Kite-Gilead Early Career Awards in Cell Therapy Research
The Kite-Gilead Early Career Awards in Cell Therapy Research Program aims to promote the advancement of early career scientists studying cellular therapy. The goal is that recipients will establish and build the research expertise needed to attain a position in academic or industry research. A major goal of this program is to bridge applicants to transitional grant support and independent research funding (e.g. K08, K99, R01 awards). The award is open to all applicants who are Stanford postdocs or instructors, regardless of sex or gender. These awards are meant to expand and complement the School of Medicine’s existing funding mechanisms of support for people pursuing careers in biomedical research.
Note: Submissions for the pre-proposal stage do not need to go through RMG or OSR for institutional approval; however, SM-IR will be working with OTL/ICO to review the pre-proposal before its submission to the selection committee; please follow the instructions below. Furthermore, approved Career Development Waivers are required at the time of pre-proposal.
About the Award
This Award can support the following cellular therapy research projects:
- Pre-clinical studies on novel cell therapy approaches
- Correlative science studies to study safety, efficacy, and outcomes of cell therapies
- Data analysis methods supporting cell therapy studies
The award will be open to all applicants who are full-time Stanford postdocs or instructors, regardless of sex or gender. An approved Career Development PI Waiver will be required prior to pre-proposal submission. One award of $200,000 direct costs ($100,000 direct costs per year plus indirect costs) will be given for salary and fringe benefits commensurate with effort proposed toward the Career Award’s aims, and any balance may be used for project-related supplies. Awards are intended to be spent over a two-year period and are subject to the applicable, negotiated research indirect cost rate.
Each award includes a maximum of $200,000 direct costs to be utilized as outlined below:
-
For Stanford Postdocs and Instructors
- Salary plus applicable fringe benefit rate (and telecommunications costs)
- Supplies and other approved expenses.
- Awardees will be required to submit estimated budgets for funding.
- A two-year disbursement of the award is required ($100K direct costs maximum per year)
Awards are not transferable to a different institution if the recipient leaves Stanford during the two-year term of the award. If an awardee finishes their time at Stanford before the end of their award timeline, they will forfeit the remaining funds in their award.
Finalists will be asked to participate in an interview.
For questions, email kiteprogram@stanford.edu.
- Current Instructors or Postdocs at Stanford School of Medicine (SoM) only. This specific funding opportunity is not open to research staff. Applicants must obtain a Career Development PI Waiver prior to submitting a pre-proposal. Instructions for Career Development PI waiver requests: Submit the required, completed Career Development PI waiver template and attachments directly to Kathleen Thompson at klt@stanford.edu no later than the end of day on January 24, 2024 (hard deadline). Please do not contact your RPM/RMG or CGO/OSR regarding waivers for this program.
- The scholar's faculty mentor must have a primary appointment in the SoM. Acting, consulting, and courtesy faculty are ineligible.
- Commitment between applicant and faculty mentor to hold regular mentorship meetings with a focus on professional development within academia.
- Commitment to participate in Kite-Gilead Award events.
- Only applicants who have not received an independent NIH or equivalent award (e.g., R01’s, R21’s) or a separate Career Development Award (e.g., K-Awards) will be eligible.
- If independent (NIH or equivalent) funding is obtained during the term of the two-year award, the Kite-Gilead Early Career Award support will be adjusted accordingly. The Kite-Gilead Early Career Award can only be used for Kite-related projects (including recipient time).
Timeline for Pre-Proposals
- January 24, 2025 (11:59 PM Pacific time) - Career Development Waiver Deadline
- January 31, 2025 (11:59 PM Pacific time) - Internal deadline to submit pre-proposals to Stanford Medicine Industry Relations (SM-IR)
- February 24, 2025 - Notification for which pre-proposals have been selected for full proposals
Selected pre-proposals will be developed further into full, detailed proposals and reviewed for final selection by the Kite-Stanford Joint Steering Committee. Start of selected projects is June 1, 2025. For more details on the timeline, please see the PDF attachment "Call for Proposals".
