The goal of the Taconic-Cyagen Cyagen Animal Model Awards (CAMA) is to support high-value biomedical research projects that utilize mouse or rat. This competition will offer a range of grant awards, collectively valued at over $77,350, that will help fund custom animal model (CAM) projects that will bring the most impact to their respective research fields. One Grand Prize winner will even receive a free TurboKnockout® mouse model project ($31,550 value). Additionally, the top 6 grant awards come with Taconic’s RapidCHECK™ health confirmation and delivery service valued at over $2,800.
With so much value at stake, this guide is intended to help interested applicants optimize their entry, perform competitively in the review process, and maximize chances of winning a grant award. Herein, we have put together some entry tips and general suggestions to help researchers interested in applying for the CAMA grant prizes.
Preparing to Apply
First and foremost, the Official Rules contain the complete Contest details – submitting an entry means that the applicant has agreed to the these terms. There is still plenty of time to put together an application before the November 15, 2020 entry deadline, but we highly encourage early applications. 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.
Academic research professionals worldwide are eligible to apply, including graduate students, post-docs, principal investigators, staff scientists, and others. Since we want to ensure that applicants’ time is well-spent, all eligible entries will get 10% off their CAM project if they do not win one of the grant awards.
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. Start working with your PI to put together your application and get them to write a brief letter of support for your project. Although we are providing an opportunity to win a free TurboKnockout® mouse model project, we want to help ensure our other awardees can secure funding for any gaps that may occur.
Free Animal Model Generation Consultations
In many cases, there are a multitude of gene modification approaches that may be used to generate custom animal models. Understanding which method will provide the best results for your project plan and timeline is critical to developing a thorough application.
Not sure which method would work best for your research plan? Our experts are available to help you develop an animal model generation plan that is specific for your study - contact models@cyagen.com for a free project consultation.
Confidentiality:
Information submitted by applicants is strictly confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the grant review committee. However, 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.
Available 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.
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 Enter
To apply for your grant, please visit the CAMA grant program website to submit an online application form before the deadline of November 15, 2020. Each applicant will be required to submit the following information: name, email, phone, job title, research area, affiliation, mailing address, and application documents. We strongly encourage concise application documents, which should be no more than 5 pages in length (not including supplementary figures).
Application Documents
As detailed in the Application Guidelines, the following documents are required to submit an eligible entry:
(1) 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) Biosketch: Covering your research since 2018, which can be in NIH biosketch format or other convenient format.
Optionally, you may include supporting documents such as figures, tables, videos, and preliminary data. Check out this example Sample Application to get ideas on how to write the research statement.
Tips for Your Research Proposal
The Research Proposal will serve as the primary means by which the review board will judge the project for consideration of the grant awards - as such, it is imperative to provide clear responses to the information requested above. For example, the description of the animal model should include details about the specific gene-editing method used. Additionally, applicants need to clearly convey how the specific animal model proposed is appropriate for the biological questions to be addressed. When addressing the expected outcomes of your project, noting the novelty of the animal model and how it can help advance the boundary of knowledge in your field of study will provide a major boost to your application.
We strongly encourage concise research proposals – one to two pages of text with standard 12-point font size (not counting figures, tables, and references) should be adequate in most cases. 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.
Custom Animal Model Support for Your Application
We understand that the animal model development process is not a familiar subject to all researchers, but our experts are available to help you with your project plan. Contact us with your research proposal and desired animal model type (such as knockout/KO, conditional KO/cKO, flox, humanized, etc.) – our experts can help you get started with a free consultation.
