Drug Discovery Predoctoral Fellowship
Drug Discovery Predoctoral Fellowship supports advanced doctoral students pursuing novel, early-stage drug discovery research to develop safe, effective treatments with potential for human translation.
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Funder: PhRMA Foundation
Due Dates: October 30, 2026, at noon ET (Letter of intent) | March 31, 2027 (Full application; exact March date shared upon invitation)
Funding Amounts: $30,000 per year in stipend support for 12, 18, or 24 months
Summary: Supports advanced doctoral students pursuing novel, early-stage drug discovery research with clear potential for translation to humans.
Key Information: Only one applicant per lab may apply each cycle in Drug Discovery, choosing either a predoctoral or postdoctoral applicant.
Description
The PhRMA Foundation’s Drug Discovery Predoctoral Fellowship supports promising students in advanced stages of doctoral training and thesis research. It funds novel, early-stage research that integrates scientific disciplines to develop effective, safe, and differentiated treatments for patients. This second 2027 funding cycle expands fellowship support for early-career researchers.
Relevant work includes target identification and validation, disease-mechanism mapping, hit and lead identification, protein biochemistry, structural biology, and cellular and molecular studies of therapeutically relevant pathways. The program also supports cell-based and animal studies of drug candidates’ mechanisms, effectiveness, safety, and toxicity, and advanced biomedical imaging for target validation, engagement, and biodistribution. Artificial intelligence and computational approaches must directly advance a therapeutic hypothesis, with computational work linked to feasible validation in human-relevant systems.
