BIOL 415L Research Proposal Final Draft Instructions
Note: It is highly recommended that students use the assignment rubric published on Canvas and the
scientific writing tips included in the laboratory manual as resources. In addition, a review session will be
held prior to the first research proposal deadline to discuss how to select an appropriate topic and how
to construct effective sections of the research proposal; students who attend the review session
historically perform better on this assignment.
I) Topic – the research topic is limited to the field of cell biology (i.e., cell signaling, organelle
function, protein function, molecular interactions), and preferably, biomedical research relating to
human health/disease.
A) The following topics are off-limits:
i) Developing a scientific method/technique/assay/reagent
ii) Clinical trials/experiments on human subjects
iii) Behavioral studies on animals
iv) The topics proposed in the review session
II) Content – The research proposal should include the following sections.
A) Background and Rationale:
i) The opening sentence should concisely present the research topic while capturing the
audience’s attention; utilizing statistics is a common approach to establishing the necessity
for the proposed research.
ii) The following paragraph(s) should concisely summarize at least two peer-reviewed, primary
research articles that establish the current limit of knowledge in the field of interest. This
section should be structured from a wide to narrow research scope, logically building a case
and providing justification for the proposed research. This summary should conclude with a
gap in knowledge statement, using similar language to: “there remains a gap in knowledge
as to…â€�
iii) This section should mention the translational connection to biomedical research (i.e., how
the research, if successful, will benefit human health).
iv) This section should conclude with a statement summarizing the proposed research and how,
if successful, it will fill the gap in knowledge.
B) Specific Aim:
i) The specific aim statement must be a single sentence, using similar language to: “the aim of
the proposed research is to…â€�
ii) The specific aim must be narrow in focus, seeking to uncover one new piece of data related
to the gap in knowledge.
iii) The specific aim should concisely and clearly describe the goal of the experiment, including
details such as the cell line/animal model, drug/treatment condition (and specific
concentration), and the expected outcome.
C) Hypothesis:
i) The hypothesis statement must be a single sentence, using similar language to: “we
hypothesize that…â€�
ii) The hypothesis should directly reflect and complement the wording of the specific aim.
iii) The hypothesis must be testable by the experiments proposed in the Experimental Design
section.
D) Experimental Design:
i) This section should provide a concise and clear description of all experiments necessary to
fully test the hypothesis.
ii) This section should include all of the following components, when appropriate: positive and
negative controls, sample sizes with justification, names/origins of cell lines and/or animal
models, number of replicates, and sources of key reagents (i.e., vendor, publication).
iii) The proposed experiments must be feasible.
iv) The proposed experiments must be devoid of fatal flaws (i.e., if one aspect of the proposal
fails, it should not affect the other aspects).
v) Aspects of the experimental design applied from prior publications must be adequately
summarized and include proper in-text citations.
vi) This section should conclude with expected results from each experiment, and how each
aspect of the experimental design will inform the hypothesis.
E) Potential Pitfalls and Alternative Approaches:
i) This section should identify and describe one aspect of the proposed research plan that may
not succeed as anticipated (i.e., a potential pitfall), and should describe how the research
plan as a whole would be impacted as a result.
ii) In response to the pitfall identified, this section should also include at least one alternative
approach (i.e., related assay, technique) that could be employed to achieve the same
experimental goal, should the pitfall actually take place.
iii) This section should be limited to 3-4 sentences.
III) Formatting
A) The length should be 2-3 pages, not including references.
B) The proposal should be typed, double-spaced, in 11-point Arial font, with 1 inch margins.
C) References must follow the Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) formatting requirements for both the
bibliography and in-text citations.
D) A total of at least five references must be used, two of which must be primary research articles
published in 2015 or later.