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Greetings,

 

We are excited to share this limited submission opportunity from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation. The Mathers Foundation funds work that can lead to major advances in scientific understanding and human health. Harvard as a single institution may put forward three nominees to submit a Letter of Inquiry (LOI) for the Spring 2027 grant awards cycle. More information about the award and the internal selection process can be found in the synopsis and links below. For a full list of currently open opportunities that have been announced through our office, please visit our Current Opportunities web page. As a reminder, our Research Development team is available to provide proposal development support to FAS ladder faculty.

 

G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation Spring 2027 Grant Cycle

  • Harvard Pre-Proposal Deadline: November 29, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET
  • OSP Deadline, if nominated: February 8, 2027 at 9:00 AM ET
    Departments or areas may require additional time for proposal review and submission. Please discuss a timeline with your departmental or FORA grants administrator.
  • Sponsor LOI Deadline, if nominated: February 11, 2027 by 8:00 PM ET
  • Award Amount: $600,000-$700,000 over three years, inclusive of 10% indirect costs 
    This rate falls short of the 15% overhead required by FAS/SEAS policy. Please discuss this with your grants administrator before preparing an application.
 

Program Overview

 

The G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation supports pivotal basic research with the potential to improve human health. Applicants should focus on novel, basic research projects with translational potential that would not be suitable for federal support. The Foundation prioritizes innovative, high-merit proposals with an established proof of concept.

 

Priority Areas

  • Immunology
  • Microbiome
  • Structural biology
  • Cellular physiology
  • Cancer biology
  • Genetics
  • Genomics
  • Microbiology and infectious diseases
  • Stem cell biology
  • Neuroscience
 

Eligibility Criteria

  • All professorial ranks are eligible, including Assistant, Associate, and Full Professors. PIs must have their own independent and fully equipped labs.
  • Collaborative research projects with other U.S.-based organizations are eligible; collaboration with organizations based outside the U.S. is discouraged.
  • U.S. citizenship is not required to apply.
 

Application Considerations

  • Research projects that are currently or have previously been supported with federal funds may receive lower priority for funding.
  • Resubmitting declined applications is strongly discouraged; such submissions will not be given preference in the review process.
  • Projects that, in the Foundation's judgment, rely too heavily on AI-generated data may not be considered for funding.
  • The following Research Areas will not be supported: Covid-19; plant biology (including plant microbiome); oceanography; space exploration; global warming; agriculture and herbicide research; clinical trials or drug discovery; vaccine development; ecology; environment.
  • The Foundation does not support research conducted in human subjects and will not fund requests for clinical trials or drug discovery.
  • The Foundation reserves the right to decline projects that they interpret as clinical or pre-clinical research. If there is an intervention or interaction with subjects for the collection of biospecimens or data, (including health or clinical data, surveys, focus groups, or observations of behavior), or if identifiable biospecimens will be obtained, used, studied, analyzed, or generated for the purpose of this study, it may be considered inappropriate for funding purposes.
  • Domestic travel is limited to one conference per year (up to $2,000 per year, with no more than $6,000 over the full grant period) when reasonable and supported by a clear justification. International travel is not allowed.
  • Student tuition and/or fees will not be funded.
  • Requests for equipment costs over $5,000 will not be approved.
  • Publication expenses are permitted only in Years 2 and 3 of the award and may not exceed $3,000 per year.
  • Costs for computers, computer-generated systems/and AI data generation are unallowable.
 

Limited Submission Details

 
This is a limited submission opportunity and Harvard University, as a single institution, is limited to submitting three (3) LOIs to each Mathers Foundation application period. The Office of the Vice Provost for Research will conduct an internal competition to select Harvard’s nominees. To be considered for a Harvard nomination, potential applicants must submit an internal pre-proposal by 11:59 PM on November 29, 2026, via the link above.
 

If selected as a Harvard nominee, registration in the Mathers portal will be required by 8:00 PM ET on January 28, 2027 to access the Mathers Foundation grants application and instructions. LOI submission to the Mathers Foundation will be due by February 11, 2027 at 8:00 PM ET. The Mathers Foundation will notify applicants about the status of their LOI submission approximately one month after the LOI due date. If invited, formal proposals will be due April 15, 2027. Approved grants are typically awarded within five to six months of LOI submission.

 

Additional Information and Resources

 

Internal application information is available in the online application portal. The Harvard pre-proposal application components include a proposal summary (1,000 words max); proof of concept, previous, or related work (400 words max); a summary of the PI's most impactful discoveries and/or best publications, which may be unrelated to the current proposal (400 words max); CV; and a preliminary budget.

 

Review the Mathers Foundation's LOI instructions and FAQs for additional details, or view a list of previous award recipients.

 

Questions from FAS or SEAS faculty about this opportunity may be directed to FAS Research Development.

 

Requests for support related to the application portal may be directed to the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.

RESOURCES

Research Development maintains a Sample Proposal Library of successful proposals from recent award recipients that are available to FAS and SEAS faculty by request; please email Research Development to request to view a proposal. For more information on Research Development's resources—including lists of internal funding programs, early career funding programs, and sabbatical fellowships—please visit the Funding Opportunities web page. Previous editions of FAS Funding Focus (FFF), a resource series tailored to help FAS faculty and staff navigate the ever-evolving landscape of grants and funding, are accessible in the FFF archive. 
 

SEARCH FOR OPPORTUNITIES WITH PIVOT

All Harvard affiliates can search for opportunities and set up alerts using Pivot, a searchable database of federal and private funding opportunities. Information on Pivot, including a one-page user guide, and other funding opportunity databases available to the Harvard community can be found on the Funding Databases web page.
 

PIVOT CURATED SEARCHES

Curated funding opportunity lists are funding search topics of broad interest. The following curated lists can be further refined in Pivot based on your funding needs. To view the results you must be on a Harvard network or logged in to your Pivot account. Information on setting up a Pivot account can be found in our one-page Pivot user guide. 
 

 

 

 

 

Additional curated lists are available on the Funding Databases web page. We continue to add to and refine these lists based on feedback. Please feel free to reach out to us at research_development@fas.harvard.edu with any suggestions you may have.
 Research Development | FAS Office of Research Administration | research.fas.harvard.edu
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