Delaware Bioscience CAT

EPoC Proposal Submission Instructions

Proposal must be submitted as a single electronic PDF document and be received by the proposal deadline. The entire proposal, with the exception of the Project Summary, will be treated as confidential.

Proposal must include the following:

• Cover page: download PDF form — required
• Project Summary (0.5 page maximum) Provide a layman’s description of your project, including goals and potential economic impacts, that can be shared with the public should your project be funded.
• Project Narrative (4-page maximum, does not include References). Assume that your proposal will be reviewed by scientists with relevant scientific background but not necessarily an expert in your specific sub-field. There are no required sections or headings, but the project narrative should address the following:
• How will the proposed research support the creation of a new business entity?
• Design and methodology of your project with underlying assumptions and expected outcomes.
• What is novel relative to existing competing methods, technologies, or intellectual property?
• References supporting the research methods, design, and expected outcomes (not included in 4-page maximum).
• Economic Impact Narrative (1-page maximum). This narrative should clearly address the following areas of consideration:
  • Outline your business model and expected customers (broadly defined, i.e. IP licensors)
• What assumptions underlie the business model?
• How will the business model create economic impact, e.g., through revenue, subsequent grants or licensing of IP?
• What is the target industry and who are current competitors, if any? 
• Estimate the economic impact to Delaware, e.g., job growth, IP or start-up activity. Be as specific as possible.
• What financing will be pursued after EPoC, e.g., investors, revenue, grants (i.e. SBIR), or licensing of IP?
• Budget: download Excel template
• Please ensure that you are following home institution policies.
• Must fill out the template completely
• Re-budgets exceeding 10% of the project total, or outside of an existing budget category require prior approval from a C.A.T. grant program administrator (please email Shelley Rust, strust@udel.edu).
• Allowable costs:
• Personnel costs including fringe benefits: Must include name of the individual for whom the support is requested, their role on the project, and the effort being requested (in calendar months)
• Travel: Funds (of up to $1,500) to support travel within the U.S. to present research at scientific meetings. (Must be well justified)
• Supplies: Funds to conduct research
• Other: Costs to use fee-for-service facilities are permitted
• Unallowable costs:
• Equipment
• Expenses directly related to new business creation.
• F&A costs
• Support for PIs (generally not allowed - may only be included if approved by a C.A.T. grant program administrator (Shelley Rust, strust@udel.edu), in advance of your proposal submission)
• Support for administrative personnel
• Subcontracts
• Tuition
• Food and related expenses (unless they can be clearly justified as a supply for research)
• Budget Justification
• Justify the costs of supplies, personnel, travel and other expenses required to support the project clearly delineating costs to be supported by the CAT versus match support.
• Roles of Key Personnel: The role of key personnel needs to be clearly defined.
• Two-page biosketch (NSF or NIH format)
• Fill out support/commitment form
• Vertebrate animals and/or Human Subjects Research.  Institutional IACUC or IRB approval will be required before any funds can be released, however, approval is not required at the time of submission. Use this section to address scientific and ethical concerns regarding the use of vertebrate animals or human subjects if proposed.
• Supplemental Information may be added to the proposal but shall not be used to circumvent page limitations of the proposal narrative. Reviewers are under no obligation to read supporting information.

Proposal format:

• Each page of the proposal must include the name of the PI in the header.
• Font size of at least 11 pt.; we suggest sans-serif fonts such as Arial, Times or Helvetica, when using font sizes less than 12 pt.
• 1-inch margins top, bottom, left and right

Review process

Each proposal will be reviewed by a Technical Review Panel as well as by a Steering Committee. Proposals that do not meet requirements stated above will not be reviewed. Proposals will be evaluated on their scientific and technical merit as well as on their potential economic impact in Delaware. The status of new investigators and investigators from PUIs will be regarded when considering aspects of grantsmanship.

Award conditions may include:

• EPoC funds should be spent within the 1-year award period. No-cost extensions may be considered on a case-by-case basis but cannot be guaranteed.
• All EPoC awards must be established and all IACUC/IRB paperwork must be approved and submitted within 6 months of award notice date or the grant may be forfeited and the applicant will be required to reapply.
• PI is required to participate in the Bioscience CAT symposium.
  • May not substitute graduate student or postdoctoral scientist at this event.
• Complete follow-up reports by downloading the EPoC Annual Report and e-mailing it to catdbi@udel.edu.
• Detailed award conditions will be provided upon notice of award.
• Whenever possible, the Delaware Bioscience Center for Advanced Technology should be acknowledged in any publicity regarding work funded by the award.
• Acknowledgement should include “Supported by an EPoC Grant from the Delaware Bioscience Center for Advanced Technologies” in publications resulting (in whole or part) from the award.

For questions, please contact catdbi@udel.edu or consult our F.A.Q.