For Researchers
Funding and Expertise to Accelerate Your Research
The Kyra Gupta Research Grant supports your lab with direct funding, dedicated engineering teams, or both — so promising discoveries reach patients faster.
The Grant
What the Grant Provides
Grants can include funding, technology talent, or a combination tailored to your research needs.
Research Funding
Direct financial support for pilot studies, translational research, reagents, lab supplies, and other costs that move your work toward clinical trials
Dedicated Engineering Team
Through our Kyra’s Hope Fellowship, receive 3–5 skilled engineers (software, data science, ML) plus a senior Tech Lead for 6 months
500+ Engineering Hours
Technology talent grants deliver 520–780 hours of skilled technical work — equivalent to 3–4 months of a full-time engineer
Infrastructure Support
Depending on grant terms, the foundation may provide cloud compute, development tools, and other research infrastructure
Eligibility
Who Should Apply
- Affiliated with an accredited university, research institute, or children’s hospital
- Working on rare pediatric cancer research (especially sarcomas) or adjacent pediatric cancer research
- Have a clear research objective that could benefit from funding, computational support, or both
- Willing to designate a point of contact for regular engagement with the foundation
- For technology talent grants: able to provide de-identified data for the engineering team to work with
Process
The Application Process
Expression of Interest
Submit a short form describing your research and computational needs (~20 minutes)
Technical Discovery Call
A 60–90 minute call with our Technical Program Manager to assess project fit and scope
Project Scoping
We co-develop a detailed Project Charter defining deliverables, timeline, and success criteria
MOU & Grant Award
Both sides sign a Memorandum of Understanding formalizing the partnership
Team Assignment & Kickoff
Your dedicated team is assembled, onboarded, and begins the 6-month engagement
Expectations
Your Commitments
- •Designate a product owner available for regular check-ins with the team
- •Provide de-identified data and domain documentation before the cohort starts
- •Respond to team questions within 48 hours
- •Participate in Demo Day at the end of the cohort
- •Acknowledge the foundation and fellows in resulting publications
FAQ
Common Questions
We offer direct research funding, technology talent (a dedicated engineering team through our Kyra’s Hope Fellowship), or a combination of both, depending on your lab’s needs.
Intellectual property ownership is determined case-by-case and defined in the MOU. The default is institutional ownership.
For technology talent grants, volunteers only work with de-identified data. No patient data is shared with any volunteers at any time.
Yes. Fellows making substantive contributions are offered co-authorship per ICMJE guidelines.
Teams are designed with redundancy (4–5 people). The Tech Lead and foundation manage continuity.
Funding grants: pilot studies, translational research, reagent costs. Technology grants: genomic data pipelines, ML classification models, drug screening analysis, data visualization dashboards, image analysis tools.
No. Both funding and technology talent are provided at no cost to the lab.