Translational Opportunities
Depending on the field and stage of your research, often familiar funding sources do not fit the product development process. At UCSF, there are many non-traditional funding sources available that are designed to specifically support this process with access to customized industrial expertise and mentoring as well as non-dilutive seed funding.
Note that the funding opportunities on this page exclusively fund research in a UCSF academic lab; Other funding sources are available after a start-up has been incorporated.
1. Catalyst Program
The Catalyst Program provides customized industrial mentorship and funding for UCSF research projects at the early stages of development into a commercial product. Catalyst focuses on five areas:
- Therapeutics – Approaches to create and develop small molecules, biological drugs, cell and gene therapies, and other modalities.
- Diagnostics – Approaches to create and develop assays for disease biomarkers and precision medicine therapeutic strategies.
- Medical Devices – Development of medical devices designed to address patient needs.
- Digital Health – Using digital technologies to support the needs of patients.
- Biotools – Approaches to create biological platforms and tools for research scientists.
Once a year, Catalyst requests proposals from the UCSF community. Awardees receive funding and mentoring from industry experts to refine their ideas. The program continues to support the development of Catalyst projects, which may include additional funding, assistance with industry partnerships, and more.
Catalyst has more than 80 active industry advisors who work with innovators to advance their research toward products that benefit patients.
Contact for more information:
Email Roopa Ramamoorthi, PhD
Director
Learn more about the Catalyst Program
2. UC Drug Discovery Consortium
The University of California Drug Discovery Consortium (UC DDC) leverages the UC system’s biomedical research and commercialization strengths to accelerate the development of life-saving therapies. The UC DDC is a cross-campus initiative created among seven UC medical centers, with plans to expand to all UC campuses. Leaders from these institutes collaborate to advance drug development by providing drug discovery education and training, promoting access to core facilities across the UC system, and building relationships between industry partners and academic researchers to support project translation.
Contact for more information:
Jason Gestwicki, PhD
Executive Committee Member & San Francisco Site Lead
Email Jason Gestwicki
3. Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program in the United States and Canada in 2025
Per the guidelines, each institution, including UCSF, may nominate up to two principal investigators (PIs) to register for this opportunity.
As an internal UCSF deadline, please Send completed PDF application to Dr. Peter Kotsonis by Friday, February 7, 2025. Following the review, two UCSF PIs will be selected to proceed with submission of the LOI to Ono by the February 14, 2025 deadline.
Listed below is the Ono Pharma Foundation announcement, as well as an attached document providing an overview and funding opportunity information.
Visit the Ono Pharma Foundation applicants page
Ono Pharma Foundation announces the Ono Pharma Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program in the United States and Canada in 2025
The Ono Pharma Foundation announces the start of the ninth year of the annual Breakthrough Science Initiative Awards Program (Ono Initiative) in the United States and Canada. Proposals from Principal Investigators will be considered for high-risk, high-reward research with the potential to lead to major scientific discoveries and future breakthrough treatments for patients. Applications will be accepted from Principal Investigators nominated by 66 universities and research institutes in the Chemical Biology field for laboratory investigations conducted in the U.S. and Canada.
Target areas within Chemical Biology are not restricted. For 2025, subjects of interest include but are not limited to:
- Modulating interactome and cell/tissue crosstalk
- Manipulating biomolecular condensates and protein quality control systems
- Deep understanding and emerging applications of chemical glycobiology
- New concepts of drug delivery and localization to tissue/cell/organelle
- Understanding and leveraging allostery in biology
Projects outside these subjects are also welcome.
The Awards
Awards will provide $900,000 over three years for research, with up to an additional 15% to cover institutional indirect costs.
Three awards are planned for the 2025 cycle. Each institution may nominate up to two researchers.
Email Dr. Peter Kotsonis with questions about this opportunity .
4. Arc Institute Innovation Investigator Program
This year the focus areas are Immunology, Neurobiology, and Machine Learning.
Innovation Investigators receive $1,000,000 direct costs in unrestricted funding from the Arc Institute over 5 years and gain access to Arc resources and facilities, including the opportunity to collaborate with Technology Centers and to use Arc scientific core facilities, while maintaining their UCSF lab and position at their home university.
To Apply:
- This is an open RFP (UCSF may submit an unlimited number of applications).
- Please email Suzy Beemer to announce your intention to apply, then follow application instructions in the RFP, conferring with your UCSF Grants Officer (visit Office of Sponsored Research) as needed. Applicants should consult the UCSF Office of Sponsored Research to ensure compliance with internal policies before submitting.
- If awarded, please email Amy Gryshuk.
- Application deadline is March 15, 2025.
For more information and to review complete application instructions and eligibility requirements, please visit:
5. The Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR) Innovation Awards Program
This program aims to support early-stage technology development projects that could mature into future UC–LGR collaborative projects. Innovation Awards are one-year research grants to support labs at the UCSF and UC Berkeley campuses with an interest in developing highly innovative ideas into early proofs of concept across the field of functional genomics and CRISPR/Cas-based tool development. The goal for these awards is to support the development of novel platform technologies, disease-related model systems, and the application of these to functional genomics screens.
Laboratory for Genomics Research
The award is open to faculty or faculty-equivalent status with primary appointments at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley.
The LGR submission deadline is February 28, 2025.
More information related to award details, research topics of interest, and application instructions can be found at: