Limited Submission Funding Announcements

The Hartwell Foundation Individual Biomedical Research Awards (IBRA) supports innovative, early-stage biomedical research that has not qualified for funding from traditional sources and has the potential to benefit children in the U.S.. However, research does not have to be of value to the health of U.S. children exclusively.

The Foundation funds two kinds of research:

• Translational research that targets an unmet medical need in areas such as diagnosis, intervention or prevention and has the potential to directly impact healthcare outcomes.
• Strategic research that has the potential to resolve a complex technical problem and accelerate clinical discovery and translational research.

Preliminary data is not required, and proposals should involve significant risk. The Foundation will not fund basic research, research intended to advance a commercial venture or research that has already received or will receive significant extramural funding.

FUNDING INFORMATION: $100,000 per year for three years. No indirect costs allowed. For each IBRA BU receives, the University will be able to name the recipient a Hartwell Postdoctoral Fellowship, which provides support for two years at $50,000 direct cost per year. Hartwell Fellows are also expected to be engaged in biomedical research that could benefit children in the U.S., although the research does not have to be of value to the health of U.S. children exclusively.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: This career development award is intended to have a positive effect on the career of the nominee. Mid- and late-career nominees will not be competitive. Possession of an MD is recommended but not required. If the nominee does not hold an MD, then they must have a collaborator who is a practicing physician, preferably in pediatric medicine.

All nominees must:

• Hold U.S. citizenship
• Maintain a full-time appointment
• Have adequate committed laboratory and office space to conduct the proposed research
• Agree to the Foundation’s terms and conditions

Previously funded research.

INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS: BU may forward two nominees. Interested BUMC faculty should submit the following materials listed below via InfoReady Review by June 4, 2025. If you are a faculty who works in BMC space or your research mentor is a BMC investigator and you wish to apply, please contact the Director of Strategic Research Growth Jessica Howard, at Jessica.howard@bmc.org, by Monday, May 19, 2025.

• Questions outlined in InfoReady Review application
• Two-page research proposal describing how the proposed problem is early-stage, innovative, and cutting-edge as well as the potential benefits it would bring to children. A third page may be used for citations.
• Up-to-date CV or biosketch

A faculty committee drawn from both campuses will review the internal proposals and the select nominees. Foundation Relations will work with the nominees to develop and submit the institutional nomination letter and applicant materials by Monday, Sept. 15, 2025.

DEADLINES:

• Internal Materials Due: Wednesday, June 4, 2025 by 11:59 p.m. ET
• Anticipated Notification Date: Friday, June 27, 2025
• Sponsor Deadline: Monday, Sept. 15, 2025

In requesting to be considered for this limited submission funding opportunity, you are making a commitment, if selected, to submit your proposal to the sponsor in a timely manner and to Sponsored Programs in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.

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The Susan G. Komen (SGK) Career Transition Awards (CTA) and Career Catalyst Research (CCR) grants are intended to support cutting-edge breast cancer research that will provide the greatest benefit to patients. SGK focuses on conquering metastatic and aggressive breast cancers, advancing personalized breast care and eliminating breast cancer disparities and inequities. Research projects must be hypothesis-driven, breast cancer-focused studies. They may be considered basic, translational, clinical and/or population science in nature and should align with SGK’s mission to save lives.

Career Transition Awards (CTA) aim to help outstanding senior postdoctoral and clinical research fellows launch their competitive, independent breast cancer research careers.

Career Catalyst Research (CCR) grants foster promising breast cancer researchers who are in the early stages of their faculty careers who will emerge as the next key leaders in the fight against breast cancer. SGK seeks to support investigators with “protected time” for research career development under the guidance of a mentor committee.

FUNDING INFORMATION:

CTA –Up to $650,000 over up to five years over the two phases of the award as follows:

• Phase I: Up to $100,000 per year (direct costs only) for up to two years may be requested to support the final years of postdoctoral work.
• Phase II: Up to $150,000 per year (direct and indirect costs) for up to three years to support for independent research as tenure-track investigators.

