Technology Development Seed Grants

The seed grant program stimulates collaborations across disciplines so research discoveries can be translated into therapeutic applications.

Seed Grants to Foster Innovation

More than 20 years ago, the Beckman Center launched the Technology Development Seed Grant program to foster the development and dissemination of new research technologies. The program funds proposals that support innovative applications for 1) the development of new and improved instruments or devices, or 2) the development of new methodologies to be used in biomedical research.
 

Projects selected for funding feature novel ideas and represent high-risk, high-reward research that could potentially attract larger federal grant awards. Preference is given to research that is collaborative and multidisciplinary, and that forges interfaces between the basic and clinical sciences, so that laboratory research and discovery can be “translated” into new diagnostic and therapeutic applications. 

Teams are composed of two or more researchers, including combinations of physician investigators, basic scientists, applied scientists, and others. Since its inception, more than 60 grant awards have been made to faculty researchers across campus, drawn from the schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Humanities and Sciences.  

The Technology Development Seed Grant projects have resulted in promising outcomes that include significant research data, published papers, grant and patent applications, and media coverage.

Grant Eligibility and Funding

Applicants for Technology Development Seed Grant awards should be Stanford University faculty members holding university, research, or medical center line positions (UTL, MCL, or NTLR faculty appointments). PMGM advisory committee members evaluate the proposals and the center provides $100,000 per year, for a two-year period, to the best proposals.

2025 Application Timeline

The 2025 application process will be published here soon. 

Get information on eligibility, submission deadlines, and the selection process

Log in to your in-process seed grant application

Discover the Technology Development Seed Grant Awards

Current Technology Development Seed Grant Awards

  • A Systemic Light Source for Optogenetic Screening of Enteric Nervous System Functions. Guosong Hong, Ph.D., Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Julia Kaltschmidt, Ph.D., Department of Neurosurgery
  • An Integrated Milli-Fluidic System for Automated Tissue Dissociation into Single Cells. James D. Brooks, M.D., Department of Urology - Divisions; Sindy Kam-Yan Tang, Ph.D., Department of Mechanical Engineering
  • Breaking the Barriers to Discovering Biologics Against Membrane ProteinsLe Cong, Ph.D., Departments of Pathology and Genetics; Liang Feng, Ph.D., Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology
  • Development of a Photo-Enzymatic 3D Bioprinter for Pediatric Tissue Engineered Vascular Grafts. Steven G. Boxer, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry; Michael Ma, M.D., Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery; Mark A. Skylar-Scott, Ph.D., Department of Bioengineering
  • Fluorescent Lifetime Imaging Microscopy of Mitochondria-Rich Extracellular Vesicles for Direct Augmentation of Myocardial BioenergeticsMark A. Kasevich, Ph.D., Departments of Physics and Applied Physics; Soichi Wakatsuki, Ph.D., Departments of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Structural Biology, and Energy Sciences; Phillip C. Yang, M.D., Department of Medicine - Med/Cardiovascular Medicine

Previous Technology Development Seed Grant Awards