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2014 Application Form Congratulations, you have been selected to apply for the Lilly Innovation Fellowship Award. This is a competitive Award program designed to identify, recognize and enable highly innovative scientists early in their careers. In order to apply for the award, the applicant must submit a proposal outlining a collaborative research project that they will execute in partnership with their academic advisor and a Lilly advisor that will be appointed by Eli Lilly and Company. The research proposal should be related to one of Lilly s Grand Challenges. The Grand Challenges were designed to better align post-doctoral research proposals with Lilly s scientific strategy and needs, to help advance our pipeline for the future. However, since a key goal of the LIFA program is to promote innovative risk taking, research proposals that do not directly align with the Grand Challenges will still be considered. When completing this form, applicants should not include any confidential information. The application will be reviewed by Lilly scientists who are best qualified to evaluate the scientific merits of the research proposal. Further, Lilly will follow NIH Conflict of Interest Guidelines when reviewing applications. Requirements for Post-Doctoral Scientists To qualify for consideration the LIFA applicant must meet the following requirements: Be within 6 years of having completed a Ph.D., M.D. or equivalent degree and must have an academic mentor Recent or prospective graduates are eligible to participate provided their doctoral degree is awarded by August 1, 2014 All applicants must have the commitment of an academic mentor who will support them through the application process If selected to receive a LIFA fellowship, the applicant must be associated with an academic mentor s laboratory and available to start the program no later than September 2014
An applicant s post-doctoral position with the university must not be contingent upon receiving LIFA funding Application Requirements Applications for this fellowship award should be completed by the post-doctoral applicant and his/her academic mentor. To confirm support of the university all completed applications must be submitted by the Office of the Dean to LIFA@Lilly.com. Any application submitted by an individual and not through their Dean s office will not be accepted. All application materials must be received no later than May 9, 2014, which include: Post-doctoral applicant s BioSketch Academic mentor s BioSketch Research Proposal related to Lilly s Grand Challenges Research Focus Area Two Letters of support from individuals other than the post-doc s academic advisor Letter of sponsorship from academic mentor Completed privacy notification and consent The application will be evaluated using the following criteria: Qualifications of the candidate Qualifications of the Academic Mentor The scientific and innovative merits of the proposed research project Relevance of the proposed research project (academic and industry relevance and relevance to the Grand Challenges facing the applicable Therapeutic or Functional Area within Lilly) In the BioSketch, the applicant should cite up to 5 publications, and/or meeting abstracts that demonstrate the ability to use innovative approaches to challenge conventional wisdom or solve difficult problems, rather than simply listing the most recent publications. The research plan must be no more than 8000 characters long. The applicant should describe the importance of the problem, the specific aims of the project, the novelty of the hypothesis and proposed approach, and the magnitude of the potential impact, rather than focus on methodological details.
The Decision Process Lilly s Award decision process will occur in three steps. First, Lilly reviews the applications. Lilly expects to complete application judging in June 2014 to identify LIFA Finalists. LIFA finalists identified from the application review process will proceed for further consideration. Selected finalists will be invited to travel to Lilly to participate in the second step, which involves formally applying for the Lilly Fellowship position. As part of the Lilly employment application process a routine security and conflict of interest assessment, an evaluation of U.S. employment eligibility and a personal interview is required. It is our goal to complete all interviews in June/July 2014. Finally, the academic institution and Lilly will need to sign a Post-doctoral Training Partnership agreement. Candidates successfully meeting the requirements for all 3 steps in the process will be formally offered the Lilly Innovation Fellowship Award. All post-doctoral scientists who are offered the Lilly fellowship award must be associated with their academic mentor s laboratory and available to be on-boarded as a Lilly employee and begin the program no later than September 2014. Post-Doctoral Applicant Information and BioSketch Name: University Address: Phone Number: E-mail: Please check all that apply: It has been no more than 6 years since I completed my doctoral degree
