that are associated with significant morbidity and economic cost. While immunosuppression therapies can promote mucosal healing and lead to clinical remission, exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is also safe and effective treatment for CD without need for immunosuppression, although the underlying mechanism(s) remain to be elucidated. An important part of intestinal barrier function is the intestinal extracellular matrix (ECM). This proposal will detail the effect of EEN on an important component of the ECM, chondroitin sulfate and dermatan sulfate glycosaminoglycan (CS/DS-GAG) chains. In support of this, recent work from the Francis-Stream laboratory has show pathological alterations in the CS/DS-GAG composition in the ileum of patients with active CD, but have yet to detail how these alterations may be affected by EEN therapy. To test this, studies in Aim 1 will compare the, the CS/DS-GAG composition after EEN vs. corticosteroid induction therapy in patients with CD. Studies in Aim 2 will use a preclinical model of CD to determine whether oral supplementation of CS/DS-GAG components will improve disease outcomes with or without EEN therapy. This work will be supported by the Nutrition Obesity Research Center Energy Balance Core, the Clinical and Translational Research Services Core and the Biostatistics Subcore. The overarching hypothesis is that EEN will induce clinical remission by normalizing the imbalance of inflammatory and stabilizing CS/DS-GAG components in the ileum of patients with CD, and in preclinical models of CD. Such a finding would support future clinical trials testing EEN and CS/DS-GAGs in patients with CD.

2023 UW NORC ADVANCE P&F RECIPIENTS:

Dr. Karolline May, PhD, has been awarded a UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Research ADVANCE Award, which targets early career scientists from underrepresented groups. The title of her project is: “SCFA serve as a direct link between gut microbiota and adipocyte metabolism via FFAR2 signaling, thereby beneficially regulating whole-body homeostasis.”

Dr. May completed her PhD at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. She subsequently accepted a postdoctoral fellowship position at the University of Washington, Seattle WA in the laboratory of Dr. Laura den Hartigh within the Department of Medicine and Division of Metabolism, Endocrinology and Nutrition. Dr. May’s research examines the relationship between gut microbiota, adipose tissue metabolism and metabolic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Project description: The obesity epidemic represents an impediment to public health and increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and cancer. Manipulation of the gut microbiota has emerged as a promising approach to treat obesity and its co-morbidities, yet the metabolic impact on organ systems beyond the gut remains underexplored. This proposal centers on unraveling the mechanisms whereby gut microbiota-derived metabolites, in particular the short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) acetate, impact host adipose tissue physiology to modulate lipid, glucose, and energy homeostasis. Circulating SCFAs, mainly acetate, propionate, and butyrate, comprise the major output of the bacterial fermentation of non-digestible fibers. The major SCFA receptor, free fatty acid receptor 2 (FFAR2), is highly expressed in adipocytes, suggesting a potentially critical but underexplored signaling link between the gut and adipose tissue. Work from the May laboratory has recently found that mice deficient in FFAR2 only from adipocytes exhibit accelerated high-fat high sucrose (HFHS)-mediated weight gain, and that acetate supplementation as well as a high-fiber diet both improve glucose metabolism (not shown), thus providing a functional “brake” on obesity. Based on these findings, with support of the NORC Energy Balance Core, this grant proposes to determine whether SCFAs serve as a direct link between gut microbiota and adipocyte metabolism via FFAR2 signaling, thereby beneficially regulating whole-body homeostasis.

Dr. Vitor Oliveira, PhD, has been awarded a UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center Pilot and Feasibility Research ADVANCE Award, which targets early career scientists from underrepresented groups. The title of her project is: “Relationship between Myosteatosis, Sarcopenia, Physical Activity, and Diet Among Adults With HIV.”

Dr. Vitor Oliveira is an Acting Instructor at the University of Washington School of Nursing. He is an exercise scientist interested in studying the relationship between HIV and physical function, and the effects of exercise interventions on the health outcomes of people living with HIV. Dr. Oliveira completed his education in Brazil, which included a master’s and doctoral degree in kinesiology at Londrina State University. Dr. Oliveira’s career goals are to lead multidisciplinary research projects examining how to improve the physical function and quality of life of people living with HIV and continue exploring changes that occur in physical function over the lifespan in this population.

Project description: Myosteatosis, or the pathological excess fat accumulation in muscle, is associated with impaired muscle strength and physical performance, negative metabolic outcomes, and lower survival. Myosteatosis is distinct from sarcopenia, as it is independent of the amount of muscle mass, but likely acts synergistically with sarcopenia in developing negative health outcomes. Thus, myosteatosis has been considered a relevant, yet poorly explored contributor to sarcopenia. Contemporary studies on myosteatosis focused on community-dwelling populations that were relatively healthy, but myosteatosis as a potentially crucial component of muscle composition in aging was recently emphasized by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and differentially affects people living with HIV (PWH). PWH are a population that presents characteristics that can increase the risk of myosteatosis, such as increased life expectancy, increased obesity rates, associations between new antiviral therapy (ART) drugs and increased body fat, and mitochondrial dysfunction. This proposal plans to investigate the associations between myosteatosis, sarcopenia and modifiable lifestyle behaviors (i.e., habitual physical activity and diet intake) among PWH by leveraging the structure of a clinical research network already in place and with the support of the NORC Clinical and Translational Research Services Core. The data generated from this work will help identify novel associations among PWH with a higher potential of developing physical dysfunction that may be used to inform future lifestyle intervention studies to manage myosteatosis and sarcopenia in this, and other high-risk populations.

2023 UW NORC P&F RECIPIENTS:

Dr. David Hendrixson, MD, has been awarded a Pilot and Feasibility Award through the UW Nutrition Obesity Research Center for his project entitled: “The plasma metabolome, gut microbiome, and growth in HIV-exposed uninfected infants.”

Dr. Hendrixson received a BA and BS at Harding University, AR before completing his MD at the University of Alabama, AL. Dr. Hendrixson subsequently completed his residency and fellowship at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine within the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Hendrixson is currently an Assistant Professor within the Department of Pediatrics and the Division of Neonatology.  He is a neonatologist and pediatric infectious disease physician with a focus and research interest on maternal-child nutrition.

Project description: More than one-million HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children are born annually, with the majority in sub-Saharan Africa. HEU infants are at increased risk of poor linear growth, infectious morbidity, and mortality compared to their HIV unexposed, uninfected peers. Breastfeeding reduces, but does not eliminate poor health outcomes in HEU infants, despite improving maternal health with antiretroviral treatment. The biological mechanisms for vulnerabilities in breastfed HEU infants remain unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated alterations in the gut microbiome of HEU infants, as well as alterations in acylcarnitines, branched chain amino acids, and lipid profiles. Thus, it is possible that systemic metabolic dysfunction is associated with maternal HIV infection that may alter the infant gut microbiome, resulting in perturbations to the infant plasma metabolome, and lipidome and thereby affect infant outcomes. We hypothesize that HIV exposure will alter the infant plasma metabolome and that these alterations will be associated with the infant gut microbiome and predict infant growth. To accomplish this, we will leverage the Tunza Mwana Kenyan birth cohort including lactating women living with and without HIV and their infants. We propose to characterize metabolic relationships between HIV exposure, the gut microbiome, and plasma metabolome and to identify metabolomic profiles in plasma associated with infant growth. This work will identify key elements in breastmilk that are disrupted and lead to profound effects on infant health. These data will inform future clinical trials investigating supplementation strategies to improve infant growth and neurodevelopment.