The 2025 application cycle is currently open.
Application Deadline: April 15, 2025
In 2023, the UTMB GSBS launched our new Innovative Methods Fellowship (IMF) Program. The mission of this program is to invest in the career development of UTMB GSBS Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows by offering them a unique
opportunity to learn innovative scientific methods and techniques not yet available on the UTMB campus. The intent is to broaden and advance the research capabilities of our trainees to make them more attractive candidates for external
funding and advance their job prospects while also expanding their professional and scientific networks.
The IMF program awards several fellowships annually in an amount of up to $8,750 to offset costs associated with the travel and living expense of working outside of UTMB for an extended period of time
(up to 2 weeks). UTMB mentors are expected to pay any costs associated with sample analysis, time for technicians or scientists to teach the new methods/techniques to trainees, data analysis, etc. the external lab may require. Fellowship money should
not be utilized for payment of anything other than the trainee’s own expenses. A budget is required as part of the application. Applications are due in the early spring semester annually.
Please click on the following documents for more information on eligibility, application instructions, and more:
Have questions? Please contact Dr. Jacqueline Silva: jacsilva@utmb.edu
2024 IMF Program Winners
GSBS Trainee | UTMB Mentor | Outside Institution to be Visited | Outside Technique to be Learned |
Mohanad Albayyaa
| Dr. David Lopez | Harvard University | Target Trial Emulation |
| Isabelle Bergman | Dr. Amina El Ayadi | Houston Methodist Research Institute | Single-cell Analysis Transcriptomic Techniques |
| Adriana Gutierrez | Dr. Agenor Limon | University of Southern California | Spatial Transcriptomic Techniques |
| John Hurley | Dr. Michelle Ward | University of California San Francisco | Sequence-based Machine Learning Models |
| Justine Ortega-Méndez | Dr. Alejandro Castellanos | University of Pennsylvania | Genetic Manipulation in Protozoan Organisms |
| Cassio Pontes Octaviani | Dr. Chien-Te Tseng | Purdue University | Mass Spectrometry of Lipids and Metabolites |
Lucinda Puebla Clark | Dr. Janice Endsley | Memorial Sloan Kettering | Spectral Flow Cytometry Panel Design |
| Meagan Rippee-Brooks
| Dr. Xiaoyong Bao | Florida International University | CRISPR/Cas9 Technologies |
| Naiju Thomas | Dr. Guy Nir | University of Pennsylvania | HiDRO Technique |
2023 IMF Program Winners
GSBS Trainee | UTMB Mentor | Outside Institution to be Visited | Outside Technique to be Learned |
| Omar Johnson | Dr. Michelle Ward | Stanford University | Gene set enrichment analysis through Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) catalog |
| Christina Payne | Dr. Gracie Vargas | NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) | 3D bioprinting of neurovascular environment in glioblastoma models |
| Sami Sbei | Dr. Dustin Green | Johns Hopkins University | Live animal dorsal root ganglia imaging |
| Zachary Von Ruff | Dr. Blake Rasmussen | Mayo Clinic | Novel "omics" approaches for differential gene expression analysis |