Updated 01.13.2010
CBC Spark Award
Request for Applications
The Chicago Biomedical Consortium’s Spark Award program offers funding of up to $400,000 for one- or
two-year collaborative research projects. Spark Awards aim to fund exceptional new inter-institutional
collaborations with the potential to be transformative. Bold and highly innovative proposals must have
the potential to produce a major impact in basic biomedical research. Projects should focus on systems
biology and address an important and relatively large biological/biomedical question. Spark projects
aim to be transformative rather than incremental. Preliminary data is not usually required.
Examples of potential high impact research could include: examining a scientific question that could open a
new field of research and/or lead to a major shift in understanding; establishing a powerful and unusual
research resource; or launching a high-profile and cutting-edge collaboration that has the potential to
bring national recognition and large-scale external funding to the Chicago research community.
To qualify as a substantial collaborative effort, research teams must be composed of Principal Investigators
from at least two of the CBC Institutions (Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and the University
of Illinois at Chicago). While the CBC intends to fund projects that are much more creative than what is typically
funded by the NIH, the NIH multi-PI project awards serve as a convenient reference for the scale of a Spark project.
The larger scale and higher impact expected in a Spark project are key features that distinguish a successful Spark
application. Creative collaborative research that aims to generate data for an R-level proposal is most suitable
for the Catalyst program.
A plan that describes how future support of a Spark-initiated research project will be funded with an appropriately-sized
mechanism should be described (e.g. PPG-type funding, see application process below).
The Spark program is designed to be nimble and responsive to new and breaking opportunities within CBC-institution
laboratories. Applicants may submit a one-page Phase I pre-proposal (concept paper) for a Spark Award at any time.
Pre-proposals will be evaluated on a rolling basis, with the outcome typically communicated within four weeks. If
the project is deemed appropriate for the Spark program, a three-page Phase II full proposal will be invited. Full
proposals are carefully reviewed for impact and scientific merit by multi-disciplinary teams of senior researchers.
The CBC’s Spark Council meets as needed for
the final step in review. The CBC reserves the right to step outside the usual constraints of federal-style evaluation
procedures and work with Principal Investigators to shape proposals in a constructive and interactive manner.
- Research applicants must be tenured or tenure-track faculty with research programs at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and/or University of Illinois at Chicago who will jointly engage in collaborative research.
- Research proposals must have Co-Principal Investigators from at least two of the CBC Institutions.
- Funding will be targeted to proposals that show scientific merit, and have the potential for large scientific reward. Creative and risky projects will receive special consideration.
- Research teams should demonstrate a new collaboration or a significantly new direction in an existing collaboration.
- Research teams should not already be funded for similar research activities.
- There may be multiple applications from each institution, although Principal Investigators are discouraged from applying for more than one Spark Award in a calendar year.
- There is no expectation that Spark Awards will be distributed evenly among the CBC institutions.
- Up to $800,000 to be allocated in calendar year 2010.
- Grants are expected to be approximately $300,000 for one year with a maximum permitted of $400,000 for use over two years (note that the three CBC institutions have waived all indirect costs).
- Spark Awards are one-time awards with no expectation of continuation or renewal by the CBC. No-cost Extensions are not allowed.
Phase I (Pre-proposal)
1. Contact the CBC Scientific Director on your campus:
- NU: Richard Morimoto, r-morimoto at northwestern dot edu
- UC: Jonathan Silverstein, jcs at uchicago dot edu
- UIC: Brenda Russell, russell at uic dot edu
2. The Application: A single PDF file should be generated with the following pages:
- Page 1: Title Page (PDF file should be named with this title)
- Title of the proposal (no more than 60 characters)
- Name, title, institution, and contact information including email address and website of each of the PIs
- Page 2: The Proposal
- One page of no more than 500 words
- Describe the proposed project
- Focus on strength, novelty, and uniqueness
- List criteria for measuring success of the proposed project
- Identify a grant program that could provide continuation funding for the project
- Page 3 and beyond: Up-to-date 4-page NIH Biosketches for the PIs, including current and pending funding
- If there is real or the appearance of funding overlap with this Spark application, please append a clarifying statement
- All pages and documents listed above should be assembled into a single pdf document in the order listed above and the file named with the title of the project
- Send to Katie Stallcup, Executive Director of the CBC at k-stallcup at northwestern dot edu
The Proposal: A single PDF should be generated with the following Pages
- Page 1: Title Page (PDF file should be named with this title)
- Title of the proposal (no more than 60 characters)
- Name, title, institution, and contact information including email address and website of each of the PIs
- Pages 2-4: 3-Page Proposal Statement
- Description of research, planning, or educational activity
- Nature of Inter-institutional collaboration
- Criteria for measuring success of the proposed project
- Plans for continuation funding: Spark Awards are expected to launch projects that could merit large, multi-investigator grants (e.g. a U54, P50 or PPG/P01-sized award from the NIH)
- Page 5: One-paragraph lay-language summary of project
- Page 6 and beyond: 2-page budget from each of the participating institutions. All expenses from a single institution should be put on the appropriate form from the links below:
- Up-to-date 4-page NIH Biosketches for the PIs, including current and pending funding
- If there is real or the appearance of funding overlap with this Spark application, please append a clarifying statement (see last page description below). The CBC is flexible and can work with PIs subsequently to resolve overlap with successful pending funding from other agencies to maintain the Spark Award's full value.
- If a research project requires special expertise that is not substantially and readily apparent in the PIs' biosketches (e.g. genomics, proteomics, informatics, imaging, high throughput analysis, chemical libraries), a letter confirming and describing consultation with a core director or colleague recognized in that field is recommended. Please note that the CBC is not allowed to fund researchers from non-CBC institution, but will accept their letters. CBC funds can be used to pay for services provided by core facilities at non-CBC institutions.
- Last Page: Cited scientific references and clarification of budgetary overlap
- All pages and documents listed above should be assembled into a single pdf document in the order listed above and the file named with the title of the project
- Send to Katie Stallcup, Executive Director of the CBC at k-stallcup at northwestern dot edu
If you have Questions, please contact:
Katie Stallcup, CBC Executive Director
k-stallcup at northwestern dot edu
Or contact the CBC Scientific Director on your campus:
| UC: | Jonathan Silverstein | jcs at uchicago dot edu |
| NU: | Richard Morimoto | r-morimoto at northwestern dot edu |
| UIC: | Brenda Russell | Russell at uic dot edu |