Biochemistry Grants

American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Pfizer Centennial Travel Award in Basic Science Tropical Disease Research

Who: Individuals with doctoral-level degrees who seek travel to laboratories in the tropics to pursue studies in molecular, cellular or immunological aspects of tropical infectious diseases

What: Financial support for 1-2 years research experience in the tropics to leverage further career development

When: Application deadline – July 22, 2008

How: Submit the materials listed below

Background

ASTMH celebrated the 100th anniversary of its parent society in 2003. In honor of this anniversary, ASTMH created a Centennial Travel Award, sponsored by an unrestricted grant to the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene by the Pfizer Foundation. The purpose of the award is to facilitate international collaboration in basic science aspects of tropical infectious diseases and to provide interested physicians or scientists the opportunity to obtain hands-on field experience in combination with laboratory studies of, parasitic, bacterial or viral infectious diseases in endemic developing countries. The society feels that one way to stimulate interest in tropical infectious diseases and build international collaborations is to provide physicians or scientists an opportunity to work with these diseases in those parts of the world where the burden of disease is high.

The award will be administered by the Centennial Travel Award committee, and will provide $25,000 to help defray travel costs and living expenses abroad. There is the potential for a second year of funding at a level of $25,000. The Centennial Travel Award recipient will be required to prepare a report describing his or her experiences, with the potential to be invited to make a presentation at the society’s annual meeting.

Eligibility

Full-time post-doctoral fellows (who already have Ph.D., M.D. degrees or the equivalent) with positions at U.S. or Canadian institutions who study any tropical infectious disease in one or more of the following disciplines or related areas: immunology, genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology and entomology. Co-mentors must be identified both at a North American institution and an overseas institution, and supported by a letter in which each co-mentor details locally available support, resources and availability for supervision (whether personally or by collaborating personnel). Applicants must be sponsored by an ASTMH member.

The project should be carried out between December 2008 and September 2009. It is expected that a minimum of six months per year be spent at the foreign site.

Selection Criteria

Recipient will be selected based on academic credentials, recommendations, quality of proposal, feasibility of completing the project, potential for enhancing international collaborative possibilities, and demonstration of deep commitment in a career in international tropical infectious disease research.

It is expected that the recipient will use this funding for career development and that he/she will prepare and submit a research career development grant application during the first year of funding. To be considered for a second year of funding, progress must be sufficient to demonstrate that the project is going well, and that a research career development grant application has been prepared and is ready to submit. Such applications will be considered competitively.

Application Instructions
Application deadline: July 22, 2008

Submit your application on line via link posted at http://www.astmh.org/funding/index.cfm beginning June 17, 2008.

Collect all application materials prior to submitting them to the online awards system. Although you will be able to edit your award submission prior to the July 22 deadline, the submission process will be much easier if you collect all application materials prior to submission.

Applications materials include:

1. Information from your curriculum vitae regarding education, training, work experience, prior research experience, any publications or abstracts, honors and awards. The application will solicit your institutional affiliation, department and specialty if applicable, student status, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail address.

2. Research plan in a modified NIH grant format. Include the following information in the research plan:

• Specific aim(s) with a brief and clear statement of a specific, testable hypothesis (1/2 page)
• Background and significance, including how the project will lead to further research career development (1 page)
• Preliminary data (it is not expected that preliminary data will necessarily be available) (1/2 - 1 page)
• Experimental design and methods (2-3 pages)

It is important that the project clearly describe how it will provide the basis of further career development, i.e. the data obtained from the supported project be the basis of NIH K08, K23, K01 or equivalent career development awards.

3. Letters of recommendation from the following mentors. The letters of recommendation should indicate which mentors are ASTMH members.

• The North American faculty co-mentor, detailing local available support, resources and availability for supervision (whether personally or by collaborating personnel)
• The overseas research co-mentor, detailing local available support, resources and availability for supervision (whether personally or by collaborating personnel)
• A current or former teacher or supervisor who can attest to the academic and/or research abilities and potential of the applicant

Please note that it will be considered important that these letters contain detailed, careful descriptions of infrastructure, additional financial support, intellectual, scientific and clinical environment, and other resources necessary for success of the project.

