Medical Research Society: Request for Research Proposals

<< Back to Medical Research Society homepage

Philanthropic leaders in the Toledo community established The University of Toledo Medical Research Society (MRS) to create a permanent endowed source of seed funding to advance innovative biomedical research projects developed at the College of Medicine and Life Sciences. In accordance with this goal, the Society has granted $525,000 to scientists in the COMLS over the past six years. The Society is now seeking applications for its 2024, two $55,000 awards. Applications will be considered only from early to mid-career UTCOMLS faculty members (Associate Professor ranking and below) who are in a position to leverage such seed funding to obtain major grants from the NIH or other national funding agencies. MPI applications with one early to mid-career PI from UTCOMLS and other PIs also from UTCOMLS are eligible to apply. Multiple applications from a single PI will be considered. However, only one application will be nominated if reviewed favorably.

The intent is to support meritorious projects that have already been reviewed positively by the NIH or other agencies during the past 12 months, but may require additional preliminary data to address major weaknesses to reach the pay line. Projects that are already supported through other internal grants or bridge mechanisms will not be considered.

Application:

Applications should contain:

A specific aim page of the original application to extramural funding agency in NIH format.
A copy of the reviews and scores from NIH or other funding agencies of the original grant application.
A one-page description of the major weaknesses that the MRS award will be used to address and preliminary experiments necessary for resubmission/revision of the application to NIH or other funding agencies. A timeline of submission of the revision or resubmission to NIH or other funding agencies is required and included in the one-page limit.
A one-page budget and justifications.
A letter of endorsement from the department chair.
The PI’s biosketch.

Completed applications should be submitted as one PDF file, in the order above, to David Theby of the Toledo Medical Research Society at david.theby@utoledo.edu.

The submission deadline is Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 4 p.m.

Review of the applications will be conducted by the COMLS Research Advisory Council (RAC) and begins on Monday, October 28. Finalists will be notified on or about Wednesday, November 8, 2024, a PowerPoint template will be provided to create a short presentation. Selected finalists will be asked to give a practice presentation to the Assistant Vice President for Development and Directors of Development for the Health Science Campus on Monday, November 18 and on Tuesday, November 19, 2024. A brief presentation to the members of the Medical Research Society will be on Thursday, November 21, 2024. The Society will make the final award decision that night.

Expectations for the Grant Recipient:

Provide short quarterly written updates on research to the Assistant Vice President of Development. (Answer 3 – 4 questions in just a few sentences)
Required to submit the revised application with new preliminary data to the extramural funding agency within 1.5 years after receiving MRS awards and provide proof of submission to the Assistant Vice President of Development.
Attend the MRS holiday party and present a short update on research.
Attend future MRS or Dean’s Advisory Council meetings to prove a short update on research as requested. Dates will be coordinated with winners as the schedule is set.