Mazuri® Exotic Animal Nutrition Research Grant - Application Advice
Applications for annual research grants due June 1, 2023 to Grants@Mazuri.com. Find the full application requirements here.
Research Grant Application Basics
- Page limit: 5, not including literature cited
- Required items:
- Title
- Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators and Collaborators:
- Describe responsibilities of each investigator towards the proposed research.
- This section is for Mazuri® internal use only and will be redacted before proposals are forwarded to the independent review panel.
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General Abstract: 250 words or less
- Overview of the project, its relevance, and future applications written to a lay audience.
- Objectives & Background information: Detailed overview of research objectives and necessary background information to justify the research need.
- Impact Statement: Describe the relevance of this work to the field of comparative animal nutrition and health, and its potential impact.
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Materials and Methods:
- Hypothesis
- Experimental design
- Including study population and treatments
- Samples to be collected,
- Analytical methods and power analysis, if applicable
- Expected results
- Potential pitfalls
- Timeline of Activities
- Dissemination: Methods and timeline for dissemination of results.
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Budget and Justification: Provide rationale for each budgetary item.
- Provide information regarding additional support if the proposal is also supported by other funding sources.
- Literature Cited
Proposals will be scored based on:
- Quality of the proposed research (40%)
- Importance of the research (20%)
- Likelihood that the research will be accomplished and disseminated (15%)
Anonymization Advice:
Grant proposals are presented anonymously to the review panel to reduce the effect of unconscious bias. Writing an anonymous proposal requires some care and special considerations from the authors.
Here are some suggestions for anonymizing your proposal:
- Do not include applicant names or affiliations in the scientific rationale, including tables, figures, captions, etc.
- Your credentials will not be apparent to the reviewers through your name or affiliation so be sure that the elements that will make the project successful are clearly, but anonymously, explained in the remainder of your proposal.
- Do not state references to past work.
- E.g., "my previous work…" or "Our prior analysis demonstrates that…"
- When citing references, use third person neutral wording especially when self‑referencing.
- Replace phrases like "as we have shown in our previous work (Doe et al. 2021), …" with "as previously shown (Doe et al. 2021), …"
- Remove institutional identifiers and geographical location from the title and body of the proposal.
- In place of stating geographical locations where the project will occur, describe the features of the environment or habitat that are important to your study.
- This not only helps with anonymity but also reviewers may not all be familiar with environment of the stated location.
- Lab analysis
- Avoid naming labs directly but be explicit about methodology.
- Not all reviewers will be familiar with every lab and the methods they use.
- If working with multiple laboratories, it may be helpful to assign them a letter or number when describing the methodologies for future use throughout the document:
- g. Plasma will be separated and shipped to a Laboratory A for clinical biochemistry, Complete Blood Count (CBC), and macromineral profiles (Ca, K, Mg, Na, P), Laboratory B for Selenium analysis, and Laboratory C for Vitamin A, D, and E analysis.
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Omit references to specific product manufacturers.
- g., Exposure to UV-B irradiation will be obtained from primary basking locations by use of a handheld Digital UV Index radiometer (Zoo Med Laboratories, San Luis Obispo, Ca).
Anonymization Examples, before and after:
- Title
- Comparative analysis of the microbiome of desert tortoises in the United States: comparison of samples from in situ and ex situ environments.
- Comparative analysis of the microbiome of desert tortoises: Comparison of samples from in situ and ex situ
- Objectives and Background Information
- Results will contribute to the continued evaluation of current feeding management protocols that underlie captive breeding and head-starting programs for Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, providing the basis for scientifically supported feeding recommendations in AZA-managed bird species.
- Results will contribute to the continued evaluation of current feeding management protocols that underlie captive breeding and head-starting programs for Attwater’s Prairie Chicken, providing the basis for scientifically supported feeding recommendations in zoo-managed bird species.
- Methods
- Samples will be collected within the Mojave Desert in California.
- Samples will be collected within the species’ native range, in a desert habitat dominated by creosote and yucca species.
- A total of 200 samples would be collected; these would include food and drinking water of the animals and sent to the microbiology laboratory of Stanford University for analysis.
- A total of 200 samples would be collected; these would include food and drinking water of the animals and sent to a local university microbiology laboratory for 16s PCR analysis.
- The investigators will analyze serum samples for vitamins A, E and D in samples obtained from 44 animals housed at the Center for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation Center in India.
- The investigators will analyze serum samples for vitamins A, E and D in samples obtained from 44 animals housed at an in-situ rehabilitation center.
- The diet at institution A consists of 50% Mazuri Wild Herbivore; 40% Bermuda grass hay, 5% vegetables, and 5% fruit.
- The diet at institution A consists of 50% commercial herbivore diet; 40% Bermuda grass hay, 5% vegetables, and 5% fruit.
- *If nutritional quality of feed products is important to the methodology of your study, you can include a summary of key nutrients (ex. guaranteed analysis, as-formulated or analyzed nutrient values)