Purpose
PRiME Next-Generation Precision Medicine is an inter-disciplinary initiative that is cross-cutting to University of Toronto divisions, academic hospitals and partner institutions. PRiME investigators tackle unmet needs in drug discovery, diagnostics and disease biology by leveraging world-class expertise in biologics, omics, molecular chemistry, liquid biopsy, nanomedicine, biology-on-a-chip and related domains to develop new solutions for unmet needs in human disease.
PRiME encourages creativity, risk-taking and excellence at the convergence of science, medicine, and engineering. 2024-2025 PRiME Fellowship Program will invest in bold ideas in all disease areas where the expertise exists in our community, to enable the initiation and support of high-risk, high-reward research projects that are aligned with PRiME’s mandate. This Fellowship is a collaboration between PRiME member organizations – Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, and Faculty of Applied Sciences and Engineering, University of Toronto Mississauga, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), and the University Health Network (UHN).
Successful applicants may be eligible for additional operational funding from the Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP) for projects relevant to TIAP priorities, and from Max’s Big Ride for projects focused on AI/ML applications in the Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy space.
2024-2025 PRiME Fellowship Program will support one-year Fellowships for senior Ph.D (completed 4 or more years) students, and postdoctoral (with less than 4 years PDF training at the time of application), or clinical fellows. Projects are expected to be inter-disciplinary, involving collaborations that will enable translation of projects along the research pipeline in a manner that would not otherwise have been possible. The Fellowships must be supervised by two or more Principal Investigators (PIs) (who are, or who are willing to, become PRiME members).
These Fellowships are intended to catalyze high-risk, high-reward projects that are otherwise hard to fund, providing preliminary data for ongoing research funding. A condition of funding is that a grant proposal to provide subsequent funding for the project is expected to be submitted during the term of the award. The PRiME team is able to provide support throughout the proposal compilation and submission process.
Areas of Focus
PRiME is an institutional strategic initiative that tackles unmet needs in drug discovery, diagnostics and disease biology, building knowledge towards a shared goal of advancing innovation, training and fundamental science in the area of next-generation precision medicine to develop new solutions for unmet needs in human disease.
Projects must focus on inter-disciplinary research approaches. Any disease area is eligible, with opportunities including, but not limited to:
- High-throughput omics
- Therapeutic discovery and/or development
- Diagnostic development
- Disease biology; and/or
- Pre-clinical applications of basic research discoveries.
Eligibility
There are two streams of eligibility for the 2024-2025 PRiME Fellowship Program:
Stream 1
The proposed project must involve collaboration between two or more PIs with primary appointments at the University of Toronto. Preference will be given to interdisciplinary, cross-divisional proposals.
- Both PIs MUST have primary appointments at one of the following divisions:
- Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy,
- Temerty Faculty of Medicine,
- Faculty of Arts & Science,
- Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, and/or
- University of Toronto Mississauga.
- All PIs must be members of PRiME.
Stream 2
Stream 2 is designed for collaborations between University of Toronto divisions and PRiME partner hospitals and institutions.
The proposed project must be a collaboration between two or more PIs, with at least one having a primary appointment at the University of Toronto (within the above mentioned divisions), while the other supervisor(s) MUST hold a primary appointment at either The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and/or the University Health Network (UHN).
A supervisor’s “primary appointment” is typically defined as the institution where the majority of their research grants are held and their research lab is located.
- Participating partner institutions:
- The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids)
- University Health Network (UHN)
- All PIs must be members of PRiME.
If a project team would like to confirm team and project eligibility prior to the submission deadline, please email: prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
NOTE: If a PI is interested in applying to this fellowship program, but is not yet a member of PRiME, please sign up here and email your CV to prime.initiative@utoronto.ca.
- The applicant must be either a full-time Postdoctoral Fellow (with less than 4 years PDF training at the time of application), Clinical Fellow or Senior Ph.D Student (completed 4 or more years) who is either currently appointed at one of the collaborating organizations, or whose appointment would follow from the award of the PRiME Fellowship;
- NOTE: It may be possible to defer the Fellowship funding to align with new personnel start dates – please contact the PRiME office to determine whether this is an option prior to the application deadline (prime.initiative@utoronto.ca)
- PRiME funding is meant to create a unique opportunity and may be used in conjunction with other funding, but cannot duplicate an existing funding source for the project.
