Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about the Kyra Gupta Research Grant and Kyra's Hope Fellowship.
General
About the Program
The Kyra Gupta Research Grant funds pediatric cancer research through direct financial grants and technology talent (engineering teams provided through the Kyra’s Hope Fellowship). We support labs with capital, computational expertise, or both.
This program is run by Kyra’s Hope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN: 41-2583689). Learn more at kyrashope.org.
Childhood cancer receives only 4% of federal research funding. Only 8 drugs have been approved for pediatric cancer in 45 years. There’s a $10M “Valley of Death” between academic discovery and clinical trials where 97% of breakthroughs die. We exist to bridge that gap.
We combine traditional research funding with something unique: structured teams of volunteer engineers who work directly with labs. Most foundations only write checks — we also deploy engineering talent.
Yes. Kyra’s Hope Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3), holds Candid’s Platinum Seal of Transparency, and partners with accredited research institutions. All operations are transparent and publicly documented.
For Researchers
Research Grant Questions
Direct research funding, technology talent (a dedicated engineering team through our Kyra’s Hope Fellowship), or a combination of both — tailored to your lab’s needs.
A team of 3–5 engineers plus a senior Tech Lead for 6 months, delivering 520–780 hours of engineering work. This includes software development, data science, ML model building, and more.
Expression of Interest → Technical Discovery Call → Project Scoping → MOU & Grant Award → Team Assignment & Kickoff. The full process takes approximately 4–6 weeks.
Funding: pilot studies, translational research, reagent costs. Tech talent: genomic data pipelines, ML classification models, drug screening analysis, data visualization dashboards, image analysis tools.
IP ownership is determined case-by-case and defined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The default is institutional ownership.
For technology talent grants, volunteers only work with de-identified data. No patient data is ever shared. All data handling follows institutional guidelines.
No. Both funding and technology talent are provided at no cost to the lab.
Designate a point of contact, engage with the foundation regularly, and acknowledge the foundation and fellows in resulting publications.
For Volunteers
Fellowship Questions
5 hours per week for 6 months. The program is cohort-based with defined start and end dates, not rolling admission.
No. This is a volunteer fellowship. The value is in the credential, co-authorship on publications, real-world portfolio, letters of recommendation, research network, and meaningful impact.
2+ years of technical experience in software engineering, data science, ML, or related fields. Bioinformatics experience is valuable but not required — we’ll teach you the domain.
The foundation matches fellows to projects based on skills, experience, and project needs. We consider your interests when making assignments.
Yes. Fellows making substantive contributions receive co-authorship on resulting research papers, following ICMJE guidelines.
Give 2 weeks notice. Teams are designed with redundancy (4–5 people) so they can absorb departures.
A cohort-wide event where all teams present their results to researchers, foundation leadership, and guests. It’s a celebration of impact and excellent for your portfolio.