Dotan Research Grants 2021

Dear researcher, dear clinician, dear TAU faculty member,                                                    

The Dotan Center for Research in Hemato-Oncology was established in 2014 and is hosted by the Tel-Aviv University Cancer Biology Research Center (CBRC). The center's major aim is to advance the translational research of hematological malignancies at the Tel-Aviv University and its affiliated medical centers. Its entire activity is supported by a generous donation of Varda and Boaz Dotan. The Dotan Center research grants program has provided substantial funding for over 30 projects since its establishment. 

The current call of hemato-oncology grant program will support Individual research grants - totaling 300- 400,000 NIS/year each. The number of grants and the level of support may vary. These grants can be submitted by one or two principle investigators.

The grants will cover two years of research (up to 700,000 NIS total) commencing in February 2022. Third year may be granted pursuant on a satisfactory scientific report submitted 4 months prior to the end of the 2nd year.  

Translational research is defined as research that is relevant to patient-related issues. Hence, the Dotan Center hemato-oncology grants support translational research into the causes, mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of hematological malignancies. The research may also includedrug development; development of a chemical, molecular or cellular therapeutic or diagnostic procedure.  

Collaboration between basic and clinical research is encouraged and provides an advantage. Please be advised that pure clinical applications, such as intervention studies, clinical trials or health care delivery research will not be considered. Similarly, basic research with no potential clinical horizon e.g. potential translational aspects within 5 years from its completion will not be considered either.

Eligibility: The submitting principal investigator(s) (PI) must be a Tel-Aviv University faculty member. Collaborating investigators (CIs) may be from other institutions in Israel or abroad. International collaboration is encouraged. However, only Tel-Aviv University faculty members will be funded, as the budget will be administered by the TAU research authority. The program encourages collaborations between clinicians and basic scientists. The research must be conducted in Israel. An investigator may submit only one application as a PI. An investigator may be named as a CI in several applications but may receive funding for only one project.

Please note that PIs holding active grants from the Dotan Center are eligible to submit a new application. This application could be on the same topic of the current project or on a new one.  Also note, outstanding applications by new applicants will be prioritized for funding over proposals of present grantees.

Applicants should submit proposals, following the guidelines below. The deadline for proposal submission has been extended to 14/10/2021 at noon.

Submission email should include in the subject line: Dotan 2021 research grants- Name of PI

Enquiries regarding the proposals should be submitted electronically to Dr. Judith Ben Porath: judithbp@tauex.tau.ac.il

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF GRANTS

The proposal and all additional documents should be submitted in English as a single PDF file. The proposal should not exceed 6 pages, excluding other sources of funding for the proposed project and other projects, CV of the PIs and the CIs and list of publications

Required fonts are Arial 11 or Times New Roman 12. The text should be typed on A4 format, with 1.15-line spacing leaving 2.5 cm margins on all sides. The proposal should be constructed as follows:

• Project Title (Only one line up to a maximum of 100 characters)
• Principal Investigator (s) (name, academic position and affiliation), CIs (if exist) (name, academic position and affiliation)
• Abstract (not exceeding 300 words)
• Scientific Background
• Working hypothesis and aims: Please describe a discrete, hypothesis-driven project, achievable within the duration of the grant and with the support requested.
• Relevance to Hematological malignancies (not exceeding 300 words)
• Research plan (including experimental design in brief)
• Expected outcomes and milestones (table)
• Preliminary results
• Budget:  Allowed expenditures are:
  • Personnel – mainly supporting graduate and postgraduate students (The principal investigator and/or co-investigators(s) may NOT apply for his/her own salary).
  • Consumables
  • Animal costs, including the purchase of the animals, weekly charges for housing and other necessary charges.
  • Equipment may be requested only if it is necessary for the project proposed.
  • Other expenses heading should be used to request funding for any items that are essential for the project, but which are not included in any of the aforementioned sections, including charges for the use of specific facilities, subcontracting etc.
  • Travel will be allowed in Israel, and for international conferences or workshops, up to $2500 a year.

IN A SEPARATE DOCUMENT:

References - Single line spacing is allowed for the list of references.

CV of all the investigators named in the application (NIH style). Please use the template file provided. Please indicate the contribution of the investigators to the suggested project.

Letters of collaboration on the specific project (if relevant)

Other sources of support for the proposed project – Please include details of all current funding and also grants awarded but not yet started and pending applications that overlap with the submitted project. If there is an overlap, please explain what percentage of the research is non-overlapping with the other project and in the CBRC Hematological malignancies application.

Available research resources. Lab space and availability of infrastructure required to carry out the proposed research.

Including/Excluding Reviewers: At the time of submission of the application, an applicant should include in a cover letter (separate from the submission file), five experts in the field as suggested reviewers. Suggested reviewers should be from outside Israel, should not have co-authored a paper with the PI during the last five years, and should not have other common grants or ongoing research collaborations.  In addition, an applicant can exclude up to three potential reviewers. Acceptable reasons include main competitors, commercial sensitivity, etc.

Only proposals submitted on time in the requested format will be accepted for review.

Review process: Each application will be reviewed by an external Scientific Review Panel The application will be evaluated for its (1) scientific content and rationale; (2) qualifications, experience and productivity of the applicant; (3) the relationship of the research to Hematological malignancies (which must be clearly defined in the application). (4) The translational applicability of the application (5) collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians.

TIME TABLE:

Deadline for submission: October 14th, 2021 Noon

Notification of review process outcome: February 2022

Initiation of funding for approved applications: March 2022

Sincerely,

Professor Shai Izraeli

Head - The Dotan Center for Research in Hemato-Oncology

Tel Aviv University

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