ISSLS Clinical Science Research Grant sponsored by Medtronic

Application deadline has now passed for the 2023 ISSLS Clinical Science Research Grant

Please look for announcements of the 2024 Research Grant Award, later in 2023.

The ISSLS Clinical Science Research Grant, wth US$20,000 in prize money, is generously donated by Medtronic. This grant promotes research into the Lumbar Spine.

Description: The research proposal should be in the field of clinical science. At least one investigator must be a current ISSLS member. The research proposal will be judged on significance, quality of the hypothesis, experimental protocol and feasibility. Projects that intend to use the ISSLS funding to lead to other larger funding sources are encouraged but must have a strong plan for further funding. The winning proposal will receive a US$20,000.00 award. The principal investigator must be 45 years of age or younger. The research funds cannot be used as a salary for any of the investigators. The recipient will provide a written progress report to the Research Grant Committee, four weeks prior to the following year’s Annual Meeting and make a presentation during the Fellowship Ceremony of that Annual Meeting.

The announcement of the 2023 winner will be made at the ISSLS Annual Meeting in Melbourne, Australia, May 1-5 2023, during the Fellowship Ceremony. At the same Fellowship Meeting, the winner of the 2022 Research Grant will make their presentation.

It is imperative that applicants understand that attendance at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Milan, Italy, by the winner of the 2023 award, is a prerequisite to accepting the prize money.  Exceptions to this condition will only be considered in very extraordinary circumstances.

Funding:

The ISSLS Clinical Science Research Grant is sponsored by Medtronic for US$20,000 per year. Research costs, only, will be covered by the award. No indirect/overhead costs will be covered by the award.

The award will be judged by the Research Grant Committee:

ISSLS Secretary – Jeffrey Lotz (Chair)
ISSLS President – Tim Yoon
1^st Vice President – Kazuhiro Chiba
2^nd Vice President – Peter Robertson
Scientific Representatives – Christy Tomkins-Lane, Hiroshi Hashizume and Karin Wuertz

Proposal Format:

• Background, Identification of Critical Lack of Knowledge, Preliminary Data, Significance, Hypothesis, Specific Aims: 2 page limit
• Detailed Experimental Protocol to achieve each specific aim with expected findings and possible interpretations, pitfalls: 5 page limit
• Further funding plans: 1 page limit
• Reference: No limit
• Brief biography indicating the qualifications to perform the research of Principal Investigator and all Co-investigators (1 page limit per person).
• Curriculum Vitae of Principal Investigator and Co-investigators should be included.
• Statement that the applicant, if they win the award and accept the prize money, will attend the ISSLS Annual Meeting in Milan 2024 to present their progress report and receive their certificate at the Fellowship Ceremony.

E-mail the application documentation as a single PDF document together with the Application Form to the ISSLS Administrative office fiona.strain@issls.org.

Deadline: February 28, 2023

2022 ISSLS Research Grant Winner

The winner of the 2022 ISSLS Research Grant Award is Frances Bach from the Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Title: The effect of notochordal extracellular vesicles on human and bovine nucleus pulpous explants.

The Research Grant Committee would like to congratulate Dr Bach and her co-authors for their outstanding submission.
Previous winners

• 2020: Dr Graciosa P. Teixeira, Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany. Title: Does complement deficiency influence intervertebral disc phenotype? Insights from C6 and CD59 deficient mice organ culture investigations. Read Report
• 2019: Dr Olga Krupkova, Laboratory for Immunoengineering and Regenerative Medicine, Zurich, Switzerland. Title: “Cell-based delivery of GDF-5 for regeneration of the intervertebral disc using CRISPR”. Read Report Due to the cancellation of the 2020 Annual Meeting, this report will be available following the 2021 Virtual Annual Meeting.
• 2018: Hugo Massé-Alarie, The University of Queensland, Australia. Read Final Report, Read Progress Report