Hollis Brownstein Research Grants Program

One-year grants provided to New Investigators — scientists who are establishing their own laboratories and are no longer under the tutelage of a senior scientist mentor — to facilitate pursuit of groundbreaking research ideas that could lead to significant breakthroughs in blood cancer research.

Focus Areas

• Blood cancer research (all types of leukemia)
• Research targeting causes and cures of leukemias
• Innovative research ideas from early-career scientists

Eligibility

• Target Applicants: New Investigators (scientists establishing independent laboratories)
• Must no longer be under senior scientist mentorship
• International researchers eligible (examples include Poland, Milan, Italy in past awards)
• Geographic scope: Worldwide

Award Details

• Award Amount: Up to $100,000 per grant
• Award Duration: One year
• Recurrence: Annual (awarded each fiscal year)
• Recent Award History: In 2018-2019, $1.167 million distributed across 12 New Investigator grants. Foundation has provided $1 million or more for three consecutive years to New Investigators.

Review Process

• Applications reviewed by the Leukemia Research Foundation's Medical Advisory Board (MAB)
• MAB employs the same scoring method used by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate and rank projects
• MAB Chair: Dr. Patrick Stiff, Director of the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center at Loyola University Medical Center
• Recommendations submitted to LRF Board of Directors
• Funding based on available funds from fundraising (as of June 30 for July 1 grant year start)

Contact Information

• Phone: (847) 424-0600
• Email: info@leukemiarf.org
• Address: 191 Waukegan Road, Suite 105, Northfield, Illinois 60093
• Director of Communications: Carl Alston, (847) 919-6250 office, (630) 202-8294 mobile, Carl@LRFmail.org

Background

The program was established to address the significant decline in federal funding for blood cancer research (noted as 25% drop in recent years) and to support New Investigators with fresh, groundbreaking ideas who cannot obtain NIH funding. LRF grants help researchers develop preliminary data needed for larger NIH grants and jumpstart careers of innovative scientists.

Application Process

Two-Stage Submission:

1. Letter of Intent (LOI) Stage
   • Submit Letters of Intent to be considered for research funding
   • Deadline: Application follows annual cycle (typically February deadline based on historical data)
   • If there is a match between program goals and research project anticipated outcomes, applicants receive an invitation to submit a full research proposal
2. Full Research Proposal Stage
   • Full proposals due after LOI acceptance (typically in March based on historical data)
   • Proposals reviewed and ranked using NIH scoring methodology

Guidelines

• Detailed eligibility and application guidelines available on LRF website
• Applicants must review current guidelines for specific requirements and narrative questions

Submission Requirements

• Guidelines available at: leukemiarf.org (see "Eligibility + guidelines + application" section)
• Submissions must be made by specified deadline times (example: 11:59 p.m. Central Standard Time for LOI submissions)

Contact for Application Questions

• Leukemia Research Foundation
• Phone: (847) 424-0600
• Email: info@leukemiarf.org