Internal review committee

The internal review committee (IRC) reviews every user proposal submitted to the BioF:GREAT User Facility. Five members sit on each panel: three permanent members who serve for the full award period, plus two members who rotate annually, drawn from the co-principal investigators and Key Personnel. The IRC meets bi-annually.

Rotating the panel each year spreads the review load across the team and brings the expertise of a different pair of laboratories to each year’s proposals, while the three permanent members carry continuity of standards from one year to the next. Proposals needing expertise outside the team are additionally sent to the external review board; independent oversight of the initiative as a whole rests with the executive advisory committee.

Permanent members

Dr. Parastoo Azadi

Co-Principal Investigator

Permanent member

Dr. Christian Heiss

Key Personnel

Permanent member

Steven Berardinelli

Managing Director

Permanent member

Rotating members by award year

Award yearCo-principal investigator Key PersonnelStatus
Y1Dr. Kelley MoremenDr. Ian Wallacecompleted
Y2Dr. Kelley MoremenDr. Ian Wallacecurrent year
Y3Dr. Bree UrbanowiczDr. Michael Tiemeyernext rotation
Y4Dr. Natarajan KannanDr. Christopher Westscheduled
Y5Dr. Erin DolanDr. Franklin Leach IIIscheduled
Y6Dr. Kelley MoremenDr. Ana Ramirezscheduled
How review works. The IRC assesses each proposal for scientific merit, feasibility and fit to the facility’s capabilities, and confirms that the work needs capabilities unavailable or limited at the user’s home institution. The user proposals page describes what a proposal should contain; the user flow chart shows where internal and external review sit in the process. Routine analytical work does not require a proposal — use the service request form instead.