Seed Grants Program

Seed grants application to open Sept. 3

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 Seed Grants to Promote Translational Research 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.

Additional details about the next application cycle will be released soon.

Key Dates

Sept. 3, 2025: Application opens
Sept. 8, 2025 (1 p.m.): Info session on Zoom
Sept. 22, 2025 (11 a.m.): Group office hours on Zoom
Oct. 6-10, 2025: 1:1 Office hours on Zoom
Oct. 20-24, 2025: 1:1 Office hours on Zoom
Oct. 31, 2025 (5 p.m.): Application deadline
March 2026: Awardees announced

Background

The Flinn Foundation has commissioned a third iteration of Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap, the longest-running, statewide bioscience strategic plan in the nation, to be released in early September.

The Roadmap was first commissioned by Flinn in 2002 and updated in 2014. It has directed the sustained advancement of the state’s bioscience sector including translational research.

The Seed Grants to Promote Translational Research Program helps the state reach the goals of the Bioscience Roadmap by funding research projects that focus on creating new products and services to benefit patients.

The most recent awardees—three from Arizona State University and seven from the University of Arizona—were announced in January 2025. The Tom and Catherine Culley Charitable Trust contributed $100,000 to support a cancer-specific project. 

Since 2013, the Flinn Foundation has awarded 83 seed grants totaling about $9.5 million. 

Contact

For more information about the program or application process, contact Mary O’Reilly, Ph.D., Flinn Foundation Vice President, Bioscience Research Programs.

“This grant was integral for acquiring preliminary data for the project, and we’ve benefited so much from the amazing community of awardees and the Flinn team.”

Julianne Holloway, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Arizona State University in partnership with Mayo Clinic: “Designing biomimetic fibrous scaffolds with spatially controlled mineralization for augmenting rotator-cuff repair”