George and Judy Marcus Awards
Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation
2018 Awardees
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation is pleased to announce the results of the 2018 call for innovative collaborative project proposals for the Seeding Bold Ideas and Transformative Integrated Research Initiatives. We received a total of 39 excellent and potentially transformative trans-disciplinary research proposals from faculty across UCSF. 17 cross-disciplinary teams submitted proposals to the Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative and 22 teams submitted to the Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative.
A committee of researchers representing basic, clinical, computational health, and social/behavioral sciences reviewed, discussed, and selected 7 SBI projects and 4 TIR projects for funding.
The awardees for the Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation 2018 Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative are:
Team |
Proposal Title |
Eric Collisson, MD |
Combination Therapy Targeting Autophagy and the MEK/ERK Pathway in Pancreatic Cancer |
Hannah Glass, MD, CM, MAS |
UCSF NSR-GENE (University of California, San Francisco Neonatal Seizure Registry, GEnetics of post-Neonatal Epilepsy) |
Bo Huang, PhD |
Oncogenic signaling by intracellular kinase protein granules |
R. Katie Kelley, MD |
Hepatitis B Virus-associated mechanisms of immune escape and resistance to immunotherapy in HCC |
A. Hunter Shain, PhD |
Mutation burden of individual keratinocytes as a biomarker to predict squamous cell carcinoma |
Joseph Shieh, MD, PhD |
Essential Genes and Early Disease Diagnostics |
Doris Wang, MD, PhD |
Using chronic brain implants to understand and enhance motor learning in Parkinson's disease |
The awardees for the Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation 2018 Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative are:
Team |
Proposal Title |
Eric Collisson, MD |
Tailored, Real-time Models of Rare Driver Mutations in Human Cancer |
Robert Blelloch, MD, PhD |
Suppression of exosome biogenesis as a means of overcoming resistance to immunocheckpoint inhibitors |
Andrei Goga, MD, PhD |
Understanding Nerve-Tumor Cell Interactions in Oral Cancer Perineural Invasion and Metastasis |
Jimmie Ye, PhD |
Single cell RNA and Protein Profiling to Monitor Lupus Flares and Response to Treatment |
Important Marcus Awards FAQs:
Emeritus appointments are not eligible to serve as PIs.
Subcontracts: For the Transformative Integrated Research award – a subcontract cannot budget more than $75,000 of the $300,000 budget; For the Seeding Bold Initiatives award - only $15,000 can be used for non-UCSF budget lines.
F&A / Indirect costs are not allowed in the budget.
George and Judy Marcus Innovation Fund
Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation
MPPMI 2018 Call for Proposals
Program Overview
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI) seeks to fuel innovation in precision medicine by fostering creative, high risk, high impact team science projects anchored in basic science and extending into the precision medicine continuum toward improved patient outcomes.
Precision medicine aims to harness vast amounts of biological and biomedical data– from basic molecular research to clinical, environmental, socioeconomic and mobile lifestyle data – and use it to define biological processes and disease mechanisms, to understand why different individuals respond differently to treatments, and to help guide more precise, predictive and preventative medicine.
George and Judy Marcus have generously provided funds since 2016 to drive innovative and collaborative efforts between basic researchers and clinical or social/behavioral/implementation/population scientists, which are essential to making precision medicine a reality. The MPPMI will advance precision medicine at UCSF through events that actively motivate and foster collaborations, and through direct funding of innovative research projects and fostering of researcher collaboration.
Past Marcus Awardees and Events
Funding Innovation:
The MPPMI supports two award categories, Seeding Bold Ideas, and Transformative Integrated Research. Each category:
- supports translational precision medicine research with a strong basic science core.
- requires two or more co-PIs: at least one a basic scientist, and at least one a clinical, social/behavioral, implementation or population scientist; either existing or newly formed teams may apply.
- seeks high-risk thinking or approaches that will likely yield explicit “deliverables” (including discovery that the idea was wrong) after one year.
In addition, we have introduced the Marcus Award Supplement for the MP-TIR awards. Eligible projects can receive additional funds to support projects that include a partnering social/behavioral, implementation or population scientist OR include a novel and substantive computational science element that ties the project and contributes to the development of the Information Commons or Knowledge Network.
