Curebound Whitworth Legacy Circle Invites Philanthropists to Fund Next-Generation Cancer Research. Story Here.
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THE POWER OF
COLLABORATION
The best ideas happen when the right people work together.
CUREBOUND RESEARCH PROGRAM
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS + INVESTMENT PILLARS
Collaboration is at the center of Curebound’s unique grantmaking platform. All Curebound grants demand collaboration among specialized teams from our research partner institutions, enabling the brightest minds from different scientific disciplines to work together to produce better options and outcomes for patients. Curebound's institutional research partners include:
- Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health
- Salk Institute
- Sanford-Burnham Prebys
- Rady Children’s Hospital
- La Jolla Institute for Immunology
- Scripps Research
Curebound funds promising, innovative oncology research for all types of cancer, adult and pediatric, in alignment with five scientific investment pillars:
- Prevention and diagnostic tools
- Novel approaches and new therapeutic platforms
- Immunotherapies and personalized vaccines
- Cancer equities
- Pediatric cancers
All grant submissions undergo rigorous peer review and are held to the strictest standards of scientific excellence.
Curebound is committed to supporting the most exciting projects in cancer research at all stages including work that is ready to make the transition to commercialization and patient application. Catalyst Grant funding is available for San Diego based early-stage biotech companies to conduct research that addresses critical challenges in cancer prevention, detection, and treatment and demonstrates opportunity to advance swiftly to clinic. To learn more about the Catalyst Grant program, please read on below.
CUREBOUND GRANTS
Curebound funds five types of cancer research grants. Please click below for detailed information on each grant type and contact the Grants Department with any questions at research@curebound.org
Discovery Grants
One-time seed grants of up to $250,000 for high-risk/high-reward, research that requires inter-institutional collaboration. Ideas are innovative and in the early phases where smaller grants can make a big impact in advancing research.
Targeted Grants
Larger awards of $500,000 that aim to fund projects that are closer to clinical stages. Targeted Grants require interdisciplinary collaboration in order to ensure the project is geared toward translational application.
Cure Prizes
Innovative, multi-disciplinary projects that receive major funding of $1,000,000 to be administered over multiple years. The Cure Prize challenge is to develop an innovation that will improve the standard of care for a typically deadly cancer with patient application in 3-5 years.
Equity Grants
Awards funding of up to $250,000 for research that directly addresses cancer-related health disparities and positively impacts outcomes in underrepresented or underserved populations.
Catalyst Grants
Catalyst Grants award funds of up to $250,000 to early-stage companies to conduct innovative oncology-based research that holds promise for rapid translation to the clinic.
GRANT APPLICATIONS
2024 Discovery Grant, Targeted Grant, and Cure Prize applications are currently in peer review and will be notified in December.
Information on the 2025 Grant Cycle and application process will be announced in the coming months. Please check back for more information. If you would like to receive information or have questions about how to apply for Curebound grant funding, please email us at research@curebound.org.
View the 2023 Research Portfolio.
RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
Curebound raises and invests strategic funding in translational cancer research projects aimed at accelerating new discoveries to clinical application. The full index of our research portfolio is available below.
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CANCER TYPE
RESEARCH INSTITUTION
SCIENTIFIC PILLAR
YEAR
GRANT TYPE
*Founders Bill & Amy Koman, Cure Prize Recipients Rebecca Rakow-Penner MD, PhD (UCSD), Michael McHale MD (UCSD), CEO Anne Marbarger*
*Not pictured: Anders Dale PhD (UCSD)*
CURE PRIZE
The Cure Prize is Curebound’s highest award for bold innovation in cancer research, recognizing Innovative, multi-disciplinary projects that receive major funding of $1,000,000+ to be administered over multiple years. The first Cure Prize challenge was to develop an innovation that will improve the standard of care for a typically deadly cancer with patient application in 3-5 years.
In June, 2022 Curebound awarded its first Cure Prize:
2023 Cure Prize: Screening for Ovarian Cancer with Advanced Diffusion MRI in Patients at High Risk for Ovarian Cancer
In Honor of the Koman Family
Scientists: Rebecca Rakow-Penner MD, PhD, Anders Dale, PhD, Michael McHale, MD (UC San Diego)
Ovarian cancer is the fifth-most deadly cancer in women in the United States with 60% of cases already metastasized at the time of diagnosis. Multiple screening programs have been attempted, but none so far have demonstrated survival benefit. This project, led by the brilliant team of doctors Rakow-Penner, Dale and McHale at UC San Diego, will develop a robust screening technique, based on advanced diffusion-weighted MRI, that can non-invasively image ovarian cancers. This will decrease the need for surgical removal of ovaries from at risk women while offering the promise of novel screening technique for early detection and treatment for all women.
“Our project, my passion, is to develop an innovative and advanced MRI protocol specifically tailored to detecting ovarian cancer in its earliest stages. By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technology, we aim to provide the information to at risk women so they can make informed decisions about their health and specifically about the very difficult decision they face with respect to prophylactic surgery. With the support of Curebound, we aim to significantly improve the outcomes for women facing this formidable challenge.”
- Rebecca Rakow-Penner, MD, PhD
UC San Diego Health
INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH
PARTNERS
Curebound funds innovative, collaborative research between these six cancer research centers in San Diego.