Very important…These three individuals will be required to upload their letters (in pdf or Microsoft Word format) directly to your application site. The submission site will ask you to provide the name, mailing address, phone, fax and e-mail for each of these individuals. The submission program will then generate an e-mail to these individuals with instructions to upload their letters to your application site.

It is very important that you gather the contact information for these individuals prior to beginning your online submission. It is then your responsibility to communicate with these three individuals to ensure that they have received the e-mail generated by the submission site and that they have uploaded their documents by the July 22 deadline.

After July 22, any applications that do not include all three letters of recommendation will be considered incomplete and will not be forwarded to the review committee.

Review Process

Recipient will be selected by the Pfizer Centennial Travel Award Committee. Recipient will be announced at the ASTMH 57th Annual Meeting in December 2008. Award will be made to the applicant’s home institution, which will be responsible for administering the funds.

Reporting Requirements

A research report is to be submitted near the end of the award year to info@astmh.org, in time for the report to be available to the selection committee prior to the ASTMH annual meeting. The recipient’s sponsor will be expected to see to it that the report is well-written and appropriately informative.

Questions? Contact:
ASTMH Pfizer Centennial Travel Award Committee, 111 Deer Lake Road, Suite 100, Deerfield, IL 60015 USA
847.480.9592 - Fax: 847.480.9282 - info@astmh.org - http://www.astmh.org

Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology

The President of the Society is honored to announce the establishment of a new award: The Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology

The Rosalind Kornfeld Award for Lifetime Achievement in Glycobiology was established in 2008 to honor the distinguished scientific career and service to the Society by Dr Rosalind Kornfield. The award will be given by the Society for Glycobiology to scientists who have, over their professional lifetimes, made significant contributions with important impact on the field. Consideration of candidates may occur annually, but the award will be given only in years during which a deserving candidate is nominated and identified. All glycobiologists are eligible, but recipients of the Karl Meyer Award will not be considered until 10 years after having received that award.
The Society for Glycobiology Awards Committee will choose the recipient of the Rosalind Kornfeld Award. Nominations will follow the same format and have the same deadline as nominations for the Karl Meyer award, but nominees need not be notified in advance. Candidates should be present or former members of the Society for Glycobiology. The Rosalind Kornfeld Award winner will receive the same cash prize as for the Karl Meyer Award, and will be offered an opportunity to deliver an oral presentation (up to 30 minutes in length) at the Society for Glycobiology meeting held in the year of the award.

This award honors scientists who have, over their professional lifetimes, made significant contributions with important impact on the field of Glycobiology. Any member of the Society may nominate any other present or former member of the Society, except that the members of the Awards Committee may not be nominated, nor are they eligible to submit nominations, or contribute letters of support. The members of the Awards Committee for 2008 are: Tom Oeltmann, Jacques Baenziger, Ajit Varki, Gerry Hart, and Jeff Esko. In addition, prior recipients of the Karl Meyer Award will not be considered until 10 years after having received that award. Unlike the Karl Meyer Award nomination process, there is no requirement of the nominator to contact the candidate nominee to obtain permission or to make the nominee aware of the nomination.

The nomination should include:
The nomination’s curriculum vitae with a complete bibliography separated into: 1) original peer-reviewed articles; and 2) other publications (do not include abstracts)
Nominating letter including:1) a brief description of the scientific achievements that merit the nomination 2) other aspects of the nominee’s track record that might be taken into consideration (e.g., mentorship of trainees, general impact on the field, interactions with other scientists, service to the society, etc.)
Nomination packets should be sent to arrive no later than July 25, 2008.

DEADLINE: JULY 25, 2008!

