INTERVIEW: Why apply for the seedcorn fund?

With the announcement of the 2nd Annual Seedcorn Fund, we asked one of the 5 recipients of last year’s seedcorn fund to describe what the money meant to him.  Sean’s successful seedcorn fund application was entitled “Understanding the role of mechanobiology in the early stages of pancreatic cancer”, and he used the money awarded to buy antibodies and qRT-PCR reagents for an independent project.

Contributed by Dr Sean Porazinski

I was one of the inaugural recipients of the post-doctoral seedcorn fund in 2015. Prior to applying for the seedcorn fund, I had already developed some of my own ideas/an outline for a project as part of an unsuccessful Wellcome Trust Fellowship application that was distinct from my main post-doctoral project and related to the area I wish to move in to. The money was awarded very quickly and was invaluable as it allowed me to buy some expensive and specific antibodies that wouldn’t have been bought for routine use in the lab. As such I was able to begin performing preliminary experiments to generate pilot data to strengthen my Fellowship application for future rounds of funding when I look to go independent.

The seedcorn application process was very straightforward and the fact that the funding allows for smaller-scale experiments means it doesn’t detract from your main project. I would highly recommend interested post-docs applying for the seedcorn fund as it demonstrates your ideas are worth funding and an ability to function independently of your supervisor. I am sure the data generated as a result of my seedcorn funding will prove extremely useful when I look to go independent in the near future.

About the contributor:

Sean is a Research Associate within the European Cancer Stem Cell Research Institute.

email: porazinskis@cardiff.ac.uk

tel: +44 (0)29 2068 8517