Announcement on the release of the 2023 Guidelines-Guided Original Exploration Program Project Guidelines of the Department of Medical Sciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China
1. Scientific objectives
By discovering and identifying key targets of therapeutic immune cells, or reprogramming immune cells through directed differentiation of stem cells, in vivo delivery, and small molecule intervention, we can improve the differentiation and development of immune cells, break through key technologies for universal immune cells, and enhance Anti-tumor efficacy and functional durability and safety of immune cells.
2. Core scientific issues
Design and functional verification of new efficient and safe therapeutic immune cells, including:
1. Universal, functionally enhanced, long-lasting memory, and immune cell design containing chimeric receptors based on the principles of synthetic biology.
2. Engineered immune cells derived from directed differentiation and verification of therapeutic functions.
3. In vivo editing and functional verification of immune cells.
3. Research directions to be funded
1. Use strategies such as gene editing, synthetic biology, and epigenetic programming to solve universal immune cell therapy or immune cell enhancement and lasting anti-tumor efficacy.
2. Obtain therapeutic immune cells based on directed differentiation of stem cells and verify their anti-tumor function and safety.
3. Establish disease models, develop and optimize delivery vectors and verify anti-tumor functions of edited immune cells in vivo.
4. Funding period and funding intensity
The project funding period is generally 2 to 3 years, and the funding intensity does not exceed 1 million yuan per project per year. The total direct cost of program funding is approximately 40 million yuan. Applicants can realistically choose the funding period and propose funding requirements based on the actual needs of their research work. The research period in the application should be filled in “January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2025 or December 31, 2026.”
5. Application requirements
(1) Application qualifications.
Scientific and technical personnel with experience in undertaking basic research projects (topics) or other basic research can apply, and young people under the age of 45 are encouraged to apply for original projects. The research work planned by the applicant must comply with relevant national laws and regulations such as “scientific research integrity”, “ethics” and “scientific and technological safety” as well as the relevant requirements in the “2023 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines”.
(2) Regulations on limited applications.
1. Applicants can only apply for one original project in the same year (including pre-application).
2. Original projects will not be included in the total number of applications and commitments from the time of pre-application until the Natural Science Foundation of China makes a decision on whether to fund them; they will be included in the total number of applications and commitments after being funded.
3. It should comply with the restrictions on the number of applications in the “2023 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines”.
6. Application procedure
(1) Pre-application.
1. The pre-application submission time is from October 23 to 16:00 on October 25, 2023.
2. Applicants are requested to log in to the National Natural Science Foundation of China Network Information System (hereinafter referred to as the information system) https://grants.nsfc.gov.cn/ to write a pre-application. Applicants who do not have an information system account should apply to the fund management contact of the supporting unit to open an account. Under the “Application and Acceptance” menu of the information system, click “Original Project Pre-Application” to enter the pre-application filling page, select “Guide Category”, and note that select “Original Research on Therapeutic Immune Cells Against Tumors”, application code 1Choose “H08”, or “H11” or “H18” for the application code. 2Choose the corresponding subject application code according to the fields involved in the project research. Applications for projects with inaccurate or unselected selections above will not be funded.
3． The pre-application mainly explains the originality, scientific nature and potential influence of the proposed academic ideas, and the number of words should be controlled within 2,000 words. Applicants should fill in the relevant pre-application content according to the relevant prompts in the information system and submit it directly to the Natural Science Foundation of China. The applicant must clearly indicate in the first sentence of the pre-application text the “to be funded” listed in this guide for the application project. research direction”.
4. The Natural Science Foundation of China accepts pre-applications and organizes review. The review results and formal application submission deadline will be reported to the applicant via email.
(2) Formal application.
1. Applicants who pass the pre-application review should fill in the formal application form in accordance with the requirements of the “Special Project-Original Exploration Plan Project Formal Application Writing Outline”. The core research content of the formal application should be consistent with the pre-application, and the first sentence of the project summary of the formal application is required to clearly indicate the “research direction to be funded” listed in this guide corresponding to the application project.
2. The total number of cooperative research units for this original project shall not exceed 2; the main participants must be actual contributors to the project.
3. Applicants should follow the relevant provisions of the “Measures for the Fund Management of Projects Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation” and the “Supplementary Notice on Issues Related to Project Fund Management” and the specific requirements of the “Instructions for Preparation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Fund Budget Table”, and in accordance with the “objective-related The “National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Fund Budget Form” should be carefully and truthfully prepared based on the basic principles of “security, policy consistency, and economic rationality”, and the supporting unit must carefully review it in accordance with relevant regulations.
4. This original project adopts paperless application. After the applicant completes the writing of the application, he or she must submit the electronic application and attached materials online. The host unit only needs to confirm the electronic application and attached materials online, and does not need to submit a paper application. However, it should carefully review the authenticity and completeness of the application materials submitted by the applicant of the unit, and pass the information before the deadline for receiving project applications. The system confirms the submission of the unit’s electronic application form and attached materials item by item; submit the unit’s application project list online within 24 hours after the deadline. After the project is approved, the host unit will bind the signed and stamped paper page of the application at the end of the “Funded Project Plan” and submit it together as required within the specified time.
7. Precautions
(1) Publication of funded project information.
The Natural Science Foundation of China will publish basic information on funded original projects on its official website.
(2) Project implementation guarantee.
The person in charge of the original project should devote his main energy to the research of the original project; the supporting unit should strengthen the supervision, management and services of the implementation of the original project, reduce the unnecessary burden on the person in charge of the project, and provide the necessary institutional and conditional guarantees for project research.
(3) Others.
There is no review process for original project applications and funding.
The Natural Science Foundation of China will include the project implementation status of the relevant project leader and the review status of the review experts into the credit file.
(4) Consultation method.
Division 1, Division 4 and Division 7 of Medicine, Department of Medical Sciences, National Natural Science Foundation of China
Contact: Jiang Hujun, Hong Wei, Shi Rong
Contact number: 010-62327215, 62327207, 62329157.