Guidelines for Proposal Writing: Mini Proposal
Assignment:
As we have discussed throughout the course, many aspects of stem cell biology are still poorly understood. In this assignment, you will read an article from the primary literature and use it as the starting point for the design of an experimental question. Using the techniques discussed in class and discussion section, your assignment is to develop a mini proposal for how you would experimentally answer your question.

Topic Selection:
Abad, M., Mosteiro, L., Pantoja, C., Cañamero, M., Rayon, T., Ors, I., Graña, O., Megías, D., Domínguez, O., Martínez, D., et al. (2013). Reprogramming in vivo produces teratomas and iPS cells with totipotency features. Nature 502, 340-345.

You are welcome to select any question that flows from the paper you’ve selected, but be aware that since you only have at most 10 pages, we highly suggest that you pick a fairly specific question to address. You may find it necessary to search in the literature for more background. If you are having trouble crafting a specific question, please feel free to contact your teaching assistant.

Important Considerations:
1. The purpose of this assignment is for you to read a paper from the primary literature and consider what are the important next experiments and questions that come from it. It is NOT meant to assess your knowledge of the details of experimental techniques (e.g., reaction conditions, markers, etc.). We are more interested in the logic of your experimental design. If you have questions regarding the level of detail in your proposal, feel free to email your teaching assistant.
2. Many of these papers are controversial in the field. It is perfectly fine to design your experiment(s) in order to refine or refute the authors’ findings and conclusions.
3. To help you focus your writing and thinking, please submit a written outline of your proposal to the course website by Thursday, February 15th by 10:00pm ET.

Proposal Format
The proposal should be no more than 6-10 pages in length, double-spaced, 11-pt Arial font with
1 inch margins.
A. Title
B. Abstract 1/2 page
C. Significance 1/2 page
D. Specific Aim 1/2 page
E. Experimental Design 3-4 pages
F. References (do not contribute to page total)
Figures (not required; if included do not contribute to page total)
A. Title: Succinct and comprehensive statement of the proposal’s subject.
B. Abstract: A brief summary of the entire proposal. It should:
1. Set up the problem in the proper context.
2. Define a central hypothesis that underlies the proposed work.
3. State the specific aim of the proposal.
4. Provide an overview of the experimental approach(s) to be used.
C. Significance: Establishes why the problem is interesting and important. It should justify the pursuit of the overall proposal (as opposed to justifying the individual experiments; see rationale below). It should answer the following questions:
1. Why should the work be done?
2. What will be learned?
3. What impact will the new knowledge bring to the field? (Create new paradigms? Define new investigations? Contribute to disease understanding and treatment?)

D. Specific Aims and Sub-Aims:
Specific Aim: Should be a focused experimental goal derived from and worded to directly test your hypothesis. It may be subdivided into parts or sub-aims (see below).
1. Specific aims are usually stated in the following terms:
To determine if ______ functions to ______.
To identify factors that interact with ______ in its function as a ________.
To characterize the functional domains of ________.
To screen for and characterize novel factors involved in ________.
To assess the role of ______ in _______.
2. For clarity, the aim should consist of only one sentence. Use a brief paragraph under the aim if detail is needed. Be as brief and specific as possible. Generally, the Specific
Aims section should begin with a brief narrative describing the long-term goals of the project and the hypothesis guiding the research. This is followed by a numbered list of the aims. Most successful applications have 2-4 specific aims, but for the purposes of this assignment you are only developing one specific aim.
3. Sub-aims: the sub-aims outline how you will answer the overarching question given in the Specific Aim.
a. The sub-aims are essentially a list of the main experiments/approaches that you will do to address the aim.
b. After the specific aim, you should list the sub-aims.

Guidelines for Proposal Writing: Mini Proposal Assignment: As we...