Submission Instructions for Pre-Proposals
Download the pre-proposal application template and complete the application. Submit a PDF of the application to kiteprogram@stanford.edu.
Pre-Proposal Requirements include:
- Letter of Intent: One page limit. Pre-Proposal is written by the applicant and reviewed by the faculty mentor. Pre-Proposal should include a brief statement of proposed investigation in the following sections: background, goals, hypothesis, experimental methods, and Year 1 and Year 2 milestones. References are not included in the page limit.
- Applicant NIH-formatted Biosketch
- Applicant NIH-formatted Other Support document
- Mentor NIH-formatted Other Support document
There should be NO confidential information disclosed in the pre-proposals.
Institutional representative: you do not need to submit your pre-proposals through RMG or OSR for institutional approval; you may submit your pre-proposal directly to kiteprogram@stanford.edu per the instructions above. If invited to submit a full proposal, please initiate your Proposal Intake Form (PIF) at your earliest convenience. Final proposal submission will require institutional approval prior to submission. Career Development PI Waiver requests should be submitted directly to Kathleen Thompson per the instructions above and must be approved before the pre-proposal is submitted.
Program Requirements
The Kite-Gilead Early Career Awards are made to solely support the studies and/or programs in proportion to the amount funded by Kite, which aims to facilitate the recipient’s development of their research agenda with the goal of preparing the recipients for their move toward independent labs. Funds may be used as salary (not stipend) to support the Awardee’s time and effort toward their proposal. The award aims to facilitate the recipient’s development of their research agenda with the goal of preparing the recipients for their move toward independent labs.
Awardees must be active Stanford postdocs or instructors in the School of Medicine for the duration of the award.
If the proposed research involves animal and/or human subjects/protocols and/or any other activities that require protocol approvals (APB or SCRO), applicants should apply for the required protocols once they receive notification that they have been selected for the full proposal stage to avoid delays in commencing the project. Funding of the early career award cannot begin until all protocols are approved. Protocols must list the Kite-Gilead Early Career Award in Cell Therapy as a funding source and include a reference to the SPO# record number.
Awardees must submit a progress report at the end of Year 1 of the award. The second year of funding will be subject to Kite-Gilead and Stanford Alliance Leadership Team and Joint Steering Committee approval of progress toward Year 1 milestones. A progress report is also required at the end of the two-year award period.
Other Concurrent Support and Combination of Awards
If an Awardee or their faculty mentor receives another source of funding with potential budgetary or scientific overlap after the Early Career Award is made, the Kite-Gilead Joint Steering Committee must be notified via email to kiteprogram@stanford.edu. Concurrent funding may be permitted after discussion with the Kite-Gilead Joint Steering Committee and/or Alliance Leadership Team and input from your Institutional Official and Grants RPM. The committee expects recipients and faculty mentors to report to kiteprogram@stanford.edu, in writing, additional external support during the award period or towards the same research proposal.
Stanford Resources
Funding Information for the Stanford community
Limited submission programs, NIH resources, DoD CDMRP, internal funding opportunities, searchable funding databases.
For full proposal stage only:
Institutional representatives and Internal Proposal Deadline Policy
School of Medicine PIs:
RPM Department Assignments and SoM internal proposal deadline policy
A Proposal Intake Form (PIF) in SeRA is required for all sponsored project proposal submissions in the School of Medicine (except for fellowships, clinical trials, and Internal Seed Funding NOT from sponsored projects).
PIs in all Other Schools:
Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) Contract and Grant Officer Pre-Award & Post-award department assignments
The $200,000 budget is for direct research funding. Indirect costs should be calculated for the total budget. Kite will rely on what the faculty, in collaboration with RMG, estimate as appropriate; however, details on budget would not be explored unless a pre-proposal is selected for a full proposal submission.
