Arc Innovation Investigator & Ignite Awards

The Arc Institute seeks to foster collaborations built on scientific curiosity, a deep commitment to truth, and interdisciplinary science. Arc Innovation Investigators & Ignite Awardees are researchers at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCSF who are awarded unrestricted funding to pursue visionary ideas in curiosity-driven science and technology development.

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Arc Innovation Investigator Program

Innovation Investigators are awarded $1 million in unrestricted funding from Arc over the five-year term of their appointment. During this time, Innovation Investigators benefit from access to Arc resources and facilities, including the opportunity to collaborate with our Technology Centers and to use Arc scientific core facilities, while maintaining their lab and position at their university. Innovation Investigators are also encouraged to pursue collaborations with Arc’s Core Investigators and participate in our Institute Initiatives.

Meet Our Innovation Investigators

Neurobiology

Monther Abu-Remaileh

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Genetics at Stanford University

Neurobiology

Will Allen

Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology at Stanford University

Technology Development

Zhenan Bao

K.K. Lee Professor of Chemical Engineering and by courtesy, of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University

Technology Development

Iain Clark

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at University of California, Berkeley

Technology Development

Michael Fischbach

Liu (Liao) Family Professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University

Chemical Biology

Nathanael Gray

Krishnan-Shah Family Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University

Technology Development

William Greenleaf

Professor of Genetics, and by courtesy, of Applied Physics at Stanford University

Computational Science

Brian Hie

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Data Science at Stanford University.

Immunology

Maayan Levy

Assistant Professor of Pathology at Stanford University

Computational Science

Jennifer Listgarten

Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Center for Computational Biology and the Bioengineering Graduate Group at University of California, Berkeley

Neurobiology

Anna Molofsky

Samuel Barondes Professor of Neurobiology and Psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco

Immunology

Theo Roth

Assistant Professor of Pathology at Stanford University

Chemical Biology

Alanna Schepartz

T.Z. and Irmgard Chu Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at University of California, Berkeley

Immunology

Matthew Spitzer

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and of Microbiology & Immunology at University of California, San Francisco

Neurobiology

Katrin Svensson

Associate Professor of Pathology at Stanford University

Neurobiology

Andrew Yang

Assistant Professor of Neurology and Anatomy at University of California, San Francisco

Human Genetics

Jimmie Ye

Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco

Becoming an Innovation Investigator at Arc

Appointment

Arc Innovation Investigators are appointed for five-year terms, which are competitively renewable.

Awardees act as intellectual bridges between the universities and the institute, while maintaining their labs, employment, and appointments at their home university (Stanford University, UC Berkeley, or UCSF).

Eligibility

Current faculty at our three partner universities (Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and UCSF) are eligible to be considered.

We encourage innovative research proposals that may be challenging to support via traditional funding sources and are aligned with Arc’s mission of understanding and treating complex human diseases.

Scientific Focus Areas

Focus areas for past calls for applications have included Human Genetics, Technology Development, Neurobiology, Immunology, Computational Science / Machine Learning, and Chemical Biology.

Future calls for applications may apply to, but are not limited to, the focus areas listed above.

Funding

The annual direct cost budget for Arc Innovation Investigator awardees is $200K, for a total of $1M over the five-year term of the (renewable) appointment.

Indirect costs will be paid at the negotiated rate between Arc and the university. This will not impact the direct cost budget for Arc’s Innovation Investigators.

Community

We actively encourage and expect Arc Innovation Investigators to be active members of our community, including attending our annual Investigator Retreat, presenting in Arc’s seminar series, and pursuing collaborations with Arc scientists.

Innovation Investigators, and their lab members, are welcome to visit Arc to support collaborations and participate in a variety of Institute activities.

Resources

Arc Innovation Investigators and their groups will have access to our internal Technology Centers and platforms, and will be supported by our University Relations and Academic Affairs team.

In addition, Innovation Investigators have access to flex office and lab space at Arc.

Arc Ignite Awards

The Arc Ignite Award program grants awardees a one-time $100,000 gift to kickstart exciting ideas that would be difficult to fund via traditional funding mechanisms. Our cohort of Arc Ignite Awardees include 20 faculty from Stanford, UC Berkeley and UCSF with research areas spanning chemical biology, computational biology, human genetics, immunology, neurobiology and technology development.