HTS Award

Updated: February 5, 2021

This program has been closed. No applications are accepted at this time.

Key Dates for 2015:

The program will offer awards twice each year. Proposal submission closes at 5 pm on the day listed for each submission round.

***Last time the program will be offered.

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Request for Applications:

In response to the community-wide interest in High Throughput Screening (HTS), the CBC is offering a CBC HTS Supplemental Grant Program to help fund discovery of innovative small-molecule probes and “hits”. The intent of this program is to support pilot projects, which are focused on biomedically-relevant targets and which will be conducted at a HTS core facility located at one of the CBC universities. For a brief overview of HTS technology, please click here. The three CBC university-based HTS facilities each have an array of chemical libraries and assays, as well as the instrumentation and expertise to screen thousands of compounds. In addition, the facilities offer a variety of specialized capabilities:

• Northwestern’s High Throughput Analysis Laboratory (HTA) provides a broad range of screens, including tissue culture assays, biochemical analysis, and experiments involving microbial strain collections. The HTA lab is uniquely strong in its nanoliter liquid handling expertise and performing assays that require highly parallel kinetic analysis.
  Facility overview: pdf slide presentation
  Facility website: http://sites.northwestern.edu/htal/
  Contact: Chi-Hao Luan, Director; Email:
• University of Chicago’s Cellular Screening Center (CSC) has a robotically-integrated screening platform set up in a class-100 clean room, which allows sophisticated experiments with tissue culture cells under essentially sterile conditions. The facility’s automation capability allows an exceptionally high throughput.
  Facility overview: pdf slide presentation
  Facility website: https://microbiome.uchicago.edu/node/676
  Contact: Siquan Chen, Director; Email:
• The University of Illinois at Chicago HTS Facility offers access to liquid handling platforms that are integrated with a range of assay equipment and instruments for photometric analysis. The HTS facility provides access to over 100,000 drug-like compounds.
  Facility overview: pdf slide presentation
  Facility website: www.rrc.uic.edu/hts
  Contact: Kiira Ratia, Director; Email:

The HTS directors will monitor the progress of funded proposals and provide advice as needed to ensure the successful completion of the proposed work.

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Eligibility:

• Applicants are required to meet with the director of their preferred HTS facility and obtain his/her approval prior to submitting an application.
• Projects must be biomedically-related.
• The HTS Grant Program will not provide funding for HTS projects that utilize RNA libraries.
• CBC university affiliates of any rank (e.g. graduate students, fellows, research faculty, tenure-track faculty) may participate in an application and project. However, the named Principal Investigator must be a tenure-track faculty member at a CBC institution.
• Unlike other CBC award programs, cross-university collaboration is not required to apply for the CBC HTS Award. However, investigators are expected to carry out the proposed screens in the CBC university-based HTS facility that best suits their project, regardless of university affiliation.
• The applicant(s) should not already be funded for similar research activities.
• Research projects described in HTS applications cannot be under review at federal funding institutions/agencies.
• The CBC HTS Award will match half of the justified expenses. Up to $20,000 can be requested from CBC (50% of $40,000 maximum total project cost). The HTS Supplemental Award funds will be issued to the faculty member that is named as the Principal Investigator on the application.
  (Note: The three CBC institutions have waived all indirect costs.)
• The Principal Investigator must guarantee the necessary matching funds, and indicate the source of those matching funds.
  (Note: For-profit entities (i.e. companies) may not be the source of the non-CBC funds.)
• Applicants must discuss secondary and validation assays, and provide Z’ values, if available.
  (Note: Applicants should work with HTS facility directors to design appropriate assays.)
• The PI of the HTS Award will be responsible for filing the final report on the outcome of the project, and the report will require sign-off from the HTS core facility director.
• Applications for continued funding of ongoing projects will not be accepted.
• If applying for a second HTS award:  i) applicant must have completed the work funded in the prior award, ii) must give a brief summary and outcome of the prior project, and iii) the new application must be for a different project.

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Application Process:

All pages and documents listed below should be assembled into ONE PDF DOCUMENT in the order listed. Please name the PDF (in ALL CAPS) with the last name of the PI (faculty member) that will be receiving the CBC funding.

• Page 1: Title Page
  • Title of the proposal.
  • Name and contact information of the Principal Investigator (the individual who will be receiving the CBC award and will be providing the supplemental funds).
    (Note: For-profit entities (i.e. companies) may not be the source of matching funds.)
  • Name, title, institution, and contact information (including email address) of key participants in the project.
  • Name of the HTS facility at which the work will be conducted, and name of the facility director.
    (Note: The HTS facility director will be contacted by CBC to assure his/her approval of the project.)
  • Aim of the screening assay (max. 20 words).
  • Describe the novelty of the proposed project in 75 words or less. Be precise in your description of the library, target, screening assay, biology, or other factors contributing to the project’s novelty.
  • Total cost of the project including amount requested from CBC and the amount and source of matching funds. (Note: Up to $20,000 can be requested from CBC, equivalent to 50% of $40,000 maximum total project cost.)
  • Estimated time-frame of the project. (NOTE:  The funding period for this AWARD program has been extended to a maximum of 18 months and No Cost Extensions (NCE) will NOT be allowed.)
• Page 2: Description of project and screening assay
  • Biomedical question/problem to be addressed, including its significance (max. 300 words).
  • Description of proposed screen, secondary and validation assays, and workflow. Provide Z’ values, if available, and include information on libraries to be screened (max. 400 words).
• Page 3 and beyond:
  • Up-to-date NIH Biosketch (not to exceed 5 pages) for the Principal Investigator, including current and pending funding.
  • Up-to-date NIH Biosketch (not to exceed 5 pages) for each additional project participant.

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Applications should be submitted via email to the CBC Senior Associate Director, Karen Snapp at: .

Applications will be reviewed by a committee comprised of scientists and faculty members associated with HTS facilities, and the CBC Scientific Directors.

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see also

▸ Funded HTS Awards