General Information
About the LGR
The Laboratory for Genomics Research (LGR) is an academic-industry partnership between UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and GSK created to advance functional genomics research and accelerate drug discovery. Our aim is to deepen our understanding of genetics, discover new targets, and create next-generation technologies at scale that will become future standard practice for the pharmaceutical industry. We innovate and industrialize CRISPR functional genomics to provide world-class technology solutions and research tools to UC, GSK, and the broader scientific community. For more information, please visit https://lgr.bio.
About the LGR Innovation Awards
The LGR Innovation Awards 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.
Award Details
- The award is open to Faculty or faculty-equivalent status with primary appointments at UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley
- All key experimental work will be performed in the PI’s lab
- Project period is 12 months, extensions of any kind are not permitted
- Funding is up to $100,000 total direct costs; UC has waived indirect costs
- LGR budget template to be provided and must be used
- Budgets should not include tuition, conferences, travel, publications, or equipment service contracts
- Cost sharing is not allowed
- Access to state-of-the-art, CRISPRi/a libraries, plasmids, protocols, and facilities at the LGR shall be made available upon request via Material Transfer Agreement and only in support of the approved project. Available materials can be found here.
Research Topics of Interest
Successful projects should result in proof-of-concept data that could enable future collaborative projects between LGR staff and innovation awardees in areas including, but not limited to these research topics of interest:
Advanced preclinical model and assay technologies:
- Novel high-throughput cell imaging and flow cytometry methods and readouts
- Scaling production or screening of advanced preclinical models such as human iPSCs, primary cells, and organoids
- High-dimensional assays involving single-cell & spatial genomic or proteomic profiling
- Robust, deterministic genetic or chemical iPSC differentiation protocols
- Functional testing and validation of GWAS human genetic variants in disease-relevant models
High-through put screening technologies:
- Innovative pooled or arrayed CRISPR screening methods
- High throughput engineering, lab automation, and microfluidic technologies
- Efficient viral and non-viral delivery methods for CRISPR machinery
CRISPR genome editing:
- Novel scalable CRISPR genome editing methods
- Discovery, optimization, and applications of novel Cas homologues
- Cas protein fusion or engineering for new effector functions and applications in human cells
Computational biology& statistics:
- Statistical algorithms for functional genomic screen data analysis, including single cell readouts
- Bioinformatic tools for guide selection, screening library design, and/or hit identification
- Database architecture to drive convergence of multi-omics data and hit prioritization
- Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning-assisted experimental design, complexity reduction, and hypothesis generation
Application Details
Please provide in a single PDF format:
- Cover letter
- One-page research proposal
- One-page support figures (optional)
- Project budget and justification
- Principal Investigator Biosketch (NIH format)
Note: Research proposals may not include the use of tissues or cell lines derived from human embryos.
Program Requirements
- A one-page report due 6 months after the project’s start date that summarizes technical progress and next steps; template to be provided.
- A one-page report due 45 days following the project’s close date that includes technical progress, challenges, and future collaborative opportunities sections: template to be provided.
- A signed Final Financial Report is due 45 days following the project’s close; a template is to be provided.
Participants are encouraged, but not required, to contact the LGR technical team regularly about technical progress and challenges/risks and to discuss opportunities for becoming a larger collaborative project.
- For technical/scientific or program questions, contact Jorge Dinis at jorge.dinis@ucsf.edu
- For finance and budget-related questions, contact Kirsten Casebolt at kirsten.casebolt@ucsf.edu
- For UCSF alliance management/administrative questions contact Amy Gryshuk at amy.gryshuk@ucsf.edu
- For Berkeley alliance management/administrative questions contact Peter Gudlewski at peter.gudlewski@berkeley.edu
Application Instructions
If you are new to this application portal, please sign up by entering your email address and password. You will then be taken to the application form. If you have already created an application, please log in to review/edit your application or fill in other requested information.