Marcus Program Seeding Bold Ideas Award (MP-SBI)
- Up to $75,000 for one year
- SBI awards enable initial exploration of untested concepts or hypotheses with great potential impact
Marcus Program Transformative Integrated Research Award (MP-TIR)
- Up to $300,000 for one year
- TIR awards support new directions for established basic science-driven translational studies
Marcus Program Transformative Integrated Research Award Supplement (Marcus Award Supplement)
- Up to $100,000 MP-TIR Supplement
- To encourage inclusion of social/behavioral, implementation or population science, as well as novel computational science
- Social/behavioral science: anthropology, family studies, psychology, social work, sociology, or other areas within behavioral science
- Implementation science: research on methods to promote putting research findings into routine healthcare practice in clinical, organizational or policy contexts
- Population science: Sitting at the intersection of medicine and public health, spanning basic and social sciences, Population studies examine the relationships between many health determinants and/or health outcomes in large populations. It sits at the intersection of medicine and public health, spanning basic and social sciences, enabling integrated research that encompasses virtually every domain of life and society
- Computational science: rapidly growing multidisciplinary field that uses advanced computing capabilities and expertise to understand and solve complex biomedical problems
See MPPMI 2018 Call for Proposals for eligibility, proposal instructions, deadlines, criteria and selection process.
Fostering Collaborations:
To foster a pipeline of bold ideas and novel collaborations, the MPPMI will actively promote creative networking between researchers in basic science and clinical, social/behavioral, implementation or population sciences as well as computational science.
- Written Progress Reports: At the end of each award period, teams will submit a brief progress report; reports will be collected as an annual MPPMI summary.
- Annual Workshop: Awardee presentations mixed with networking opportunities (e.g., topical roundtables) will be held at the end of each award period to showcase progress and facilitate new collaborations.
- Networking events: MPPMI will host 1-2 networking events to foster collaborations, e.g., speed-networking or collaboratory meet-ups
George and Judy Marcus Awards
Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation
2017 Awardees
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation is pleased to announce the results of the 2017 call for innovative collaborative project proposals for the Seeding Bold Ideas and Transformative Integrated Research Initiatives. We received a total of 42 excellent and potentially transformative trans-disciplinary research proposals from faculty across UCSF. 21 cross-disciplinary teams submitted proposals to the Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative and 21 teams submitted to the Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative.
A committee of researchers representing basic, clinical, and social/behavioral sciences reviewed, discussed, and selected 7 SBI projects and 3 TIR projects for funding.
The awardees for the 2017 Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative are:
Team |
Proposal Title |
Chloe Atreya, MD/PhD Jean-Philippe Coppe, PhD Kevan Shokat, PhD |
Kinome-guided Targeted Therapy: Targeting Pro-Inflammatory Cascades in Patient-derived BRAF (V600E) Colorectal Cancer Xenografts |
Stephanie A. Christenson, MD/MAS Charles Langelier, MD/PhD Prescott G. Woodruff, MD/PhD |
Host/Pathogen Metagenomic Deep Sequencing for Precision Diagnosis of Acute Exacerbations of COPD |
Tien Peng, MD Stephanie A. Christenson, MD/MAS Prescott G. Woodruff, MD/PhD |
Single-cell Discovery Approach for Targeted Regenerative Therapy in Emphysema |
Neil Shah, MD/PhD Joseph DeRisi, PhD Margaret Fang, MD Ophir Klein, MD/PhD Art Weiss, MD/PhD |
The Molecular Medicine Consult Service: Bringing a Multidisciplinary Approach to Patients with Undiagnosed and Rare Diseases |
Dean Sheppard, MD Wendell Lim, PhD |
Engineering Lymphocytes to Treat Tissue Fibrosis |
Anthony Shum, MD Scott Oakes, MD Michael Waterfield, MD/PhD |
Targeting ER Stress and the Unfolded Protein Response as Treatment for the COPA Syndrome |
E. Alejandro Sweet-Cordero, MD Jonathan Weissman, PhD |
Enabling Functional Genomics and Precision Medicine in Pediatric Sarcomas Using Patient-derived Xenografts and Multiplexed Single-cell CRISPRi Screening |
The awardees for the 2017 Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative are:
Team |
Proposal Title |
Charles Chiu, MD/PhD Steve Miller, MD/PhD |
Precision Diagnosis of Acute Infectious Diseases |
Raymond Swanson, MD Caroline Tanner, MD/PhD Steven Finkbeiner, MD/PhD |
Toward a Redox-Directed Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease: Integrating Environmental, Genomic, and Functional Data |
Michael R. Wilson, MD/MAS Joseph DeRisi, PhD Samuel J. Pleasure, MD/PhD |
Precision Diagnosis of Autoantibody Mediated Encephalitis |
Annual Marcus Symposium
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI), in collaboration with the University Development and Alumni Relations, UCSF Precision Medicine Platform and the Research Development Office's Team Science for Research Innovation Program (TSRIP), is hosting the Annual Marcus Symposium to celebrate the completion of the 2016 cycle of the Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation Award. A selection of current awardees will give project updates and we will announce the 2017 cycle awardees at the event on Tuesday, April 18, 2017 from 3:00 – 6:00 pm on the Mission Bay Campus. For more information, please contact Page Sorensen.
