The University of California Drug Discovery Consortium (UC DDC) is seeking applications for the 2024 Seed Funding Program. This program will support exceptional UC faculty to advance promising drug discovery or drug development projects. Data generated with seed funding from the UC DCC is intended to position the faculty member to pursue federal, philanthropic, or commercial support to further advance their drug discovery effort.
Projects from any therapeutic area are invited and may range from innovative basic science with potential for therapeutic translation to development of specific compounds or other therapeutic modalities. However, the seed funding program is not intended to support clinical research.
General areas of interest include:
- Oncology: Solid tumors and hematological malignancy
- Neurology: Pain, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric diseases and genetic diseases
- Immunology: Autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and allergy
- Specialty: Fibrotic diseases, GI diseases, Hematopoietic diseases, Genetic diseases, Muscle degenerative diseases, Endocrinopathies, Genetic Obesity, Kidney Diseases
- Technology and Platforms: Gene Editing Technology
Due Date: LOIs due by October 25th, at 11:59 PM PDT.
Budget: Applicants may apply for $50,000-$100,000 direct costs in grant support for a period of up to 12 months. Contingent upon interest from a UC DDC-aligned industrial sponsor, a higher level of funding may be offered to carry out an expanded version of the project, and substantial follow-on funding and/or collaboration is possible.
Eligibility: Faculty in all series and ranks are eligible. Postdocs, project scientists, and staff researchers are not eligible to serve as PI, unless they have been granted principal investigator status on their campus.
To Apply: A letter of intent (LOI) can be submitted online (Access code: 2024DDC-LOI) by the deadline above.
For more information, please see the Program Page and Request for Applications. You can also view a recording of a recent presentation about this funding opportunity. Please contact UCBerkeley’s DDC site head Dr. Julia Schaletzky (jschaletzky@berkeley.edu) with any questions.