Epigenetics Podcast #138 - Grant Writing in Academia and Industry with Mary Anne Jelinek

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Mary Anne Jelinek Associate Director of R&D at Active Motif about writing and reviewing grants in academia and industry.

Learn from Dr. Jelinek’s years of experience writing and reviewing grants and get her best advice and insight for success. Hear about similarities and differences in preparing grants in academia vs. biotech or other industry settings. Did you know grant opportunities exist for different sectors and countries, from the familiar ones like NIH and NSF in the United States grant funding offered by NATO for member countries. With her experience in biotech, Dr. Jelinek discusses grants targeted to small businesses and specific allocation of resources intended to foster and promote innovation and entrepreneurship. She’s learned and shares how to navigate confidentiality when writing grants in industry, navigating conflict of interest and best practices.

Coming up with ideas is easy – but how do you find institutes interested in funding those research areas? Get tips on how to submit a 1-page inquiry for feedback and guidance at early stages that will help your grant be robust and successful. Collaboration is key and you’ll learn why. Think you can go from idea to funding in 4 weeks? She has and discusses the best strategy to do this and a breadth of research funding types. Get tips on wording and writing for reviewers who may not be experts in your field and how to “paint a picture” that makes it both clear and persuasive. Writing style is key and use diagrams and figures for those complex concepts, some of Dr. Jelinek’s “best advice” and encouragement for dealing with stress and frustration that can be part of the process.

Finally, as a co-developer for the first commercially available ChIP Kit, Dr. Jelinek tells the story of how this assay developed and became a gold-standard method for epigenetics.

Tune in to this in depth and very helpful episode!