I will have completed all requirements for my doctoral degree before August 1, 2014 I will be able to begin the LIFA program in September 2014 My post-doctoral position with my university is not contingent upon LIFA funding I would rely on my university and my employer to sponsor my employment visa Education/Training (Begin with baccalaureate or other initial professional education such as nursing and include postdoctoral training.) Positions and Honors (5 most recent; providing dates and a brief description): Publications (Up to 5 most relevant): Description of Qualifications (2,000 character maximum):
Academic Mentor Information and BioSketch Name: Title: University Address: Phone Number: E-mail: Positions and Honors (5 most recent; providing dates and a brief description): Publications (5 in each category): Most Relevant: Most Important: Most Recent:
Description of Qualifications (2,000 character maximum): Post-Doctoral Research Proposal Research Project Plan (8,000 character maximum): Provide a brief overview of the specific aims of the proposed research project: Explain the importance of the problem State the Specific Aims of the proposed research project Describe the novelty of the hypothesis and/or proposed methodology Describe the magnitude of the potential impact both for both the academic community as well as Eli Lilly and Company Research Focus Area: Please indicate the research focus area(s) that best represent the proposed research (Choose no more than 2 from the list below): ADME/Drug Disposition Analytical Sciences Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases Biomolecule Science & Engineering Cardiovascular Disease Chemical Engineering Diabetes
Diagnostics Drug Delivery & Devices Health Outcomes Research Informatics Medicinal / Discovery Chemistry Musculoskeletal disorders Neuroscience (pain, neurodegeneration, psychiatric disorders) Oncology Pharmaceutical Sciences (biologics and small molecules) Process Chemistry Protein Production Regulatory Sciences Statistical Sciences Tailored Therapeutics Toxicology Urology Grand Challenges Our Grand Challenges were designed to better align post-doctoral research with Lilly s scientific strategy. These challenges and some associated critical unanswered questions address major scientific gaps of broad relevance that adversely impact our ability to discover and develop new drugs successfully. Our challenges represent broad areas that are not typically the focus of Lilly s internal research. These challenges are an ideal framework for post-doctoral research since they offer guidance toward the pursuit of excellent, publishable basic and applied research. We look forward to receiving proposals that would be of interest to our therapeutic and functional areas participating in the Lilly Innovation Fellowship Award program. Outlined below are our Five Grand Challenges:
1. TO ESTABLISH CLINICAL EFFICACY AND SAFETY EARLIER IN THE DRUG DISCOVERY AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESS How can we rapidly validate human disease targets and their associated risks? Are there animal models of pain or cognition that reliably and predictably translate to humans? Can adaptive judgment-based systems be applied to data assessments for a given target or a clinical study? 2. TO DISCOVER MECHANISMS THAT IDENTIFY THE RIGHT MEDICINE FOR THE RIGHT PATIENT Why do antidepressants fail to work in 30% of patients with major depressive disorder? Can these patients be easily identified? Which technologies (e.g., diagnostics, imaging, analytical chemistry, big data analysis) best inform the choice of treatment in specific disease states? What is the role of sub-chondral bone quality in the pain symptoms of arthritis? What role does post-synaptic signaling play in the reorganization of a functional neuron-muscle junction during the course of injury and aging? Does macrophage polarization play a role in muscle repair and regeneration? 3. TO DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL PATIENT OUTCOMES How can micro-metastatic cancer be detected? How can we quickly decide whether treatments, combinations, or discontinued drugs have delivered the desired outcomes? What are some untreated factors or pathways that lead to heart attack in at-risk patients who are taking standard-of-care medications? 4. TO SIMPLIFY LARGE-SCALE CHEMISTRY AND PROTEIN PRODUCTION AND MINIMIZE ITS ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT How can flexible manufacturing strategies be applied to deliver green synthetic processes? What protein expression methods have yet to be developed? What are the hurdles to large scale biomolecule production? What strategies can be used to improve the reliability of scale-down models and predictive tools to reduce cost and time of developing manufacturing processes for therapeutic proteins?
How can more robust alternative (non-mammalian) expression systems be developed for the production of proteins? 5. TO TARGET AND DELIVER BIOLOGICS AND SMALL MOLECULE THERAPEUTICS PRECISELY AND SAFELY What strategies could help make large biomolecules orally bioavailable and/or brain penetrant? Can advanced analytics and informatics provide approaches to enable simultaneous optimization of molecules across multiple parameters? What are some next generation formulation approaches to efficiently deliver potent oral drugs that have non-ideal physicochemical properties? Can we build on directed delivery methods such as antibody drug conjugates (ADCs)?