Please join Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV), Columbia University Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center (HICCC), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) SBIR Development Center for an interactive session on non-dilutive SBIR/STTR funding and commercialization support for early-stage cancer technology companies, academic spinouts, and scientist-entrepreneurs.
NCI Program Directors, Drs. Julianne Twomey and Melissa Li, will cover current funding opportunities, tips for writing competitive proposals, and resources available to applicants and awardees (including regulatory-focused support).
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Attendees may also request a 1:1 meeting with the NCI team to discuss specific project fit, eligibility, and next steps. The meeting sign-up link will be shared after event registration and slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
Dr. Julianne Twomey joined NCI Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center as a Program Director in January of 2025. Dr. Twomey manages a portfolio of small businesses focused on developing anticancer therapeutics. Prior to joining the NCI, Dr. Twomey served as a Senior Research Scientist and Product Quality Assessor for 10 years within the U.S. FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research-Office of Pharmaceutical Quality Research. Her research focused on cancer biomarkers, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and bioassay development. She received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2014 from the University of Maryland, College Park.Â
Dr. Melissa Li is a Program Director at the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Development Center at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Dr. Li manages a portfolio of small businesses that are developing innovative cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and research tools. Additionally, she focuses on developing programs and initiatives that promote access to small business funding for entrepreneurs developing innovative cancer technologies. Currently, she leads the NCI’s efforts on the NCI SBIR/STTR Training and Entrepreneurship Program (STEP), which provides Phase I SBIR/STTR application preparation support and entrepreneurial training to small businesses.
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Prior to joining the NCI SBIR Development Center, Dr. Li was a scientific writer with positions as a proposal writer at a large CRO and as a scientific consultant and grant writer for small businesses, raising over $15 million in federal funding. Dr. Li's scientific training focused on molecular mechanisms of noncoding RNAs in the context of lung cancer during her postdoctoral fellowship at the NIH and in the context of metabolic stress during her Ph.D. in molecular cell biology at Washington University in St. Louis.Â
