Merkin Innovation Seed Grants

We invite proposals for the next round of Merkin Innovation Seed (MIS) Grants to fund projects of <$100K each. These awards provide early support for translational projects, emphasizing partnerships between Caltech labs and clinicians, who will typically be from outside Caltech. Projects developed from the Bob Grubbs Medical Innovation Symposia are encouraged, but projects and clinical partnerships developed in other ways are equally welcome.

Submission Deadline was Nov. 6, 2023.

If awarded, funding will go directly to the lab of the Caltech PI(s) to perform feasibility studies to validate the potential healthcare innovation and to position them, if successful, for additional internal or external grant funding or for commercialization.

Eligibility:

• The program is open to all Caltech Professors and Research Professors as lead PIs. 
• Multi-faculty projects are welcome, but you must identify a lead-PI for grant purposes.
• Research requiring IRB, IACUC, IBC approvals or MTAs can commence only after the approvals (or exemptions, as applicable) are obtained.

Please direct inquiries to Dr. George Tolomiczenko (Merkin ED) gtolomic@caltech.edu.

Grant application format: (NOTE: We will only consider applications that follow the format below. All items are required.)

1. Biomedical problem and projected impact. Define the clinical need your project addresses and discuss its importance, including the unsolved clinical need, prevalence, and current solutions. Describe the advantages of your solution relative to current standard of care and/or to any competing approach under development. If applicable, outline the potential for generalizing to other diseases, clinical settings, etc.
2. Approach. Give specific aims, pertinent preliminary data and outline how you plan to use the award to establish proof of concept. Include milestones linked to a projected timeline.
3. Team. Describe the team, identifying the research/engineering and clinical components and how they will interact. State any plan for matching funds from the clinical partner or other source.
4. Beyond the seed grant: Outline your plan to move the project forward after the seed award.

Parts 1-4 combined (up to three pages maximum, including figures, but not including references).

1. One budget page with brief justifications. Discuss any other funding in place, pending or anticipated.

• List salaries, supplies, charges for CROs etc. All costs are direct. Sub-awards should be listed if they are planned.
• Either confirm that no other funding for this project has been applied for or list other funding related to this application and the timing of these (potential) funds. Would other funds complement or overlap Merkin funding?

1. A signed Division Approval Form.

Criteria for selection include:

• Overall scientific strength of the project.
• The team and the link with clinicians and clinical science partners.
• Anticipated translational impact.
• The current path and vision to achieve translation into the clinic or other appropriate venue.
• Adequacy of additional funds – if needed – including from the partner institution or other sources.

Proposal submission:

The Caltech PI should attach the proposal (in pdf format) to an email and send it to this Box address: MIS_Fal.qotla9ppzdeg8x8e@u.box.com. This will automatically deposit the attached proposal in the submission folder. You will receive an automated confirmation of receipt. If you do not receive the expected automated confirmation, report that failure in an email George Tolomiczenko (gtolomic@caltech.edu),attaching your application pdf to the message.

Name your attached proposal file as follows: MIS_SubN_ Last Name_First Name. For example, the second (corrected or updated) proposal submitted from Groucho Marx would be named "MIS_Sub2_Marx_Groucho" His first submission would have been "MIS_Sub1_Marx_Groucho"

The submission deadline was November 6, 2023, with awards expected to begin in December.