Flinn Foundation

Submissions will require an institutional letter of support. Because of this support requirement, this is an Institutionally Coordinated Submission. For questions, please contact sponsored projects at sponsor@arizona.edu. 

Program Overview
Each year, the Flinn Foundation funds about 10 research teams affiliated with an Arizona university, research institution, or health-care system that are advancing new products or services addressing significant clinical needs.

The Flinn Foundation Translational Seed Grants Program awardees each receive a $100,000 grant over 18 months, plus programmatic benefits. At the end of the grant period, the most successful projects may receive up to an additional $100,000 over the following year.

Each supported team will use the 18-month grant period to de-risk its product/process, refine its design, and/or acquire key validation data and stakeholder feedback—and secure, or have a well-defined plan to secure new sources of funding to advance toward positive patient impact.

The application for the 11th cohort of grantees is open Sept. 3, 2025 through Oct. 31, 2025. Learn more about requirements, eligibility, and benefits on our RFP page.

Institutionally Coordinated // PIs: 
R. Goyal (Obstetrics and Gynecology)
A. Gallitano (Research Series - Basic Medical Sciences)
M. Cai (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
I.Gladysheva (Research Series - Internal Medicine)
G.Gurtner (Surgery)
S.Goldman (Cardiology)
Z.Li (Orthopaedic Research)
P. Govindappa (Orthopaedic Surgery)
M. Ahmed (Neonatology)
A. Avellino (Pediatric Neurosurgery)
C. Curiel-Lewandrowski (Dermatology)
E. Erickson (Nursing)/ S. Aras (Sensor Analysis & Smart Platforms)
H.Li (Pharmacology and Toxicology)
M. Johnson (Immunobiology)
J. Lacombe (Research Series - Basic Medical Sciences)
R. Liang (Optical Sciences)
E. Enikov (Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering)
C.Hulme (Chemistry and Biochemistry)

Submissions will require an institutional letter of support. Because of this support requirement, this is an Institutionally Coordinated Submission. 

The Flinn Foundation’s 2023 Seed Grants to Promote Translational Research Program will fund up to 10 research teams focused on advancing new products or services to improve patient care. The teams must be affiliated with Arizona’s academic research institutions and/or health-care systems.

The awardees will each receive a $100,000 grant over 18 months. At the end of the grant period, up to two of the most successful projects may receive up to an additional $100,000 over the following year.

The proposed projects must address compelling clinical needs in the areas of precision medicine, diagnostics, devices, therapeutics, or health-care-delivery processes and have significant potential to turn bench results into viable products or systems impacting patients in Arizona and beyond.