Urinary kidney injury biomarkers and tobramycin clearance among children and young adults with cystic fibrosis: a population pharmacokinetic analysis
Tobramycin is frequently used for treatment of bronchopneumonia in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Variability in tobramycin clearance (CL) is high in this population with few reliable approaches to guide dosing. Kevin Downes and colleagues evaluated the pharmacokinetics of once-daily intravenous tobramycin in patients with CF and tested the influence of covariates on tobramycin CL, including serum creatinine (SCr) and urinary biomarkers: neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), retinol-binding protein (RBP) and kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1).

Value of Procalcitonin Measurement for Early Evidence of Severe Bacterial Infections in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
This study aims to determine whether peak blood procalcitonin (PCT) measured within 48 hours of pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission can differentiate severe bacterial infections from sterile inflammation and viral infection and identify potential subgroups of PICU patients for whom PCT may not have clinical utility.

Low rates of pregnancy screening in adolescents before teratogenic exposures in a national sample of children's hospitals
Adolescents with cancer engage in sexual behaviors and are exposed to teratogenic chemotherapy. There are no data regarding pregnancy screening patterns for adolescents before chemotherapy exposure.

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CHOP Bridge Funding Program (due Sept 30)
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Research Institute is seeking applications for its Bridge Funding Program, a semi-annual competitive process. The program provides up to 12 months of funding for laboratory, translational and clinical research projects to enable the continuation of an essential level of activity that can lead to additional external funding. Applications should be sent to Robert DeNight by September 30, 2016.

CPCE Pilot Grant Program (due Oct 1)
CPCE offers Pilot Grants twice per year to support CHOP investigators in clinical effectiveness studies that will attract external support for larger-scale projects. Investigators from all CHOP departments and divisions, including fellows in their final year of fellowship transitioning to a faculty position at CHOP, are encouraged to apply. Selected proposals will be supported for up to a maximum of $10,000 for one year. Proposals are typically due April 1 and October 1.

Burroughs Wellcome Fund: Career Awards for Medical Scientists (due Oct 3)
The Career Awards for Medical Scientists (CAMS) is a highly competitive program that provides $700,000 awards over five years for physician-scientists, who are committed to an academic career, to bridge advanced postdoctoral/fellowship training and the early years of faculty service. Proposals must be in the area of basic biomedical, disease-oriented, or translational research. Candidates must have received their most recent earned clinical doctorate degree within the last 11 calendar years; Candidates holding K awards are eligible.

Center for Perinatal and Pediatric Health Disparities Research (CPHD) Pilot Grants (due Oct 5)
CPHD offers a Pilot Project Funding Opportunity once a year through its Pilot Grant Program. The purpose of this program is to promote and support health disparities (HD) investigators in research specific to perinatal and pediatric health disparities and health equity. The CPHD Pilot Grant Program aims to engage fellows and junior faculty in HD research and to assist established faculty in developing new lines of research in this area. Investigators from all institutions and disciplines including fellows are encouraged to apply; however, at least one investigator and/or consultant on the project must be from CHOP. The award range is between $2,500 and $10,000 for one year. Projects must be completed within one year. Applications are due October 5. Successful applicants will be notified in November. Awards will have a start date on or around December 1.

Rally Foundation (Letter of Intent due Oct 13)
Rally funds research in the following areas: Under-studied cancer types; Innovative approaches to childhood cancer research which could lead to advanced studies or clinical trials; Studies that are likely to lead to a clinical trial, personalized, alternative, or integrated research proposals; Quality of life and survivorship research proposals. The Foundation awards grants in three categories: Fellowship Grants, Young Investigator and Independent Investigator Research Grants, and Consortium Grants.

CHOP Pilot Grant (Letter of Intent due Oct 15)
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is soliciting pilot grants to stimulate new research initiatives between basic and clinical researchers, with at least one of the collaborative PIs based at CHOP. The other faculty may be based at any Penn school. Priority will be given to co-investigators who are forging a new research initiative or to co-investigators who have not yet worked together. Funding will be for one year at $50,000, with an additional year of funding contingent on success towards the research objectives. Please submit your letter of intent (one page maximum, minimum 11 pt Arial or similar font) to Bob DeNight by October 15, 2016. Selected applicants will be asked to submit a full proposal by December 1, 2016.

OnPAR Program for Unfunded NIH Proposals
Last year, the NIH received approximately $30 billion in federal support. In spite of this amount, about 42,500 grants were not funded. To address these unfunded proposals, the NIH has a new Pilot Program that is designed to match researchers with nonprofit disease Foundations or with investments from private companies. Through a new collaboration between the NIH and the private contractor Leidos, researchers can now upload their unfunded NIH Proposals into an online portal at the Online Partnership to Accelerate Research (OnPAR). Foundations and other potential funders can review the NIH scores, and decide whether they might be interested in funding the Projects. Currently, this Pilot Program allows researchers with priority scores better than the 30th percentile to submit their abstracts. Interested Foundations might ask that a researcher send their full NIH Application along with its scores. The consensus opinion is that there are a lot of worthy grants being submitted to the NIH, but there is only so much funding available. OnPAR is one way of trying to match researchers with private Foundations.