Bridge Guidelines & Instructions

Eligibility:

• Only full-time faculty at Touro University in New York, California, Nevada, Illinois, Berlin, and at New York Medical College are eligible for funding through this program.
• Applicants must have submitted a competitive, continuation / renewal grant application and received a critique that forecasts a reasonable expectation of future funding. In the case of funding sources that do not provide critiques, equivalent documentation from the sponsor should be provided.
• The Principal Investigator (PI) must have an active research program with demonstrable evidence of recent productivity (e.g., extramural support and publications within the past two years).
• PI must have exhausted all other forms of internal (e.g., start-up) or external funds available for support of the specific project or must demonstrate that such funds will be exhausted prior to the start date of a Bridge Funding grant.  Ideally, 90-95% of direct funding should have been expended during the period of the full period of prior funding.
• We ask that PIs submitting a proposal for 2026 and onward review their own work for AI usage in reference to the new guideline.

Submission and Review Process:

• Letters of Intent are due: July 20, 2026
• This is a mandatory requirement going forward.
• The letter of intent must include the title of the proposed submission and specify all investigators and their affiliations and positions
• Applications for the spring competition are due on August 21, 2026.
• Applications must include the unsuccessful renewal application score (if available) and a copy of the critique/summary statement or some written indication of funding viability for the proposal.
• Proposed studies must specifically and carefully address the issues raised by the external review process. If applicants plan to seek continued funding from a different agency or program, they must justify the switch in sponsors and program and explain why a future proposal to the new sponsor ought to be considered potentially competitive. Provide a timeline for proposal submission.
• Applications will be reviewed by an internal review panel comprised of investigators who have active research programs and/or grant review experience at the national level (e.g., NIH or AHA). Composition of the review panel may vary for each submission deadline to insure appropriate content expertise.
• All proposals will be scored using NIH criteria modified to fit the purpose of this program.  A short written review will be provided to applicants.

Funding:

• Awards will be made for up to $50,000 for a twelve-month period.
• Proposals that are not funded on first submission may be revised and re-submitted at a subsequent deadline; however, such proposals must also specifically and carefully address the issues raised by the initial Bridge Funding Grant review.
• Budget direct costs may support scientific personnel, supplies, and services.  However, salary support for the PI is not permitted.  With very strong justification, equipment and/or travel costs necessary to conduct the research may be requested.

Instructions

1. Face Page: Complete as indicated. Institutional approvals for use of human subjects, animals, and/or biohazards will be required on a just-in-time basis. (Download Face Page form).
   
   
2.  Research Plan (limit 4 pages, excluding references): Include specific aims, significance and impact, brief research strategy providing an overall rationale for the experimental approaches proposed (avoiding highly specific details regarding scientific methods).  Include a clear statement of how bridge funding will aid in addressing the issues raised by the external review process and will help achieve a higher priority score on the next submission.
   
   
3.  References (limit 2 pages): Provide complete references, including all authors & full title, to publications cited in your research plan. Font as above.
   
   
4.  Critique/Summary Statement: Include copy of critique/summary statement (for NIH grants) or equivalent review document for scored, but unfunded, application.
   
   
5.  NIH Biosketch (limit 5 pages): Include a biosketch for the PI and Co-Investigators.  List the current, pending and recent past funding (2 years) available to each applicant.  List all publications (published or in press only) in the past five years. (Form and sample are provided) [Download Biosketch form]
   
   
6.  Budget:  Use the form provided. Funds cannot be used for investigators’ salaries, renovation, membership dues, or indirect costs or IRB fees to other institutions. (Download Budget form)
   
   
7. Budget Justification (limit 1 page):  All items must be fully justified, following the format of the budget page; indicate the % effort and describe the role of all personnel.
8. Reporting AI Usage (1-2 sentences within justification page): We ask that PIs submitting a proposal for 2026 and onward review their own work for AI usage in reference to the new guideline: Usage of artificial intelligence for the proposal on any scale must be reported and will undergo an internal quality check. Any and all proposals will only be accepted if AI usage is detected at or under 30%. Please check your submission content for this before submitting, as we will not be returning for corrections going forward. Please review the Touro University Use of AI in Research Policy.

Additional pages may be created using a word-processing package (e.g., MS Word), then converted to .pdf files. When completed the above must be combined into one pdf file named:
“Lastname_Firstname_Bridge_2026.pdf”

Submit the application to: NYMC-OVPResearch@nymc.edu

Questions:

Questions about the Bridge Funding Grant Program may be addressed to NYMC-OVPResearch@nymc.edu.