The McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience supports innovative research designed to bring science closer to the day when diseases of the brain can be accurately diagnosed, prevented, and treated. To this end, the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience invites letters of intent for the 2022 McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience awards.
Use of Award Funds
These awards encourage and support scientists working on the development of novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function. The Endowment Fund is interested in how a new technology may be used to monitor, manipulate, analyze, or model brain function at any level, from the molecular to the entire organism. The technology may take any form, from biochemical tools to instruments to software and mathematical approaches. Because the program seeks to advance and enlarge the range of technologies available to the neurosciences, research based primarily on existing techniques will not be considered.
A goal of the Technological Innovations awards is to foster collaboration between the neurosciences and other disciplines; therefore, collaborative and cross-disciplinary applications are explicitly invited. For descriptions of previous awards, visit past awardees.
Eligibility
Applicants for the McKnight Tech Award must be independent investigators at not-for-profit research institutions in the United States, and must hold a faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor or higher. Those holding other titles such as Research Professor, Adjunct Professor, Professor Research Track, Visiting Professor or Instructor are not eligible. If the host institution does not use professorial titles, a letter from a senior institutional official (e.g. Dean or Director of Research) must confirm that the applicant has his/her own dedicated institutional resources, laboratory space, and/or facilities. We are interested in geographic, gender, and racial diversity, and we encourage women and communities of color to apply. Funds may be used toward a variety of research activities, but not the recipient’s salary. The candidate’s other sources of funding will be considered when selecting awards. A candidate may not hold another award from the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience that would overlap in time with the Technological Innovations in Neuroscience award.
Selection Process
There is a two-stage selection process, beginning with a letter of intent (LOI). The selection committee will review the LOIs and invite a few applicants to submit full proposals which will be evaluated on the basis of creativity, the potential benefit of the new approach, and the significance of the problems to be addressed. Up to three awards are made annually, each providing $100,000 per year for two years. LOIs are due on December 6, 2021 (midnight in the last time zone on earth). Full proposals will be due April 25, 2022, and funding begins on August 1, 2022.
How to Apply
First step: click here to access the Stage One LOI form. The PI will be required to set up a user name and password (please retain your username and password as you will need it throughout the process), complete an online face sheet, and upload a two-page project description with no more than two pages of references; any images must be within the two-page limit. Project description and references should be uploaded as a single PDF. For multiple PIs, one PI should fill out the LOI form; please include all PI names on the two-page LOI and include an NIH Biosketch for each investigator. All applicants should arrange the pages of the PDF in the following order:
- Two-page LOI
- NIH Biosketch for each investigator
Finalists will be invited via email to submit a full proposal; submission instructions will be provided at that time. Competition is very intense; applicants are welcome to apply more than once.
If you do not receive email confirmation of receipt of your LOI within a week of submission, please contact Eileen Maler.