- Applicants cannot hold a PRiME Fellowship award at the same time as any other external funding award. Applicants holding an external award at the time of application must openly declare this and indicate the end date of the existing award. Fellows who accept another award during the term of the PRiME fellowship must immediately advise the committee of this and return the remaining award funds to PRiME.
- The proposed project cannot be already funded by a PRiME Fellowship Award at the time of the application or award.
Additional Guidelines to note:
- Usually, a PI may only be awarded one PRiME Fellowship per competition cycle;
- Renewal of funding may be considered for projects making outstanding research progress during the term of the award but will not be given preference and will be judged together with new incoming applications in subsequent competitions;
- A grant proposal to provide subsequent funding for the project is expected to be submitted during the term of the award. It is highly recommended that the grant proposal be submitted near the midpoint of the award. PRiME is able to provide support throughout the proposal compilation and submission process.
How to Apply
Applicants must submit a Notice of Intent (NOI) to prime.initiative@utoronto.ca by November 25, 2024 (Monday), 9:00AM. This can be submitted as a short email stating the intent to apply by the deadline, topic of the project, and the names of the collaborators (if possible).
Applications will outline the applicant and the collaboration’s outstanding potential of productivity working on cutting-edge, high-risk ideas. The application package must include the following components and be submitted using a REDCap Survey. Applicants are advised to assemble all application pieces prior to commencing their submission:
- Applicant details (contact, affiliation, trainee stage)
- Information from up to three co-supervisors (contact, affiliation, trainee stage)
- Please list the supervisor who will manage the funding as the ‘primary supervisor’
- Project summary information and survey
- Proposed project title (15-word limit)
- Proposed project survey (disease area, IP status, funding status, etc.)
- Lay summary/impact statement (150 words)
- Research proposal (1,000 words)
- Information on the proposed research, including: aim(s), novelty, background and preliminary data (recommend no more than 50% of the available word count), research plan, timeline and methodology, how it advances knowledge in the field/anticipated impact(s), and its translational opportunity.
- Information on the extent to which this project builds upon or is different from existing projects.
- Information on how the research project is high-risk, high-reward, and is made possible by the inter-disciplinary connection between the collaborating labs
- Up to 10 relevant publications
- What are the expected outcomes of the research proposal? (250 words max)
- Research proposal attachments
- Schematic describing research project (optional – max 1 page)
- Up to two figures of preliminary data (max 1 page each, combine into single file)
- Applicant’s experience relevant to the proposed research (300 words)
- Information on the applicant’s experiences with the proposed methodologies and/or the plan to attain the experience.
- Inter-disciplinary training and mentorship plan (300 words)
- Provide an overview of the inter-disciplinary nature of the research training experience and mentorship plan.
- Applicant’s track record attachments
- Academic CV (max 4 pages)
- Letters of support
- One joint or two separate letters of support from the co-supervisors (max 1000 words each for separate, 1500 words for joint)
- Focus on the quality and impact of the researcher and the research environment
- To reduce the potential for unconscious bias in the evaluation process - please refer to applicants consistently by their surname(s) and use gender-neutral pronouns.
- Please combine into a single file, as applicable, prior to upload
- Applicant demographic information (optional)
Full application submission deadline: December 13, 2024 (Friday)
Award Amount
- Stream 1
- Ph.D candidates (Yr 4+) - $40,000
- PostDoctoral Fellows - $50,000
- Ph.D candidates (Yr 4+) - $40,000
- PostDoctoral Fellows - $50,000
- Clinical Fellows - $50,000
NOTE: Successful applicants may be eligible for additional operational funding from the Toronto Innovation Acceleration Partners (TIAP) for projects relevant to TIAP priorities, and from Max’s Big Ride for projects focused on AI/ML applications in the Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy space.
Use of Funds
- Primary Fellowship funds:
- To be used for salary support for the successful recipient (identified in the application as the ‘applicant’). Support is provided at the amount indicated, with any additional salary costs (e.g., recruitment, benefits, additional salary expenses) to be covered by the supervisors as negotiated by the team members.
- Cannot be used for consumables/research expenses, travel or other hospitality expenditures.
- Funds must be completely used within one year of the award start date. Any unused funds must be returned to PRiME at the end of the award term. Extensions will not be granted.
Important Dates
Competition Announced: November 4, 2024
Info Session for PIs: November 14, 2024 [Details and Registration]
Notice of Intent due: November 25, 2024, 9:00AM
Full Application due: December 13, 2024
Anticipated Notice of Award: February 21, 2025