IMS Career Development Award

The International Myeloma Society is proud to announce the third annual “IMS Career Development Award”. The IMS anticipates funding grants for young investigators focused on research in the field of plasma cell dyscrasias.

Goal: To foster the development of an academic career of young scientists pursuing research in the field of plasma cell disorders and to promote the development of the next generation of leaders in this field.  This award will also encourage interaction between institutions to enhance collaborative research.

 Request for Application: Applicants should submit the research proposal by December 31, 2022. The funding period is expected to start in March 2023, but some flexibility may be allowed in the current climate.

Budget: The grant will be an award of up to $75,000 dollars including maximal allowable institutional overhead of 8%. This may include 1 year of salary support for the grantee, budget for visa status adjustment and travel allowance. The grantee should have a letter of support from an identified mentor willing to host the applicant for the period of the award. It is expected that the hosting laboratory will cover expenses for research consumables, equipment, and animal costs, if proposed. The applicant, if funded, will also receive a complementary IMS membership for 1 year.

Eligibility: Applicants should have, or be in the process of completing, a doctoral degree in the field of plasma cell dyscrasias. Applicants should not yet be independent researchers and must plan to have a career in the field of plasma-cell dyscrasias. Women and underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Applicants should not have an existing employment agreement with their host laboratory. Applicants should not yet have received NIH funding or its international equivalent. Applicants with prior experience in laboratory research are preferred, but previous laboratory experience is not required. The proposed research should be in a different laboratory than the home institution, preferably in another country, and either the PI of the home or host institution should be an IMS member. The applicant should agree to acknowledge IMS as the funding source in any publication or presentation resulting from this funding. The applicants should provide a progress report at the end of the funding year and respond to periodic surveys from IMS.

Host institution laboratories are limited to one application.

 Research areas: Basic and translational research projects in all areas of plasma-cell dyscrasia are eligible for this proposal. Outcomes research and non-laboratory projects that do not require a stay abroad in a research laboratory do not qualify for full funding but may be considered to receive partial funding.

 Application format: The research proposal should be total of 5 pages including figures but not including references and should include the following details:  Use 0.5 inch margins, single-spaced, Arial 11 font

1. Completed IMS grant coversheet signed by your home institution
2. Specific Aims: (maximum 1 page)
3. Research Plan:
   1. Background & Significance
   2. Innovation
   3. Preliminary results
   4. Experimental Approach including methods and potential problems and solutions as well as statistical considerations.
4. References (25 maximum).
5. A statement of how the applicant meets the eligibility criteria and provide a rationale for how the research project in the selected laboratory will foster the career of the applicant (<500 words);
6. Applicant’s CV
7. A letter of support from the applicant’s institution (Home Institution PI) that details the anticipated career path.
8. Home Institution PI’s biosketch – 5 page NIH style
9. A letter of support from the Principal Investigator of the hosting laboratory including a statement on mentorship, provision of research resources to allow and facilitate the conduct of the proposed research.
10. Hosting Institution’s Principal Investigator biosketch to reflect his/her qualification as a mentor.
11. Budget and Justification

The deadline for submitting applications will be December 31, 2022. Applications should be sent by email to Moira Hancock or submitted on the IMS website.

 Contact: For additional questions, please contact us at president@myelomasociety.org