Program Director: Dominic Reeds, MD

Enrichment Program Director: Brian DeBosch, MD, PhD

Washington University School of Medicine
660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110
MSC 8031-14-0002

Currently accepting applications. If you have questions, please contact: kmuehlha@wustl.edu

The Pilot and Feasibility Program provides four grant awards each year to junior faculty and helps mentor them on their projects and careers. Support is awarded for a limited time (usually one to two years) to enable eligible investigators to explore the feasibility of a concept related to the mission of the NORC, and generate sufficient data to pursue it through other funding mechanisms (e.g. R01).

The pilot and feasibility studies are intended to:

  • Provide support for new investigators seeking to test a new hypothesis or idea related to nutrition/obesity
  • Allow exploration of possible innovative new directions for established investigators already working in the nutrition/obesity field
  • Stimulate investigators from other areas to participate in nutrition/obesity research
  • Increase diversity in the NORC through existing programs focused on recruitment and retention of medical students, graduate students, residents, fellows and faculty from groups underrepresented in science

Pilot and feasibility study support is not intended for large projects by established investigators that would otherwise be submitted as separate research grant applications, nor is it intended to provide bridging support. These awards are also not intended to support or supplement ongoing funded research of an investigator.

Current Awards

AwardeeProject Title
Annie Mayer Bridwell, PhD, DVMDiabetic alterations to NETosis as mediators of heightened susceptibility to M. tuberculosis (renewal)
Rita Brookheart, PhDObesity-associated skeletal muscle dysfunction and regenerative capacity after injury (renewal-diversity supplement)
Daniel Ferguson, PhDRole of microglial mitochondria pyruvate carrier in diet-induced obesity
Julia Lopez, PhD, MPH, LCSWCommunity-based cognitive behavioral lifestyle therapy to improve diabetes-related health outcomes in an underserved Latinx population (renewal)
Andrew Lutkewitte, PhDMechanisms of adipocyte-specific Lipin 1 regulation of hepatic metabolism (renewal)
Kathleen Markan-Klostermann, PhDMechanisms underlying cellular senescence in obesity
Arin Oestreich, PhDMetabalo-epigenetic programming of fetal chondrocytes by maternal obesity
Nathaniel York, PhDHyperglycemia induced hyperexcitability:  A novel role for KATP in the progression of type 2 diabetes

Please acknowledge the Washington University NORC, Nutrition Obesity Research Center,  in your publications by: “Supported by NIH grant P30 DK056341 (Nutrition Obesity Research Center).”