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Rogers Bridging the Gap Award
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
A major mission of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) is to strengthen the California Life Science industries by catalyzing the translation of basic scientific discoveries, usually arising from federally funded research, to practical benefit. To help achieve this goal, an award has been created with generous support from The Rogers Family Foundation. The Foundation has committed to support this program through 2012 if it continues to fulfill its goal, with annual calls for proposals. The Foundation wishes to encourage translational research that will bring both medical and non-medical benefits to society more quickly than would happen without special funding.
QB3 invites applications for support that would enable a team of investigators led by a QB3 faculty member to execute research that should lead, within a reasonable period of time, to practical benefits. Working with the Rogers Family Foundation, QB3 hopes to make three awards in the amount of $100,000 per year, for a fund year beginning 2009. The application deadline is Friday, October 17, 2008.
ELIGIBILITY & AWARD CRITERIA
Funding is on a competitive basis, with support going to research project proposals that best fit the following criteria:
- The research must be novel and capable of yielding practical benefit to society within a reasonable timeframe. Projects that can yield benefit in 3 to 5 years are preferred.
- The Principal Investigator must be a QB3 faculty member.
- The research must not currently be funded by other sources, although matching grants and gifts in kind are encouraged.
- While not required, collaborations with other QB3 scientists, clinicians, engineers, computer scientists, or industry scientists is encouraged
- The Principal Investigator provides specific and precise milestones and timelines that will enable the Award Committee to assess at the end of the first year the degree to which the research project has achieved its goals. To encourage investigators to set feasible benchmarks, an additional $25,000 award of discretionary funds will be made to a Principal Investigator who achieves his or her goals within the predicted timeline.
- The Awards Committee plans to set aside funding sufficient to provide awardees a second year of support at the same level. However, for this funding to be released, the Principal Investigator will have to re-apply at the 2010 call for proposals and provide clear evidence of concrete progress towards the first year’s milestones. A PI who contemplates applying for a second year must state what he or she hopes to achieve in nine months that will verify progress for the Awards Committee.
- The ideal outcome of Rogers Bridging-the-Gap support will be the filing of an intellectual property patent, the creation of a new company or the equivalent based on the funded research. If such an outcome is a possibility then the Principal Investigator should draw attention to it. It will also strengthen an application if one or more team-members have increased their familiarity with the challenges of taking an idea through to a practical benefit by attending some form of entrepreneurship classes.
- Principal Investigators should be open to receiving project management support from QB3 knowledge brokers in order to track progress. Through the concepts described within the Innovation Toolkit, QB3 will aid the project in finding further resources to develop the proposed concept (e.g. collaborators, core facilities, etc.) or develop a business plan where appropriate.
- Experience with Pfizer and Gates funding of translational research has shown the importance funding agencies attach to attentive project management. QB3 is now capable of providing project management service through its Innovation Toolkit. Proposals should state if they see value in working with QB3 project management staff to track progress.
Awarded funding must be spent within one year of the beginning of the award date of January 1, 2009. Unspent funds will be retrieved and used to support the 2010 round of funding. Funds cannot be used to support faculty salaries or pay for capital improvements.
QB3 has three staff scientists, Drs. Douglas Crawford, Tracy Saxton, and Marc Shuman, whose primary task is to encourage cross-disciplinary, collaborative research that will benefit society. They are available to help QB3 faculty assemble teams, prepare proposals, and discuss how to best apply for Rogers funding. They also can provide valuable insight into whether or not any proposal is likely to be funded. To ensure that time is spent preparing a proposal with a reasonable chance of funding, we urge potential Principal Investigators to make contact with one of them.
A similar fund at MIT, the Deshpande fund, asks that those who are helped to bring their research to the marketplace consider make voluntary donations of equity in any start-up or donate a small fraction of licensing income. This opens the possibility of sustainable “bridging-the-gap” funding. The Rogers Family Foundation hopes that QB3 scientists might also want to help create an “evergreen” fund in this way to continue the program after their support is over.
