Stanford-Coulter Translational Research Grants

CALL FOR PROPOSALS [REVISED 9/11/09]

Deadline: October 15, 2009 REVISED deadline for 2010 grants

Program: The Wallace H. Coulter Foundation provides funding to support collaborative translational research projects that involve co-investigators from the Department of Bioengineering and a clinical department in the School of Medicine. The goal of this program is to encourage research that addresses unmet clinical needs and leads to improvements in health care and to commercial products. Examples of desirable outcomes include inventions, patents, improved diagnosis and treatment of disease, commercial products, licenses, commercial partnerships and start-up companies.

Criteria: Each proposal must have co-investigators, at least one of whom has a full or joint appointment in the Department of Bioengineering at Stanford and at least one clinical investigator from a clinical department in the School of Medicine. The research must relate directly to applications in health care, and the objectives of the project should include an outcome that will benefit patients. Evaluation of proposals will be on the basis of innovation and scientific merit, potential health care impact, technical feasibility and the potential for commercialization. Award recipients will be required to prepare brief written quarterly progress reports and to present project updates to the Coulter Oversight Committee in July and December.

Submission: We strongly encourage applicants to discuss their proposal with Paul Yock (yock@stanford.edu), Russ Altman (russ.altman@stanford.edu), or Ari Chaney (achaney@stanford.edu) before submission. There will be two phases to the proposal submission. Initial summary proposals must be submitted by October 15, 2009 via e-mail to Dawn Wojick, dwojick@stanford.edu. These initial proposals should be 1-2 pages in length, and should include a summary of the base technology, a description of the product or service to be developed, and a translational plan of the milestones, timing, and cost to bring the product or service to market.

If the proposal is promising, you will be notified within a few days that the you are requested to submit a full proposal by October 22 (per the format below).

An Oversight Committee will review the proposals and make recommendations on funding priority. Applicants will be notified in mid-December for funding to begin January, 2010. (Important Note: Final candidates will be asked to give a brief presentation in early December).

Format: Full proposals should not exceed five pages, excluding a cover page, a budget page, and a two-page CV of co-investigators. The cover page should contain the project title, names of the co-investigators, amount requested, a one-paragraph summary, and the approval/signature of the department chair of the co-investigator who is not in the Bioengineering Department. The grant proposal must include: (proposals will be rejected if any component is missing)

• Explanation of clinical importance of project (e.g., clinical need, envisioned product,)
• Status of intellectual property, description of ongoing IP strategy
• A statement of risk analysis for each: clinical need, engineering/science feasibility, intellectual property, business/market,
• Expected specific milestones (per quarter) and research plan for achieving them
• List of current funding and pending proposals for each co-investigator
• Plan for funding after Coulter award expires
• Approvals for animals and human subjects (if needed during grant period.) If the project has not already been disclosed to OTL, it is strongly recommended that an Invention and Technology Disclosure be submitted to OTL by the October 15 deadline. See http://otl.stanford.edu/inventors/disclosures.html

Duration: Grants will be for a one-year period, and may be submitted for renewal. Renewal applications must have a comparison of milestones achieved vs. those planned in the original submission. Renewal applications will be evaluated on a competitive basis with new applications. No Cost Extensions may be applied for by using this form.

Budgets: Grants may be requested for up to $100,000 direct cost for one year. Funds may be used for salary support of faculty, graduate students and other research staff, but may not be used for general staff or administrative support or for tuition. Operating supplies, minor equipment items, prototyping expenses, imaging time and travel directly associated with the research activity are examples of eligible budget items.