Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
The LSRF solicits monies from industry, foundations and individuals to support postdoctoral fellowships in the life sciences. Active solicitation of funds continues, for which we need the assistance of all concerned individuals. We recognize that discoveries and the application of innovations in biology for the public's good will depend upon the training and support of the highest quality young scientists in the very best research environments. LSRF awards fellowships across the spectrum of the life sciences: biochemistry; cell, developmental, molecular, plant, structural, organismic population and evolutionary biology; endocrinology; immunology; microbiology; neurobiology; physiology; virology.
In the belief that innovation and discovery occur in direct proportion to quality of training, the Life Sciences Research Foundation administers an international program of postdoctoral fellowships in all areas of the life sciences. Since it was established, in 1981, the Foundation has attracted support from a wide variety of sponsors. An Alumni Directory can be obtained from the foundation's headquarters.
Each sponsor supports one or more designated individuals, chosen by the Foundation's Board on the basis of the merit of the proposed research and the quality of the individual's past performance, as judged by the Foundation's Peer Review Committee. In this way, the Foundation offers sponsors a personal, cost-effective way to support excellence in non-targeted biological research.
A generous gift from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation funded the organizational costs of the Foundation in 1981. Annual financial statements are available from the Foundation's headquarters.
Tax Exemption. Money given to the Foundation is tax deductible. (The Foundation is exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.) Designated a Qualified Fund in Code section 41(e)(6)(D), the Foundation can "pass through" to educational and nonprofit institutions funds it receives from corporate sponsors without jeopardizing the Research Tax Credit. Within 90 days of the close of the sponsor's taxable year, the Foundation informs the sponsor of the amount of money expended on research during that year.
Fellowship Eligibility. Three-year fellowships will be awarded on a competitive basis to graduates of medical and graduate schools in the biological sciences holding M.D., Ph.D., D.V.M. or D.D.S. degrees. Awards will be based solely on the quality of the individual applicant's previous accomplishments, and on the merit of the proposal for postdoctoral research. Persons doing a second postdoc are eligible only if they are transferring to a different supervisor's laboratory and embarking on a new project not connected to their previous research. All U.S. citizens are eligible to apply with no geographic restriction on the laboratory of their choice. Foreign applicants will be eligible for study in U.S. laboratories. LSRF fellows must carry out their research at nonprofit institutions. This fellowship cannot be used to support research that has any patent commitment or other kind of agreement with a commercial profit-making company. LSRF fellows can change projects, laboratories, and/or institutions during the fellowship as long as the eligibility rules listed here are not violated. A person holding a faculty appointment is not eligible to apply for an LSRF fellowship.
Note: There can be no more than one LSRF fellow in any one laboratory at a time. If a laboratory contains an LSRF fellow, no other applicant intending to work in that particular lab would be eligible to apply. However, multiple applicants may apply from a lab which does not contain an LSRF fellow (but only one fellowship would be awarded). Please verify this matter with your intended supervisor.
The fellowship cannot be used to support research that has a patent commitment or involves any other kind of agreement with a commercial, profit-making company. Any patentable discovery from the individual's research becomes the property of the institution where the research is conducted.Selection. A panel of biological scientists (The Peer Review Committee) will judge and select applications once each year. The deadline for applications is October 1. Awards will be announced from March to May, for funding as early as June 1.
Sponsorship. The peer review committee chooses finalists exclusively by the merit of their application. LSRF then works closely with sponsors to find the fellow(s) amongst our finalists who is most relevant to the sponsor's interests. Corporate, foundation or individual sponsors will have their name directly associated with individual recipients whom they sponsor. The fellow will acknowledge this affiliation in all publications. For example: "[Name of fellow] is a [Name of Sponsor] Fellow of LSRF." LSRF encourages close interactions between fellows and sponsors through yearly visits of fellows to sponsors at the sponsor's initiative and through our annual scientific meeting. At this meeting fellows present talks or posters on their research, and there are guest speakers as well.
Annual Meeting. Once each year all current fellows will meet for two days and present their research. The LSRF Board and Staff, the Sponsors, the Peer Review Committee and Guest Scientists are invited to attend the meeting.
In addition, fellows must agree to meet at least once a year with their sponsor. In the case of corporate sponsors, this usually means a visit by the fellow to the company.
Stipends. The fellowship award is $51,000 per year and is meant to be a minigrant. LSRF keeps $1000 for administrative expenses and passes the rest to the fellow. The salary scale begins at $40,000 for a first-year postdoctoral, $42,500 for a second year, and $45,000 thereafter. The fellow, not the advisor, will control expenditure of the remainder. It can be used for fringe benefits, travel to the host institution, travel to visit the sponsor and to the LSRF annual meeting. However, its main purpose is to support the fellow's research expenses. The LSRF does not award an institutional allowance for overhead.
An escrow fund is available to fellows who can elect to have up to $5,000 per year withheld from their grant by LSRF. At the end of their fellowship, they will receive the withheld money as a one-time grant, if and when they assume a position at a nonprofit institution in the United States. Fellows who elect to have an escrow account will then be obligated to their sponsor for one more year. This obligation includes the visit to the sponsor and the acknowledgment of sponsorship in publications.
Administration. Policy is set by a Board of biologists chosen for their experience and judgment in science. The Board selects fellows on the basis of recommendations by the Foundation's Peer Review Committee, the members of which represent a broad spectrum of biological fields and research institutions. All scientists associated with the Foundation—officers, Board members, and Peer Review Committee members—serve without pay.
LSRF does not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, race or nationality.
Abbott Laboratories
Affymetrix
Amersham Life Science Inc./United States Biochemical Corp.
Amgen
Anonymous Foundation
Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Biogen Idec
Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation
Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute
The Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Chiron Technologies
Division of Energy Biosciences, Department of Energy
E.l. du Pont de Nemours and Company
The Ellison Medical Foundation
Exxon Education Foundation
Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies
Genentech, Inc.
Genetics Institute, Inc.
Gilead Sciences
GlaxoSmithKline
The Golden Family Foundation
Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Johnson & Johnson
Kansas Health Foundation
Life Technologies, Inc.
Lilly Research Labs
Richard Lounsbery Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. Mac Arthur Foundation (The)
Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust
G.Harold & Leila Y. Mathers Charitable
Foundation (The)
Merck Research Laboratories
Monsanto Co.
New York Stem Cell Foundation
Novartis Pharma AG
O'Donnell Foundation
Parke Davis/Warner-Lambert Company
Pfizer Global Research and Development
Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.
Rett Syndrome Research Foundation
Sanofi Winthrop, Inc.
Schering-Plough Foundation
Schering-Plough Research Institute
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Dr. Louis Sklarow Memorial Fund (The)
Society for Developmental Biology
Syntex Research
Tularik
Upjohn Co. (The)
WYETH