FUNDING FOR RESEARCHERS
O P E N F U N D I N G C Y C L E S
Contact your campus site lead for more information.
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The UCDDC currently has one seed grant cycles open for 2023 to advance drug discovery and development work. Investigators can request up to $100,000 in research funding for novel ideas.
RFA 1: Letters of intent submission deadline- August 31st -2023.
The LOI form can be submitted online. Please reach out to your local site lead for the access code.
A B O U T S E E D G R A N T F U N D I N G
Contact your campus site lead for more information.
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A key tenet of the UC DDC is to expand funding and drug discovery project development throughout the UC system.
To this end, the consortium has established its annual Seed Grant Award program, whereby exceptional faculty may receive seed funding to advance promising drug discovery or drug development projects.
The projects may be a spin-off or progression of the faculty member’s basic science research. The seed funding can be used to support drug discovery activities of the faculty member and also to access core drug discovery resources at any University of California campus. Data generated with seed funding from the UC DCC is intended to position the faculty member to pursue federal, philanthropic, or commercial support to further advance their drug discovery effort.
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In addition to funding, the UC DCC will provide grantees with advice and mentoring on how to best pursue their drug discovery and development aims.
Projects from any therapeutic area are invited and may range from innovative basic science with potential for therapeutic translation to development of specific compounds or other therapeutic modalities. However, the seed funding program is not intended to support clinical research.
Principal investigators must be employed at one of the UC Drug Discovery Consortium campuses: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Cruz or San Francisco.
Seed Grant Awards Are Open!
Interested in applying?
Click here for current funding opportunities
A W A R D & A P P L I C A T I O N D E T A I L S
A W A R D S P E C I F I C S
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Applicants may apply for up to $50,000-$100,000 direct costs in grant support for a period of up to 12 months. Successful awards will also include mentoring and project management support. Additionally, contingent upon interest from a UC DDC-aligned industrial sponsor, a higher level of funding may be offered to carry out an expanded version of the project, and substantial follow-on funding and/or collaboration is possible. Multiple seed grants will be provided per annual cycle.
E L I G I B I L I T Y
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Faculty in all series and ranks at UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and UC Santa Cruz are eligible. Postdoctoral scholars, project scientists, and staff researchers are not eligible to serve as principal investigator of a UC DDC seed award unless they have been granted principal investigator status on their campus. Researchers who are UC scientists but not faculty can be listed as co-principal investigators. Any intellectual property arising from the granted research must be available for either exclusive or non-exclusive licensing to an industrial partner.
Read more about application instructions
R E Q U I R E M E N T S
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Projects should be within the stated areas of interest of an industrial sponsor and/or should develop unprecedented basic science with potential for pharmaceutical translation. Prospective applicants are invited to contact their campus DDC site lead for details.
S E L E C T I O N P R O C E S S & R E V I E W
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Applicants will submit a Letter of Intent to their campus DDC site lead. If invited, a brief, non-confidential proposal will then be submitted to their campus DDC site lead. The UC DDC Executive Committee and UC DDC industrial sponsor(s) will review these proposals and invite selected applicants to make an in-person presentation at their home campus under a non-disclosure agreement. Project(s) to be funded will be selected by industrial sponsor(s) in consultation with the Executive Committee.