IT IS STRONGLY PREFERRED THAT SUBMISSION OF ALL NOMINATING MATERIALS SHOULD BE BY EMAIL TO: secretary@glycobiology.org

If necessary, send regular mail or express mail to:

Dr. Kelley Moremen
Attn: Rosalind Kornfeld Award
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
315 Riverbend Rd.
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-4712

Karl Meyer Award: Call for Nominations

The Society for Glycobiology is seeking nominations for the Karl Meyer Award. This award honors a well-established, currently active scientist who has made widely recognized major contributions to the field of Glycobiology. The award will be presented at the Society’s annual meeting. Members wishing to make nominations should follow these guidelines. Any member may nominate any other member of the Society in good standing, except that the members of the Awards Committee may not be nominated nor are they eligible to submit nominations, nor may they contribute letters of support. The members of the Awards Committee are: Tom Oeltmann, Jacques Baenziger, Ajit Varki, Gerald Hart and Jeff Esko. The primary nominator shall contact the candidate nominee to obtain permission to nominate and to make the nominee aware of the of the nomination and selection process, before submitting the nomination to the society.
The nomination should include:

The nomination’s curriculum vitae with a complete bibliography separated into:
1) original peer-reviewed articles
2) other publications (do not include abstracts)
Nominating letter including:
1) a brief description of the scientific achievements that merit the nomination
2) other aspects of the nominee’s track record that might be taken into consideration (e.g., mentorship of trainees, general impact on the field, interactions with other scientists, service to the society, etc.)
Previous award recipients should not be nominated. They are Vincent Hascall, Ulf Lindahl, Gilbert Ashwell, Saul Roseman, Sen-itiroh Hakomori, Minoru Fukuda, Harry Schachter, Stuart Kornfeld, Robert Hill, Phillips W. Robbins, Jacques Baenziger, Pamela Stanley, Bill Lennarz, Ajit Varki, Gerald Hart and Jeff Esko.
Nomination packets should be sent to arrive no later than July 25, 2008.

DEADLINE: JULY 25, 2008!

IT IS STRONGLY PREFERRED THAT SUBMISSION OF ALL NOMINATING MATERIALS SHOULD BE BY EMAIL TO: secretary@glycobiology.org

If necessary, send regular mail or express mail to:
Dr. Kelley Moremen
Attn: Karl Meyer Award
Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
315 Riverbend Rd.
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-4712

If you are a scientist who has detailed knowledge of skeletal muscle molecular biology, pharmaceutical pipeline development, clinical trial design, pharmaceutical product development, glycobiology, biochemistry, stem cell research, or genetics, you may be eligible to obtain a grant to accelerate our effort towards FDA approved therapeutic clinical trials.

ARM (Advancement of Research for Myopathies)
P.O. Box 261926
Encino, CA 91426-1926
Telephone: (800) ARM-2000
Fax: (818) 337-7250

Life Sciences Research Foundation
Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

The LSRF solicits monies from industry, foundations and individuals to support postdoctoral fellowships in the life sciences. Active solicitation of funds continues, for which we need the assistance of all concerned individuals. We recognize that discoveries and the application of innovations in biology for the public's good will depend upon the training and support of the highest quality young scientists in the very best research environments. LSRF awards fellowships across the spectrum of the life sciences: biochemistry; cell, developmental, molecular, plant, structural, organismic population and evolutionary biology; endocrinology; immunology; microbiology; neurobiology; physiology; virology.

Fellowship Eligibility. Three-year fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis to graduates of medical and graduate schools in the biological sciences holding M.D., Ph.D., D.V.M. or D.D.S. degrees. Awards will be based solely on the quality of the individual applicant's previous accomplishments, and on the merit of the proposal for postdoctoral research. Persons doing a second postdoc are eligible only if they are transferring to a different supervisor's laboratory and embarking on a new project not connected to their previous research. All U.S. citizens are eligible to apply with no geographic restriction on the laboratory of their choice. Foreign applicants will be eligible for study in U.S. laboratories. LSRF fellows must carry out their research at nonprofit institutions. This fellowship cannot be used to support research that has any patent commitment or other kind of agreement with a commercial profit-making company. LSRF fellows can change projects, laboratories, and/or institutions during the fellowship as long as the eligibility rules listed here are not violated. A person holding a faculty appointment is not eligible to apply for an LSRF fellowship.

