PET TRUST
CALL FOR PROPOSALS – Fall 2012
Pet Trust Mandate: The OVC Pet Trust Fund helps explore vital companion animal health
issues, develop new diagnostic and treatment techniques and examine the human-animal bond.
The Pet Trust provides support for research that advances the health and quality of life of
companion animals (excluding equine). Approximately $250,000 is available to be allocated in
this competition. All funds will be awarded following a peer review by the Companion Animal
Scientific Committee. The process for the grant competition is described below.
Pre-proposals evaluation: Pre-proposals will be reviewed by the Research Committee
composed of three non-veterinary Pet Trust Board members, the Small Animal Clinic Head, the
Chair of the Companion Animal Scientific Committee, three companion animal practitioners and
the Associate Dean, Research and Innovation. The Research Committee will approve Preproposals that closely address the mandate of Pet Trust and best reflect the desires and
expectations of the donors. The productivity of previously funded Pet Trust research projects is a
fundamental expectation of the Pet Trust board and a key criterion of Pre-proposal approval.
Full proposals will then be invited for peer review by the Companion Animal Scientific Review
Committee. Full proposals should be of a quality suitable for an application for funding to an
external funding agency. Incomplete and late proposals will not be considered for funding.
Deadlines
Date
September 10
October 8
November 7
November 23
November 30
December 3
December 10
December 19
January 7
Event or Deadline
Call for pre-proposals
Pre-proposals and PT Information Files due to Assoc. Dean Research
Research Committee decision on pre-proposals for full proposal submission
MOUs due to Associate Dean Administration
OR5 forms, full proposals due to Assoc. Dean Research for review/signing
OR5 forms and full proposal due to Office of Research for review/signing
Full proposals with signed OR-5 form due to Associate Dean Research
Companion Animal Scientific Review Committee meets to review proposals
Announcement of approved projects
Pre-proposal applications
Please complete the pre-proposal application on the attached forms. No more than two (2) preproposals will be considered from any one Principal Investigator.
1.
Title: This will be used in publications outside the College. Please ensure that the title is
clear and can be readily understood by lay people. Limit title to100 characters including
spaces.
2.
Applicants: List all faculty members involved with the project. Please write the name of
the principal investigator first. Normally the principal investigator is a faculty member
with a term covering the length of the proposed research project.
3.
Graduate Student Involvement: List the graduate student’s name, degree program and
semester of completion.
4.
Description of Project in lay language: The pre-proposal should be written in lay
language that can be readily understood and appropriate for general publications. It
should be sufficiently clear to ensure that objectives, scientific approach, expected
outcomes and novelty can be appreciated by the reader. Bear in mind that Pet Trust
places particular emphasis on investigation of common health problems, the training of
specialists, and the development of new diagnostic, therapeutic and surgical techniques.
DO NOT EXCEED THE SPACE AVAILABLE. (Font size not less than 10 pt – sizes
below this will be rejected)
Please Note: Although the pre-proposal committee will not judge the scientific merit of the
proposed study, pre-proposals must have adequate detail on the research design and protocol for
the committee to assess them with emphasis on the following criteria:
1. Relevance to Pet Trust
 Important common or emerging health issues and diseases most often resulting in
morbidity or mortality
 Development or improvement of treatment regimes or diagnostic modalities
 Prevention of important diseases or suffering including behavioural problems affecting
the human animal bond
 Practice management issues particularly related to communication that results in
improving companion animal health and enhancing the human-animal bond.
2. Relative Importance to Companion Animals
 Studies that have potentially profound scientific impact or applicable animal health
benefit in relation to the financial investment
 Studies that are relevant to all companion animals including dogs, cats as well as small
domesticated mammals (i.e. “pocket pets”), reptiles, amphibians, avian and fish. Large
companion animals i.e. horses, donkeys, mules and llamas etc. are excluded.
3. Ethical Use of Animals
 Study does not cause disease, injury, pain or distress (except short-term minor pain that
can be controlled by analgesia or anesthesia)
 Study is not terminal and does not include euthanasia of the animal
 The use of research animals is justified and statistical evidence indicates that the number
of research and/or client-owned animals is appropriate and minimally adequate to achieve
proposed results (i.e. power analysis was conducted to calculate sample size in
consultation with a statistician)
 The use of client-owned animals is justified and informed consent is to be sought
 Animal use is humane and consistent with Animal Care Committee guidelines
 Investigators and staff are qualified to conduct procedures on living animals
Additional Information:
 Collaborative research projects involving clinicians and basic researchers are strongly
encouraged.
 Translational research projects that target practical applications of the knowledge will
receive high priority.
 Evidence of consistent research productivity from previous Pet Trust grants (e.g. research
articles that are either published or in press) is a key factor in Pet Trust grant approval.
The completed forms should be submitted electronically to Barb Gaudette,
bgaudett@uoguelph.ca. Pet Trust Information Files should be included with the Preproposal. OR-5 and MOU forms for use of HSC resources should be submitted with
the full application.
PET TRUST PRE-PROPOSAL
Fall 2012
New Project
1.Title
2. Lay Title
3. Applicants
4. Grad students
5. Description of Project in lay language:
6. Categories: (Check one)
Diseases
Cancer
Infectious Allergy/Immunemediated
Metabolic /Genetic
Degenerative/Geriatric
Molecular Basis of Disease
New Project
Intervention
Anesthesia & Pain
Management
Therapeutics, Pharmacology
& Toxicology
Diagnostic Modalities
Surgery
Health Care
Critical Care
Preventative Health
Nutrition
Primary Care
Behaviour, human/animal bond
and communications
Pet2wint.doc
Information for the Pet Trust Research (Pre-Proposal) Committee
1.
What is the main purpose of the proposed project? (check the correct area/s)
a) to address a common problem in non-specialty companion animal practice
b) to address a less common but heretofore unresolved disease mechanism, diagnosis,
or treatment question in non-specialty companion animal practice
c)
to address a question/problem of relevance to speciality or referral practice
(including species specialization)
d) to address a “basic” or more fundamental mechanistic question that has relevance
only to companion animal medicine
e)
to address a “basic” or more fundamental mechanistic question that has relevance
to companion animals and also other species, including humans
f)
to determine whether a recent advance in human medical diagnosis and therapeutics
has relevance to companion animal medicine
g) Other (Explain)
2.
Does the project utilize client animals
3.
If the project utilizes research animals, rather than client animals, explain why this is necessary?
4.
If the project utilizes research animals, what will happen to the animals after the study, and why was
this choice made?
5.
If the project utilizes tissue samples or cell culture lines, how will these be obtained?
6.
Do you have any additional comments/clarification in relation to the relevance, need for animal use, or
possible animal welfare/ethics. If so, add here.
, research animals
, both
, or no animals
?