Application Guidelines - Custom Animal Model Awards (CAMA)

Please visit the Official Rules for complete Contest details.

Sponsor:

Cyagen Biomodels LLC; 2255 Martin Avenue, Suite E Santa Clara, CA 95050, USA.
Taconic Biosciences GmbH; Marie-Curie-Str. 10, 51377 Leverkusen, Germany.

Application Deadline:

Application deadline is November 30, 2020 (Updated). Winners will be notified via email by January 31, 2021.

Eligibility:

All professionals in academic biological research anywhere in the world are eligible to apply, including graduate students, post-docs, principal investigators, and staff scientists. The awarded grant must be used in its entirety to fund the animal model study proposed in the winning proposal.

Grants:

A total of six (6) winners will be selected to receive research grant awards for the custom animal model (CAM) project described in the application, including one (1) grand prize of a TurboKnockout® Gene Targeting Mice project (valued at $31,550), two (2) silver prizes of $10,000 each, and three (3) bronze prizes of $3,000 each. All 6 grant awards come with Taconic’s RapidCHECK™ health confirmation and delivery service valued at $2,800+! All eligible entries will receive 10% off their Custom Animal Model (CAM) project as described in the related application.

One (1) Grand Prize: Free TurboKnockout® mouse model project ($31,550 value)
Two (2) Silver Prizes: $10,000 credit towards CAM project
Three (3) Bronze Prizes: $3,000 credit towards CAM project
+ All 6 grant award prizes come with Taconic’s RapidCHECK™ health confirmation and delivery service valued at $2,800+!
Consolation prizes: 10% off CAM project development costs for eligible applicants.

The grant award can be used as store credit towards Cyagen’s custom animal model services within 6 months of the award date of the grant. The award may be used for one (1) single animal model generation project as described in the winning application(s). It cannot be used in combination with other coupons, discounts, or promotional offers. No transfer, substitution or cash equivalent for the grant is allowed, except at Sponsor's sole discretion.

How to Apply:

To apply for your grant, please visit the grant program website and submit an online application form before the deadline of November 15, 2020. Each applicant will be required to submit the following information:

1. Name
2. Email
3. Phone
4. Title
5. Research Area
6. Affiliation
7. Address
8. Application Documents

The goal of Cyagen Animal Model Award (CAMA) is to support high-value biomedical research projects that utilize mouse or rat models. We strongly encourage concise applications (under 5 pages). Each applicant will be required to submit the following documents:

(1) A research proposal detailing the following information:

  • ● Summary of the proposed study. This section should describe the background of your study, the biological questions you wish to address, and the significance of the study to basic research and/or clinical translation.
  • ● Description of the animal model(s) that you wish to create for the study. This section should have sufficient details to assess the technical feasibility of constructing such model(s). It should also outline, in broad terms, the experiments that you plan to do with the animal model(s) to address your biological questions.
  • ● Expected outcome(s) and its potential impact on the field. This section should describe what you expect to observe in your study utilizing the animal model(s), and how these findings might help answer your biological questions and bring novel insights into the field.

(2) Your biosketch, which can be in NIH biosketch format or other convenient format, covering your research since 2018.

(3) Optional: Supporting documents such as figures, tables, and videos. Applicants that apply on behalf of a Principal Investigator (PI) are recommended to submit a letter of support for the project written by the PI of their lab.

Format of the Research Proposal:

1. There is no length requirement - we strongly encourage concise applications. One to two pages of text with standard 12-point font size (not counting figures, tables and references) for the research proposal should be adequate in most cases.

2. Figures and tables can be embedded in the text, appended at the end of the text, or submitted as separate supporting documents. Large image or video files can be uploaded as supporting documents.

3. Preliminary data are optional.

Check out this Sample Application to get ideas on how to write the research statement.

Judging:

All applications will be reviewed and evaluated on the basis of scientific merit, proposal clarity, project sophistication, technical feasibility, appropriate fit of proposed animal model, potential impact on the field, and the quality of the applicant’s biosketch.

Confidentiality:

Cyagen cares about your privacy. All information submitted by applicants is strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the grant review committee. By accepting the prize, the selected Winner grants permission for the Sponsor to use the Winner’s likeness, entry, and name for purposes of advertising.