Stipends. The fellowship award is $51,000 per year and is meant to be a minigrant. LSRF keeps $1000 for administrative expenses and passes the rest to the fellow. The salary scale begins at $40,000 for a first-year postdoctoral, $42,500 for a second year, and $45,000 thereafter. The fellow, not the advisor, will control expenditure of the remainder. It can be used for fringe benefits, travel to the host institution, travel to visit the sponsor and to the LSRF annual meeting. However, its main purpose is to support the fellow's research expenses. The LSRF does not award an institutional allowance for overhead.

NOTICE: The LSRF website is closed for applications. We will open for submissions on September 10, 2008. The application deadline is October 1, 2008.

DEADLINE FOR SUPERVISOR AND REFERENCE LETTERS: NOVEMBER 1

Questions and inquiries pertaining to the submission of applications should be sent to:

Susan DiRenzo, Assistant Director

Email : sdirenzo@princeton.edu

Alfred Bader Award in Bioinorganic or Bioorganic Chemistry

Purpose: To recognize outstanding contributions to bioorganic or bioinorganic chemistry.

Nature: The award consists of $5,000 and a certificate. Reasonable travel expenses to the meeting at which the award will be presented will be reimbursed.

Eligibility: The award will be granted for outstanding research accomplishments without regard to age or nationality. The award is intended to recognize significant accomplishments that are at the interface between biology and organic or inorganic chemistry. Special consideration will be given to applications of the fundamental principles and experimental methodology of chemistry to areas of biological significance.

Deadline: November 1 (annual review).

Establishment & Support: The award was established in 1986 and is financed by a gift to the Society from Alfred R. Bader.

Contact Information

Awards Office
American Chemical Society
1155 16th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036-4801
Phone: (202) 872-4408
Fax: (202) 776-8008
awards@acs.org

THE JULIUS AXELROD AWARD FOR 2009

(Deadline for submission of nominations is September 15, 2008)

The Julius Axelrod Award in Pharmacology was established to honor the memory of the eminent American pharmacologist who shaped the fields of neuroscience, drug metabolism and biochemistry and who served as a mentor for numerous eminent pharmacologists around the world. The Julius Axelrod Award is presented annually for significant contributions to understanding the biochemical mechanisms underlying the pharmacological actions of drugs and for contributions to mentoring other pharmacologists.

The award consists of an honorarium of $5,000, a medal, hotel and economy airfare for the winner and spouse to the annual meeting. The formal presentation of this award and medal will be made at the annual meeting of ASPET. The recipient will be invited by the President of the Society to deliver the Julius Axelrod Lecture and organize the Julius Axelrod Symposium at the annual meeting a year hence. The recipient will also be invited by the Catecholamine Club to give a less formal presentation at its annual dinner meeting that year of the award.

There are no restrictions on nominees for this award. However, a nomination must be made by a member of the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) or the Catecholamine Club. No member may nominate more than one candidate in a year, and no candidate may be nominated for more than one major ASPET award in any given year. The award shall be made on the basis of originality and uniqueness of accomplishments throughout a long career distinguished by sustained, significant contributions to research and mentoring in pharmacology. Selection of the recipient will be made by the Axelrod Award Committee, appointed by the President of ASPET and comprised of members of ASPET and the Catecholamine Club.

Nominations shall be submitted electronically to markin@aspet.org and shall consist of:

Letter of nomination describing the research and mentoring contributions to pharmacology of the candidate that make him/her eligible for this Award, listing major contributions.

Brief biographical sketch of the candidate.

List of individuals mentored by the individual.

Candidate’s curriculum vitae and bibliography.

Receipt date for nominations for the Julius Axelrod Award will be 5:00 pm on September 15, 2008 for an award to be presented at Experimental Biology ’09 in New Orleans, LA.

The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation supports early postdoctoral research training in all basic biomedical sciences.

To attain its ultimate goal of increasing the number of imaginative, well-trained and dedicated medical scientists, the Foundation grants financial support of sufficient duration to help further the careers of young men and women engaged in biological or medical research.

Eligibility

Candidates who hold, or are in the final stages of obtaining a Ph.D., M.D., or equivalent degree and are seeking beginning postdoctoral training in basic biomedical research are eligible to apply for a fellowship. The Foundation accepts applications from candidates who have no more than one year of postdoctoral research experience at the time of the deadline for submitting the application (July 15), and who have received a PhD (or D.Phil. or equivalent) degree no more than two years before the deadline, or an M.D. degree no more than three years before the deadline.

