Cornerstone Grants

See the 2024 Awardees HERE

Description of Award
The purpose of the Histochemical Society’s Graduate Medical Trainee and Graduate Student Cornerstone Grant is to encourage interest in histochemistry and histochemical-based research techniques in early-career clinicians and scientists. This grant will provide funds to assist graduate medical trainees and graduate students in conducting research involving immunohistochemistry, histochemical techniques, in situ hybridization, or related techniques. The 2024 grant amount is $3,250 and should be used for direct costs only.  Award recipients will be given approximately one year to perform the research.  Grant recipients will be required to report their findings to the Histochemical Society Education Committee upon the completion of the project.  Recipients will also be required to submit an abstract based on their findings from this project for presentation at the Histochemical Society’s Annual Meeting or another major scientific conference, and are encouraged to apply to the HCS Travel Awards to aid in attendance.

Applicant Requirements
Applicants must be graduate medical trainees (residency or fellowship), graduate students (PhD or thesis-based Master’s), or combined degree program students (Possibilities include but are not limited to MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, DDs/PhD, MD/MS.)  All awardees must be members of the Histochemical Society before funds will be disbursed to the awardees institution.

Evaluation
Applications will be evaluated on the effective and correct use of immunohistochemistry or other histochemical techniques and the extent to which completion of the project requires these methods.  Likelihood of successful completion of the project (based on availability of appropriate laboratory space, equipment and institutional support) and significance of the question being addressed will also be considered. Basic, applied and translational or clinical research proposals are eligible. Click here for more information on application scoring.

Reporting
Successful applicants should submit a summary of their project in the form of a scientific manuscript.  (A publication or submitted manuscript with the grantee as the first author will also be accepted as the required report.) This should be submitted within 2 months of the project’s completion date.


Grant Timeline   
April 1 to June 30: Application site open
August: Applicants notified 
September: Funds disbursed
September 30 of following year: Project completion
November 30 of following year: Report submitted to the HCS Education Committee
November of following year: Abstract submitted to HCS Annual Meeting


Acceptance of Funding
The Histochemical Society will work with awardee mentors and their institution to determine the best mechanism for delivering the funds.  The HCS reserves the right to publish names and photographs of the awardees on the HCS website and other informational forums, including social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Grant funds may be transferred within the same mentor lab if the student awardee is unable to fulfill the terms of the grant, provided mentor notifies HCS and submits the new student’s CV/resume and updated timeline for completion of the project. 

Contact Information
Please contact Education Committee Chair, Joseph Cheatwood ([email protected]) or HCS Executive Director, Kendra LaDuca ([email protected]) regarding any questions.

Research Plan Format
To apply, complete the online form which includes submission of a Research Plan (4 page limit, PDF.) Please include the following:

  1. Hypothesis
  2. Rationale, including why IHC and/or histochemistry techniques are necessary for project success
  3. Previous/Supporting Data
  4. Methods, including description of proposed of techniques and controls
  5. Environment including laboratory support and mentoring in techniques, if needed
  6. References
  7. Timeline
  8. Outcomes, deliverables and dissemination plan
  1. Submission Guidelines
    1. 4 Page Limit, excluding figure (if applicable) and references
    2. Margins should be no smaller than 1”
    3. Font should be 10pt. Arial or Times New Roman
    4. 1 Figure may be included
    5. Submit in PDF format
    6. Project budget must be provided
    7. Applicants and their mentors will also be asked to provide an ORCID ID. (To obtain and ORCID ID, follow the instructions here https://orcid.org/register.)
Apply

To apply you must submit your Research Plan (outlined above), project budget, student CV/resume, mentor's biosketch/CV and letter of support. 2024 applications were accepted until June 30, 2024.

 

Click here to see the 2023 Cornerstone Grant Winners