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Mailing Address:
660 S. Euclid Avenue
Campus Box 8013
St. Louis, MO 63110
(314) 747-0920
(314) 362-5872 (fax)

Street Address:
724 S. Euclid Avenue
Suite 2259
St. Louis, MO 63110

Bear Cub Fund

The Bear Cub Fund was initiated by the Vice Chancellor for Research to support faculty in translational studies not normally supported by federal grants from NIH, NSF and other sources.

BearCub Fund awards are designed to support translational research activities that will generate results to improve commercial licensing opportunities and/or investment potential. Such proof-of-concept studies are often required by potential licensees to provide additional confidence that idea technology will work in an applied setting.

The individual awards of $20,000 - $50,000 are intended to support short-term projects of one (1) year or less by providing financial assistance for the research project.

A review committee comprised of people from the University and commercial sectors will make award decisions based on scientific and business criteria. The Director of the OTM will chair the committee.

APPLICATION DEADLINES:
November 14, 2009

INVENTION DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT: The purpose of the Bear Cub award is to fund the development of an invention by moving it significantly forward down the path toward commercialization. In most cases that means the Bear Cub award will be used solely for the development of a prototype or completion of critical proof of concept experiment(s). Thus, an application that meets the following criteria will more likely be funded over others:

a) To develop a technology that is already supported by a patent application.

b) That relates to a recently submitted invention disclosure to the OTM.

c) That should shorten time-to-license for the technology.

d) That includes clearly defined deliverables and a detailed timeline for the expected deliverables.

e) That does not include salaries for faculty, staff, or students that are normally supported by a grant or department funds (short term salaries or subcontracts to normally unsupported individuals for specific development purposes, e.g. writing software code, writing wiring schematics, additional technical development, production of antibodies, peptides, small molecule compounds, etc., may be acceptable).

For additional information, contact Jon Kratochvil at the Office of Technology Management. Contact information: kratochj@wustl.edu; 314 747-0923. When completing the application, concentrate on the following issues:
  • Clearly define the stage of research.
  • Identify those who would benefit most from your ideas.
  • Describe what the University should expect from investing in your work.
  • Budget proposal.

Awardees will be required to submit a 6-month progress report and a final report. Failure to submit the required reports will result in a freezing and possible return of the remaining balance of the Bear Cub award.

A departmental fund must be established for the awardee’s lab within 30 days of the notification of the Bear Cub award or the money will be returned to the Bear Cub Fund.

If the resulting technology developed by funding from the Bear Cub is ultimately successful in being licensed, the original award amount will be deducted by the OTM from the income revenue and used to replenish the Bear Cub Fund for future awardees.


Bear Cub Application (.doc)
Bear Cub Application (.pdf)