Fellowships may be awarded to US citizens planning to work in laboratories either in the US, Canada, or abroad and also to foreign nationals for research in laboratories in the US only. We expect that most applicants will reside in North America at the time of application. Foreign Students will need to obtain appropriate visa documentation, as required by US Immigration.

Applications from established scientists or advanced fellows will not be considered. The fellowships are for early postdoctoral training only. Clinical house-staff training does not count as "postdoctoral laboratory training.”

The Foundation will not ordinarily consider applicants who plan tenure of the fellowship in the laboratory in which they have already received extensive predoctoral or postdoctoral training. The aim of the fellowship is to broaden postdoctoral training and experience, and a significant change of venue is advisable. Since the number of available fellowships is limited, the Foundation does not make more than one award in any one year for training with a given supervisor, and in addition, will not support more than two fellows per laboratory at one time. Although we accept multiple applications from the same laboratory in the same funding year, we urge supervisors to support only one application if possible.

The Foundation expects that fellowship training will be obtained in an academic setting. The selection of a commercial or industrial laboratory for the training experience is not acceptable.

Review Procedure

In addition to considering the research plan and recommendations presented in each application, the Scientific Advisory Committee must give weight to the many intangibles involved, including interpretation of the Foundation's objectives. The following procedure is designed to be fair and to take into account the number of applications received in relation to the number of fellowships that can be awarded.

The initial step is the screening begun by the Scientific Advisory Committee as soon as all applications have been received. In this screening, the Committee selects those candidates whose applications merit a personal interview with a Committee member. Each applicant so selected is then assigned to a member of the Committee, who completes arrangements for the interview in October. Interview travel expenses from points in the United States, Canada, and Mexico are paid by the Foundation. US citizens residing abroad who are approved for an interview will be reimbursed for travel to the interview, up to an amount comparable to the transcontinental domestic airfares reimbursed for other candidates. All applicants will be advised by email of their status (declined or approved for interview) by early October.

All personal interview reports and applications are reviewed in context with each other at a full Scientific Advisory Committee meeting in November, and it is at this meeting that those interviewed candidates are selected to be recommended for approval by the Board of Trustees. All interviewed applicants are notified of the Committee's decisions by mid-November.

As the last step in the procedure, the Board of Trustees votes to approve the fellowship awards, in order of priority, up to the availability of funds.

Duration of Fellowship

The Whitney Fellowship is for a period of three years, contingent on performance satisfactory to the Foundation's Scientific Advisory Committee. One and two-year fellowships are not considered.

Activation of Fellowship

You may activate your fellowship anytime from April 1 - December 1, 2009.

Travel Expense

The Foundation provides funds for travel to the fellowship location at the time of activation of the fellowship for the Fellow and his or her family. No payment is made for the transportation of household goods.

Stipend and Expense Allowance

The current stipend and expense allowance is:
Stipend Research Allowance
1st year $43,000 $2,500
2nd year $44,000 $2,500
3rd year $45,000 $2,500

The annual research allowance of $2,500 is given to the Fellow's laboratory to help defray research expenses, such as lab supplies, computers, health insurance, etc. It is paid annually and is to be used at the discretion of the Fellow and his or her supervisor, also with no deductions for overhead. The host institution may utilize no more than $1,500 of the $2,500 research allowance to help defray the cost of the Fellow’s health insurance premiums, unless the Fellow specifically wishes to expend the entire allowance towards his or her insurance premiums. Otherwise, this money is to be used for research expenses, such as lab supplies, computers, etc.

There is a Dependent Child Allowance of $1,000 per annum for each child. There is no allowance for a spouse. If a fellowship is awarded and the Fellow advises us that he or she is eligible for the Dependent Child Allowance, we will then request a copy of the birth or adoption certificate(s). The allowance will be included in the first semi-annual check to the host institution and annually thereafter on the anniversary of the Fellowship's activation date.

