1. Who May Apply?:
Anyone with rights as a principal investigator and whose employer is Harvard University is eligible to apply.


2. Field
The focus of the proposal must be in the Life Sciences.


3. Research Eligible for Funding
Examples of the type of research that would be considered eligible for funding include, but are not limited to:
• Testing of lead small molecules in animal models of disease to investigate relevance and efficacy for therapeutic use


• Medicinal chemistry in connection with interesting hits ("hit to lead") obtained from screening assays for attractive drug targets


• Testing of promising monoclonal antibodies for diagnostic or therapeutic uses (includes testing in animals and/or on murine and human tissue samples)


• Design and performance of pre-clinical testing (toxicity, dosing, etc.) with lead small molecules


• Validation of clinical relevance through studies in physiologically relevant animal models of disease


• Design and synthesis of small molecule inhibitors of attractive drug targets

IV. Budget and Resources: All proposals should include a detailed budget.

1. Funding will not be subject to Harvard indirect expense charges.
2. Funding may only be used for research directly related to, and budgeted under the project, and may not be used for any other purpose. Budget items may not include PI salary, capital equipment or travel. The research project may be structured such that some, or even a large portion of the approved, budgeted activities will be outsourced to one or more approved contract research organizations (CROs). OTD will assist the PI to identify qualified CROs, and OTD will negotiate a work-for-hire agreement on behalf of the PI.

1. Pre-proposals

Applicants should work closely with the OTD team to develop a short pre-proposal. Only one proposal per applicant will be accepted. Pre-proposals should be no more than 2 pages in length. In order to identify the most promising projects, the pre-proposals will be subject to a preliminary review and triage process by the OTD team. Those applicants whose proposals are deemed to best satisfy the Accelerator threshold evaluation criteria (see below) will be invited to submit a full proposal. It is anticipated that approximately 10 applicants submitting pre-proposals will be invited to submit full proposals.

Format for Pre-proposals: The pre-proposal should address and contain the following:

Section 1 - Background and Significance


1. Need and Significance (highlighting the novelty, risk and potential benefits of the project).
2. Briefly describe recent research directly relevant to the proposal, including others in the field and, in particular, your own work.
Section 2 - Proposed Research Plan
1. Specific Aims and Objectives - For each specific objective, provide a rough estimate of the cost and time required for completion.
2. Describe the criteria that will be used to determine if the specific aims have been achieved
3. Total amount requested.
Section 3 - Investigator Data
1. Principal Investigator(s)
2. Collaborators and/or other key project participants, if any
3. Identify all prior, current and/or pending sources of support to your lab related to the proposed research project.
4. P.I. curriculum vitae (in brief)
Appendix - Relevant publications/manuscripts (no more than 5)


2. Full Proposals
Full proposals must be prepared in accordance with the outline in attached Appendix A. Such proposals should be no longer than 20 pages long. OTD will work closely with PIs to provide assistance in the development of full proposals, in particular the establishment of sound technical milestones and appropriate budgets. Full proposals will be reviewed by the Accelerator Fund Advisory Committee (see Appendix B), a small group of external technical advisors and experts appointed by the Provost. The Advisory Committee (in consultation with OTD) will make all award decisions, which decisions will be final. OTD will facilitate the implementation of Advisory Committee recommendations, as appropriate.

Scientific and Technical Merit

• Quality of the proposed research and scholarship.
• Innovation and novelty of the proposed research and/or technology in question.
• Technical feasibility and risk of the project and/or technology in question.
• Probability of achieving project goals within the proposed budget.
• Clarity and focus of the research objectives and proposed technical milestones.
• Potential impact and significance of research results on human health and public benefit.

• Probability that research results will enable and support obtaining a strong patent position, or enhancing an existing patent position.
• Significance of market need and opportunity
• A relatively clear and short path to a commercially viable technology.
• Whether, and the extent to which, the technology in question offers a competitive advantage over currently available technologies.
• Probability that funding will result in significant advances leading to additional extramural funding (from industry) and/or technology transfer.

VIII. Reporting Requirements
Progress reports will be prepared and submitted three times per year, inclusive of a final report. The final report is due within 30 days of the end of the grant period. The final report should specifically address research results relative to each specific aim and a statement of any inventions made in the course of the performance of the funded project. Periodic financial reports will be run to verify appropriateness of expenses to the project.

IX. Other Requirements: Terms and Conditions of the Award

1. Time and Effort:
The PI will commit his/her time and effort, as appropriate, to lead and oversee the project.


2. Inventions and Intellectual Property:
It is not necessary for there to be any background or pre-existing inventions, nor that there be any prior intellectual property, however if there is any background intellectual property it must have been assigned to Harvard. In the event that any new inventions are conceived or reduced to practice in the course of performing a research project supported by an Accelerator award, it must be disclosed to the Office of Technology Development and, thereafter, assigned to Harvard. The PI must report any and all inventions to OTD in advance of a public disclosure, within 30 days of the disclosure, in order to allow OTD staff to determine if such public disclosure contains new potentially patentable subject matter.


3. Research Plan:
Any significant mid-course revisions to the research plan will require approval by OTD and the Accelerator Advisory Committee.


4. Milestones:
The applicant's proposal must comprise a research plan that includes proposed objective technical milestones, which need to be accepted by OTD and the Advisory Committee. The achievement of such milestones will serve as key decision points for the assessment of progress and the determination of continued funding. A project may be terminated if agreed-upon technical milestones have not been met.


5. Funding Status:
In the event that a proposed project should receive funding support from industry during the interval between the date the proposal is submitted to the Accelerator for review and the time funding decisions are made, it will no longer be considered eligible for Accelerator funding. Moreover, as stated above, if a project is awarded Accelerator funding, but during the 12-month funding period, funding support for the same project is secured from industry, the remaining (unused) funds provided by the Accelerator will be returned to the Accelerator.