Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award
Backs research teams and institutions for Damon Runyon Rachleff Innovation Award in biotechnology, medical technology, and synthetic biology.
The Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award is a high-risk, high-reward cancer research funding program from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, explicitly designed for early-career faculty who have bold scientific ideas but lack the preliminary data required for conventional grant funding. The Foundation states directly that incremental research will not be funded under this program. Eligible applicants are tenure-track Assistant Professors within their first five years, clinical instructors or senior fellows in their final subspecialty training, or distinguished fellows with exceptional research records. All applicants must hold an MD, DO, PhD, or MD/PhD and commit a minimum of 80% of their time to research. Non-US citizens may apply provided they conduct independent research at a US institution.
Stage 1 funding provides $200,000 per year for two years, totaling $400,000. Exceptional awardees demonstrating outstanding progress may be extended for an additional two years, bringing the maximum award to $800,000 over four years. Annual disbursements are made based on demonstrated progress. There are no institutional nomination requirements, and no limit on how many candidates a single institution may submit. However, individual applicants may apply to this program a maximum of twice over their career.
The 2026 deadline is July 1, 2026 at 4:00 PM Eastern Time. Applications are submitted through the Proposal Central platform and are open to direct submission without institutional sponsorship requirements. Competitive proposals articulate a genuinely novel scientific concept, explain why conventional funding pathways are not available due to insufficient preliminary data, and outline an ambitious research plan with the potential to shift understanding of cancer biology or treatment. The award's founding donor is entrepreneur Chris Rachleff, and the program is intended as a venture-capital analog for academic cancer research.
High-risk, high-reward cancer research ideas from early-career US faculty who lack sufficient preliminary data to pursue conventional funding channels.
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