Life Sciences Research Initiative

Application details, deadlines, and templates will be posted to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research website. Applications should describe scientific aims and methods, expected institutional and field impact and real‑world effects at the clinical or population level, translation pathways and plans for follow‑on funding, budget justification, key personnel and collaborators, and any project milestones (required for Transformational Science Team Awards). Applicants must also address how AI, big data, or collaboration with the university’s Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Institute will be used or leveraged where relevant. Continued funding for Transformational Science Team Awards will be contingent upon satisfactory progress against articulated milestones.

Full-time faculty across Johns Hopkins academic divisions who are engaged in life sciences research are eligible. Awards will be allocated across schools roughly in proportion to each school’s life sciences portfolio and application volume. For the initial round of Transformational Science Team Awards, the program may prioritize areas of existing institutional strength and urgent need so that rapid, sustained impact can be achieved where a critical mass of activity already exists or where federal funding contractions have created immediate risks.

Consistent with our belief in the importance of peer-reviewed, competitively awarded research, the Life Sciences Research Initiative will incorporate the same rigorous standards and processes as our existing internal award programs, such as the Catalyst, Discovery, and President’s Frontier Awards. Applications will be reviewed by a faculty oversight committee of distinguished scholars, both within Hopkins and from peer institutions, representing the breadth of the life sciences research community at Johns Hopkins and beyond.

Led by Ashani Weeraratna, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Cancer Biology, the faculty committee will evaluate proposals for the initiative’s two funding tracks based on transformative potential, innovation, strength of approach, and the likelihood of catalyzing meaningful scientific or translational progress, at the individual or population level. External peer reviewers drawn from an advisory board of experts will provide additional assessment in an advisory capacity. Deans will also review proposals for divisional alignment, feasibility, and resource needs and will advise the President and Provost. Applicants should expect a competitive process: not all meritorious proposals can be funded, and prioritization will favor projects with practical, demonstrable impact and realistic sustainability plans.

Award budgets will be as flexible as possible and may include a broader range of direct costs than typical federal grants—such as data services, publication fees, administration time, and facilities charges—when those costs are attributable to the project. Awardees must submit annual progress reports. High‑Impact Individual Awards will follow existing internal reporting processes. Transformational Science Team Awards are inherently milestone‑driven; annual reports will be reviewed by the internal oversight committee to determine whether funds should continue to be released. Projects that are not making satisfactory progress will be sunsetted and remaining funds repurposed for future awards.

The Life Sciences Research Initiative is made possible through the generous support of more than 120 alumni and friends who have contributed to the university’s ongoing Research Saves Lives effort.

No. The Life Sciences Research Initiative is a strategic internal investment designed to help sustain critical life sciences research during a period of constrained federal funding. There is no replacement for the partnership between the federal government and American research universities that has made the United States a global leader in scientific, medical, and technological leadership for more than eight decades. But we continue to use every tool at our disposal to sustain our research enterprise and our faculty, students, and staff.