The BCA Exceptional Project Grant call for applications is closed. The previous call is below for your reference only. This call for applications is scheduled to be updated in 2023 and the deadline is anticipated to be in Spring/Summer of 2023. Please check the ECOR website and your emails from MGH Research News for updates. Click here to sign up to receive MGH Research News.

Breast Cancer Alliance - Young Investigator Grant 2023

MGH Internal Preliminary Application Deadline
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 – 5:00 PM

DESCRIPTION OF THE AWARD

"The mission of the Breast Cancer Alliance (BCA) is to improve survival rates and quality of life for those impacted by breast cancer through better prevention, early detection, treatment and cure. To promote these goals, the BCA invests in innovative research, breast surgery fellowships, regional education, dignified support and screening for the underserved. To encourage a commitment to breast cancer research, the sponsor invites clinical doctors and research scientists whose primary focus is breast cancer research, and who are in the early stages of their career, to apply for funding for the Young Investigator Grant. This grant is intended to help advance the careers of young researchers who do not yet have their own major grant support but who design and conduct their own independent research projects."

MGH is allowed to submit a maximum of 2 LOIs to the sponsor.

AWARD AMOUNT

"The term of the Young Investigator Grant is two years, beginning March 1, 2023, and provides salary support and project costs for a total of $125,000 (distributed over the two-year period.) Indirect costs, which are included in the $125,000 award, must be limited to 8% of total direct costs."

This funding opportunity is not exempt from the 15% indirect cost (IDC) floor minimum. However, ECOR policy states that for MGH investigators selected through a competitive process as the institutional nominee for a grant opportunity, in which the grant will bring in less than 15% indirect cost (IDC), ECOR will cover the IDC gap up to a maximum of $50,000 per year. In this case, the gap for the Young Investigator Grant will be $8069.

DEADLINES

MGH Internal Preliminary Application Deadline: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 5:00 p.m.

Notification to MGH Candidate: Early June 2022

Sponsor Full Proposal Deadline: Friday, July 22, 2022

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must have a full-time primary faculty appointment at MGH.
Applicants must be a young investigator with an MD and/or PhD who has not held a tenure track faculty or tenure track position for more than four years following completion of their training (as of March 1, 2023).
According to the sponsor, postdoctoral fellows may apply, as long as they meet all the stated eligibility criteria for a Young Investigator. They must also provide a letter of support from their institution to the sponsor confirming that they will have institutional resources available to them throughout the two-year term of the grant.
Applicants should not be a principal investigator on an NIH R01 or equivalent national/international non-mentored award.
Applicants should dedicate at least 50% of their work effort to research
The research project must be directly related to the field of breast cancer. Areas of relevant research may include but are not limited to: diagnosis, etiology, immunology, genetics and epigenetics, therapies, prevention and clinical studies.

MGH INTERNAL PRELIMINARY APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

The MGH internal preliminary application must include the following 4 items:

Project Title
NIH Biosketch. Use the current NIH biosketch format. Click here for a sample NIH biosketch.
Lay Summary of the project (Up to 200 words, PDF only).
Research Proposal (maximum of 4 pages, excluding references) Please include the following sections:

Specific aims
Background, significance, and rationale
Preliminary data
Research Plan

5. Other Support. List all current and pending research support using the NIH format (Click here for an example of the NIH format.) Include the funding period and effort.

6. Percent effort. Please confirm that you can dedicate at least 50% of your work effort to research.

FORMAT GUIDELINES

Use margins of one inch or greater on all four sides.
Use Arial 11pt font size
Use single or double line spacing within paragraphs, double line spacing between paragraphs
Upload PDF documents only. Limit characters to A-Z, a-z and 0-9 when naming PDF documents. Do not use periods, commas or dashes in the file name.

HOW TO APPLY

ECOR accepts all applications online via the MGRI Online Grant Management Portal. The system has been designed to allow users to:

Create a personal profile, which will auto-populate your future ECOR applications
Assign a delegate to submit applications on your behalf (optional)
View current calls and apply to open opportunities
Save and edit current applications in progress
Submit completed applications.

Instructions for Applying Online:

Create your account: Log in using your Partners credentials and fill-out the profile information.
Complete the application: Once your profile is complete, you will automatically progress through the online application. If you cannot complete the application at one time, “save” the application and return to it at a later time to finish. Before submitting your application, you will have the ability to make changes to the application.
Submit your application: Once you have completed the application click on the “submit” button at the bottom of the page. Once you submit it, you will not be able to make further changes unless you send a request to ECOR (note that once the deadline passes, requests to make changes will not be accepted).

Useful tips:

To avoid losing your work, remember to save frequently
You can only upload PDF documents
If you previously created a profile, please ensure your information is current prior to submitting an application.

Click 'Apply' below to begin the application.

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions, please email ECOR.

To learn more about the Breast Cancer Alliance, click here.