CCR – Up to $150,000 per year (combined direct and indirect costs) for up to three years ($450,000 total).

ELIGIBILITY

CTA applicants must:

• Be pursuing independent breast cancer research careers
• Be in the final years of mentored postdoctoral research training positions. Clinical fellows are considered eligible and equal to the postdoctoral rank
• Have no more than five years of total postdoctoral research experience at the time of Letter of Intent submission (July 24, 2025)

CCR applicants/PIs must:

• Currently hold a full-time faculty appointment or have a formal offer letter from the Institution that confirms position and start date by the application due date (Oct. 2, 2025).
• NOT have held any faculty appointment, including non-tenure and tenure track appointments combined, for more than a total of six years by the application due date (Oct. 2, 2025).
• NOT currently be or have been a principal investigator on an existing NIH R01 grant or their equivalent as of the date of award notification (on or around April 15, 2026).

INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS: BU may forward one nominee for each award. Interested BUMC faculty should submit the following materials listed below via InfoReady Review by Monday, June 16, 2025. If you are a faculty who works in BMC space or your research mentor is a BMC investigator and you wish to apply, please contact the program manager of Strategic Research Growth Carolina Giudice, at carolina.giudice@bmc.org by Friday, June 6, 2025.

• Short questions outlined in InfoReady Review
• Two-page research plan providing clear and concise statement of the research question, hypothesis(es) and specific aims of project throughout the grant term (five years for CTA and three years for CCR)
• Up-to-date CV

A faculty committee drawn from both campuses will review the internal proposals and select the nominees. Foundation Relations will work with the nominees to submit the institutional nomination letter and applicant materials by July 24, 2025.

DEADLINES

• Internal Materials Due: Monday, June 16, 2025, by noon ET
  Anticipated Notification Date: Monday, June 30, 2025
• Letter of Intent Due: Thursday, July 24, 2025, by 1 p.m. ET
• Letter of Intent Decision Notification: Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025

In requesting to be considered for this limited submission funding opportunity, you are making a commitment, if selected, to submit your proposal to the sponsor in a timely manner and to Sponsored Programs in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.

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The Mark Foundation Endeavor Awards support collaborative research projects that bring together investigators with diverse areas of expertise to tackle challenges in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Awards will be made to teams of three or more investigators to generate and integrate data from diverse lines of research and transform those insights into advances for cancer patients that could not be achieved by individual efforts. Teams are encouraged to consider diversity in terms of discipline, seniority, gender, race, ethnicity and other parameters that will enhance the team’s approach with fresh perspectives.

Eligible projects fit the following criteria:

• Basic, translational and clinical projects.
• The project must seek to address an overarching, urgent scientific question. Any sub-projects should be designed to elucidate various aspects of the overarching question, theme or focus.
• The output of the individual team members (data, samples, hypotheses, compounds, etc.) must be integrated and/or shared in a way that makes the impact of the project as a whole larger than the sum of its parts.
• Proposed projects must not be supported by other sources of funding. Finalists will be asked to discuss any potential overlap with other current or pending awards.

View the 2023 Endeavor Award teams descriptions.

FUNDING INFORMATION: $3M dispersed over a three-year term including both direct and indirect costs, with indirect costs not to exceed 10% of the direct costs.

The requested funding should be divided among team members in a manner proportional to the actual cost of the work carried out by each investigator for the project.

ELIGIBILITY: There are no restrictions on citizenship or geography. Applicants must have an independent faculty appointment (tenure-track or equivalent) at a non-profit academic institution.

Teams must consist of three or more investigators at a single or multiple institutions. They are composed of one PI and between 2-8 co-PIs. The PI’s institution will be considered the host institution. Investigators may be co-PI or collaborator on more than one proposal.

Team member roles are:

• PI serves as the single point of contact with MFCR during the application process and the grant period. Does not need to be the most senior member of the team.
• Co-PI core member of team leadership whose lab receives at least 10% of the total grant budget.
• Collaborator serves as a project consultant or advisor rather than a team leader and whose lab can provide resources, perform experiments, analyses, etc. Receives 0-10% of the budget.

INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS: BU can put forward one submission as the host institution. Interested BUMC faculty should submit the following materials listed below via InfoReady Review by June 18, 2025. If you are a faculty who works in BMC space or your research mentor is a BMC investigator and you wish to apply, please contact the Director of Strategic Research Growth Jessica Howard, at Jessica.howard@bmc.org, by one week from today’s date.

• Short Questions outlined in InfoReady Review.
• Two-page Project Proposal Summary describing the project’s specific aims, unmet needs addressed, objectives, any preliminary studies and a high-level description of the experimental approach. Any references may be listed on a third page.
• List of investigators involved, including all co-PIs (2-8 people) and collaborators (optional). Please include the following information for each team member: primary appointment title, primary department affiliation, institutional affiliation and a one-sentence explanation of their anticipated contributions to the team.
• Up-to-date CV or biosketch for the PI.

As necessary, a faculty committee drawn from both campuses will review the applications and select the team to be nominated.

DEADLINES:

• Internal Materials Due: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 by 11:59 p.m. ET
• Anticipated Notification Date: Monday, July 14, 2025
• Letter of Intent Due: Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025
• Finalist teams notified in Nov. 2025

In requesting to be considered for this limited submission funding opportunity, you are making a commitment, if selected, to submit your proposal to the sponsor in a timely manner and to Sponsored Programs in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.

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The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation Research Grant supports innovative, high-risk high-reward basic science ideally with translational applications. Some examples of currently funded research areas are immunology, microbiome, structural biology, cellular physiology, cancer biology, genetics, genomics, microbiology and infectious diseases, stem cell biology and neuroscience. In general, the Mathers Foundation reviewers look for innovative, novel proposals, which have scientific merit with an established published proof of concept, and which may not be fundable at the federal level.

The foundation will not fund work related to COVID-19, plant biology research, oceanography, space exploration, global warming related research, medical imaging technology related projects and/or electrical engineering technology development. The foundation will also not fund work conducted with human subjects or requests for clinical trials, drug discovery, or research projects it considers pre-clinical drug development. Preference will be given to research that has not been federally supported.

FUNDING INFORMATION: Up to $700,000 for three years (including 10% maximum IDC) may be requested. Mathers funding is intended to support only the actual investigation and may not be used to purchase capital equipment. The maximum allowed for student tuition or equipment is $5,000.

ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be independent investigators with their own fully functional and equipped labs and must be nominated by an institutional representative.

Collaborative research projects with other U.S. based organizations are acceptable. However, research collaborations between U.S. based organizations and organizations based outside the U.S. are not encouraged and will be given lower priority.

INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS: BU can nominate up to three applicants. Interested BUMC faculty should submit the following materials listed below via InfoReady Review by Monday, July 14, 2025. If you are a faculty who works in BMC space or your research mentor is a BMC investigator and you wish to apply, please contact the program manager of Strategic Research Growth Carolina Giudice, at carolina.giudice@bmc.org by Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

• Short questions outlined in InfoReady Review
• Two-page project summary that includes a preliminary set of aims, a discussion of previous or related work and a summary of impactful discoveries. References may be included on a third page
• Up-to-date CV or biosketch for the PI

A faculty committee drawn from both campuses will review the internal proposals and select the nominees.

DEADLINES:

• Internal Materials Due: Monday, July 14, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET
• Anticipated Notification Date: Monday, July 28, 2025
• Portal Registration Due: Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, by 8 p.m. ET
• LOI Due: Friday, Oct. 3, 2025, by 8 p.m. ET
• Invited Formal Proposals Due: Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, by 8 p.m. ET

In requesting to be considered for this limited submission funding opportunity, you are making a commitment, if selected, to submit your proposal to the sponsor in a timely manner and to Sponsored Programs in accordance with the Proposal Submission Policy.

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