Depending on the activation date of the fellowship, stipend payments are made semi-annually by the Foundation to the administering institution. Fellows in training abroad will receive quarterly stipend payments directly.

Supplementation of the stipend is permitted. It is not acceptable, however, to hold concurrently a full fellowship from another source. Non-research activities, such as teaching, must not occupy more than 10% of the Fellow's time.

Annual Meeting

A two-day Annual Meeting of Fellows is held in November of each year, at which each third-year Fellow presents the results of his or her research. This meeting is an important component of the Fellowship Program because of the opportunity it provides the Fellows for scientific interchange and exposure to biomedical fields other than their own. Attendance at the meeting in its entirety is expected as a condition of acceptance of the fellowship. Awardees that activate their fellowship after September 1, will attend their first of three Annual Meetings starting the following year.

Competition

Competition for the Helen Hay Whitney fellowships is intense. Less than 5% of those who apply to us receive awards. Please note that because of the volume of applications received, the Foundation is unable to provide critiques of unsuccessful proposals.

Applications

Applications are to be filled out and submitted online at www.hhwf.org. Applications must be received by The Helen Hay Whitney Foundation no later than 5:00pm EST, July 15, 2008. Late applications will not be considered.

Predoctoral Research Training Fellowship

* Application Deadline: August 29, 2008
* Award Amount: $20,000/year
* Program information and instructions available April 1, 2008
* Application available April 1, 2008

The Predoctoral Research Training Fellowship supports pre-doctoral students with dissertation research related to epilepsy, thus strengthening their interest in establishing epilepsy research as a career direction. Graduate students must be matriculating in a full-time doctoral (Ph.D.) program with an academic career focus. Areas of interest considered include, but are not limited to neuroscience, physiology, pharmacology, psychology, biochemistry, genetics, nursing, or pharmacy may apply. ($20,000/year).

Epilepsy Foundation 8301 Professional Place Landover MD 20785 (800) 332 1000

Judith Graham Pool Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Application Deadline: December 1
Award Start Date: July 1

The program is named for Dr. Judith Graham Pool. In 1965, Dr. Pool discovered a simple method of extracting the clotting factor from human plasma. This opened the door to a series of rapid developments that revolutionized the treatment of hemophilia including replacement therapy. Replacement therapy (i.e., the infusion of the missing clotting factor to prevent or stop bleeding) has made it possible for people with hemophilia to live relatively normal and productive lives and to avoid, in large measure, the potentially crippling effects of the disorder.

Only noncommercial institutions and investigators associated with a noncommercial institution are eligible for NHF funding.

All grant and fellowship applications are subjected to a rigorous peer review process. Applications are critiqued on scientific merit and relevance to NHF research priorities. Applications are reviewed and scored in terms of significance, approach, innovation, investigator, and environment. A panel selected by the Research Working Group, a volunteer group of scientific and lay leaders, reviews applications received. The NHF Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MASAC) and the NHF Board of Directors grant final funding approval.

Eligibility
Applicants must have completed doctoral training and must enter the JGP fellowship program from a doctoral, postdoctoral, internship or residency training program. Established investigators or faculty members are not eligible. Applicants must be affiliated with domestic organizations such as universities, colleges, hospitals and laboratories. US citizenship is not required.

Permissible research topics include clinical or basic research on the biochemical, genetic, hematologic, orthopedic, psychiatric or dental aspects of the hemophilias or von Willebrand disease. Other topics include rehabilitation, therapeutic modalities, psychosocial issues, women's health issues, liver disease, or AIDS/HIV as they pertain to the hemophilias or von Willebrand disease.

It is expected that the fellow will spend at least 90% of the time on the research project for which funding is requested. The remaining 10% may be devoted to teaching or clinical work that is relevant to the research.

Funding
NHF awards up to two fellowships per year of $42,000, up to two years.

Inquiries
For further information, contact:

Neil Frick
Vice President for Research & Medical Information
National Hemophilia Foundation
116 W. 32nd Street, 11th Floor
New York, New York 10001
(800) 424-2634 ext. 3708 or (212) 328-3708
Fax: (212) 328-3799
E-mail: nfrick@hemophilia.org