George and Judy Marcus Awards
Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation
2017 Call for Proposals
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI) seeks to fuel innovation in precision medicine by fostering creative, high risk, high impact team science projects anchored in basic science and extending into the precision medicine continuum toward improved patient outcomes. See MPPMI Program Overview on the program website.
The MPPMI invites proposals for our 2017 funding in two award categories, Seeding Bold Ideas, and Transformative Integrated Research. Each category:
- supports translational precision medicine research with a strong basic science core.
- requires two or more co-PIs: at least one a basic scientist, and at least one a clinical, social/behavioral or population scientist; either existing or newly formed teams may apply.
- seeks high-risk thinking or approaches that will likely yield explicit “deliverables” (including discovery that the idea was wrong) after one year.
Marcus Program Seeding Bold Ideas Award (MP-SBI)
- Up to $75,000 for one year; eligible to compete for up to $400,000 in year two, if funds are available
- SBI awards enable initial exploration of untested concepts or hypotheses with great potential impact
- Up to four awards granted
Marcus Program Transformative Integrated Research Award (MP-TIR)
- Up to $400,000 for one year; eligible to compete for up to $400,000 in year two, if funds are available
- TIR awards support new directions for established basic science-driven translational studies
- Up to three awards granted
Submissions are closed; 2017 proposals are in review
See MPPMI Call for Proposals (2017 attached) for eligibility, proposal instructions, deadlines, criteria and selection process.Call for Proposals Announced
January 3, 2017
Proposal Application Deadline
February 21, 2017
Announcement of Awards
April 15, 2017 (target funding start-May 1)
Project Timeline
1 year
Marcus Mixer: A Networking Event for the Marcus Program (MPPMI)
To foster a pipeline of new ideas and novel collaborations, the Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI), in collaboration with the UCSF Precision Medicine Platform and the Research Development Office's Team Science for Research Innovation Program (TSRIP), is hosting a mixer to promote creative networking between scientists in basic research areas and those in clinical, social/behavioral or population research areas.
This event will take place on Thursday, October 13th, 2016 from 3:30-5:30pm on the Mission Bay Campus. The agenda includes an afternoon of innovation-sparking lightning talks followed by time to mingle and share bold ideas with colleagues. Learn more here.
George and Judy Marcus Awards
Inaugural Funding Cycle Awardees Announced!
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation is pleased to announce the results of the inaugural call for innovative collaborative project proposals for the Seeding Bold Ideas and Transformative Integrated Research Initiatives. We received a total of 45 outstanding, creative, and potentially transformative trans-disciplinary research proposals from 135 faculty across UCSF. 25 cross-disciplinary teams submitted proposals to the Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative and 20 teams submitted to the Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative.
A committee of researchers representing basic, clinical, and social/behavioral sciences reviewed, discussed, and selected 8 SBI projects and 4 TIR projects for funding.