SELECTION PROCESS
The five applications that best fit the goals of this award will be selected by a QB3 Scientific Committee made up of representatives of all three campuses and industry associates of QB3. The five finalists will give an oral presentation to the Awards Committee on 17 November 2008 who will decide the three projects to be funded. The Awards Committee is selected by the Rogers Foundation. Projects to be funded will be announced on 1 December 2008. The winners give an oral report on their work to the Awards Committee at the end of their project to determine eligibility for the bonus discretionary funding award.
Note: Applications do not go through campus contracts and grants administrative procedures, as this fund is administered directly through QB3.
HOW TO APPLY
Submit Complete Application by October 17 to:
Rogers Bridging the Gap Award
ATTN: Millo Mau Pasquini, Project Manager
1700 4th Street, Suite 214
San Francisco, CA 94143-2522
E-mail: millo.pasquini@ucsf.edu
Complete Application includes:
- Cover page
- Abstract (250 words maximum)
- Project narrative (4 pages maximum)
- Budget
- Bibliography
- Supplemental material (if appropriate)
- Biosketch (4 pages maximum, NIH format)
- Other support
Special notes:
- Complete all application materials in no smaller than 10- to 12-point type.
- Only electronic and hard-copy applications will be accepted -- no applications will be accepted via fax.
- Only complete applications will be considered in the review process
- Contact Project Manager Millo Mau Pasquini, 415-476-3175, millo.pasquini@ucsf.edu, with any questions.
Detailed application instructions
1. COVER PAGE
- Project title.
- Principal Investigator (PI): The individual who will be primarily responsible for implementing this proposal and for reporting to the QB3 administration.
- Co-PI(s) who are collaborating on the proposal.
- Contact information for PI and co-PIs.
- Signatures of PI and either department chair or campus director.
2. ABSTRACT – Maximum 250 words
The abstract must state the applicant’s immediate and long-term objectives and specific aims. Avoid summaries of past accomplishments. The abstract is meant to serve as a succinct and accurate description of the proposal when separated from the application. Underline 5-10 key words that categorize and identify the major thrust(s) of the project.
3. PROJECT NARRATIVE – Maximum 4 single-spaced pages
Organize the section similarly to an NIH grant, including answers to the following questions: What do you intend to do? What are your specific aims? Why is the work important and how novel is this work? Why is the proposed research relevant to a need of society? Is there a potential translational impact and in what area is it relevant (diagnosis, prevention, prognosis, treatment, etc.)? What have you and others already done in research related to the application? How are you going to do the work?
The suggested format is as follows:
- Specific Aims: State concisely and realistically what the research is intended to accomplish and/or what hypothesis is to be tested. List measurable objectives for the proposed project.
- Significance and Background: Describe the proposal in terms of its significance, reviewing the most significant previous work and current status of related research. State the rationale behind the approach. Include relevant long-term goals and implications of possible results.
- Experimental Design/Brief Methods of Procedure: Give condensed information sufficient to allow Awards Committee to assess feasibility. Briefly describe the facilities and resources currently available to the investigators for conduct of the study.
- Timeline: List milestones to be achieved by end of first year. If planning to apply for a second year, list milestones that will be achieved by date of re-application (October, 2009). Describe if project might lead to intellectual property, new company formation, or the equivalent.
4. BUDGET AND JUSTIFICATION
All proposals must be accompanied by a budget. A separate, detailed justification page must be provided that addresses each budget item
- Personnel: Expenses with appropriate justification will be considered.
This may include salary support for postdoctoral fellows and technical or laboratory personnel.
It is not the intent of this funding mechanism to provide additional salary
support for established principal investigators.
- Other Expense Lines: Equipment, travel, and supply items are allowed. This award is not intended to fund capital improvements.
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY – Maximum 1 page
6. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL – Maximum 2 pages
No supplemental material except for tables or graphs referring directly to the text of the application should be enclosed.
7. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH – Maximum 4 pages
Attach biographical sketch for the Principal Investigator, using NIH format.
8. OTHER SUPPORT
Attach other support information for the PI and co-PIs.
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