The awardees for the 2016 Seeding Bold Ideas (SBI) Initiative are:
Team |
Proposal Title |
|
Joaquin Anguera, PhD
Elysa Marco, MD
Adam Gazzaley, MD/PhD
Jyoti Mishra, PhD
Melina Uncapher, PhD
|
A Real-world, Real-time Mental Health Assessment |
|
Mallar Bhattacharya, MD
Nirav Bhakta, MD
Adam Abate, PhD
|
Microfluidic droplet capture for gene expression analysis of airway smooth muscle in asthma |
|
Trever Bivona, MD/PhD
James Fraser, PhD
|
Systematic transformation of disease-driving genetic mutations into druggable therapeutic targets |
|
Lindsey Criswell, MD/MPH/DSc;
Alexander Marson, MD/PhD
|
Creating a precision medicine approach for treatment response and outcome in rheumatoid arthritis |
|
John Fahy, MD/MSc
Stephen Lazarus, MD
Brett Elicker, MD
Travis Henry, MD
|
Image-based precision mucolytic treatment for asthma |
|
Robert Judson, PhD
Maria Wei, MD/PhD
Dexter Hadley, MD/PhD
|
An Integrated Nevus Risk Assessment Tool: predictive potential of RNA profiling and serial imaging |
|
Pui-Yan Kwok, MD/PhD
Joseph Shieh, MD/PhD
|
Genome-wide structural variation analysis by novel sequencing and mapping technologies |
|
Peter Walter, PhD
Jonathan Weissman, PhD
Susanna Rosi, PhD
Mervyn Maze, MD
Trever Bivona, MD/PhD
Jason Gestwicki, PhD
|
Mapping and manipulating the proteostasis network in normal biology and disease |
|
The awardees for the 2016 Transformative Integrated Research (TIR) Initiative are: |
||
Team |
Proposal Title |
|
Trever Bivona, MD/PhD
Matt Thomson, PhD
|
Enhancing precision oncology via single-cell dissection of lung cancer pathogenesis and targeted therapy resistance | |
Joseph DeRisi, PhD
Samuel Pleasure, MD/PhD
|
Precision Diagnosis of Autoantibody Mediated Encephalitis | |
Nevan Krogan, PhD
Jennifer Grandis, MD
|
Identification of targetable signaling networks that mediate therapeutic resistance in head and neck cancer |
|
Elliott Sherr, MD/PhD
Pratik Mukharjee, MD/PhD
Srikantan Nagarajan, PhD
Alma Burlingame, PhD
|
Deep endophenotyping in autism: Proteomics and Brain Imaging |
Program Overview
The Marcus Program in Precision Medicine Innovation (MPPMI) seeks to fuel innovation in precision medicine by fostering creative, high risk, high impact team science projects anchored in basic science and extending into the precision medicine continuum toward improved patient outcomes.
Precision medicine aims to harness vast amounts of biological and biomedical data– from basic molecular research to clinical, environmental, socioeconomic and mobile lifestyle data – and use it to define biological processes and disease mechanisms, to understand why different individuals respond differently to treatments, and to help guide more precise, predictive and preventative medicine.
$4 million has been generously provided by George and Judy Marcus to drive innovative and collaborative efforts between basic researchers and clinical or social/behavioral/population scientists, which are essential to making precision medicine a reality. The MPPMI will advance precision medicine at UCSF through events that actively motivate and foster collaborations, and through direct funding of innovative research projects.
Funding Innovation:
The MPPMI invites proposals for funding in two award categories, Seeding Bold Ideas, and Transformative Integrated Research. Each category:
- supports translational precision medicine research with a strong basic science core.
- requires two or more co-PIs: at least one a basic scientist, and at least one a clinical, social/behavioral or population scientist; either existing or newly formed teams may apply.
- seeks high-risk thinking or approaches that will likely yield explicit “deliverables” (including discovery that the idea was wrong) after one year.
Marcus Program Seeding Bold Ideas Award (MP-SBI)
- Up to $75,000 for one year; eligible to compete for up to $400,000 in year two
- SBI awards enable initial exploration of untested concepts or hypotheses with great potential impact
Marcus Program Transformative Integrated Research Award (MP-TIR)
- Up to $400,000 for one year; eligible to compete for up to $400,000 in year two
- TIR awards support new directions for established basic science-driven translational studies
(Funding Call: no longer accepting application for 2016)
See MPPMI Call for Proposals (2016 attached) for eligibility, proposal instructions, deadlines, criteria and selection process.
Fostering Collaborations:
To foster a pipeline of bold ideas and novel collaborations, the MPPMI will actively promote creative networking between researchers in basic science and clinical, social/behavioral or population sciences.
- Written Progress Reports: At the end of each award period, teams will submit a brief progress report; reports will be collected as an annual MPPMI summary.
- Annual Workshop: Awardee presentations mixed with networking opportunities (e.g., topical roundtables) will be held at the end of each award period to showcase progress and facilitate new collaborations.
- Networking events: MPPMI will host 1-2 networking events to foster collaborations, e.g., speed-networking or collaboratory meet-ups;
Program Announced: |
December 21, 2015 |
Program Informational events: |
January 11 and 12, 2016 |
Proposal Application Deadline: |
February 8, 2016 |
Announcement of Awards: |
February 22, 2016 |
Project Timeline: |
1 year, plus competition for year 2 funding |