University of California San Francisco
Office of
Collaborative Research
Home/Services/Research resources & AI tools
AI tools·Research resources & AI tools

The software we
wish existed.

OCR builds the AI tools we needed for our own work — so investigators and staff spend less time on search, summarization, and paperwork, and more time on science.

Signal v0.4Prospera v0.2+ 6 internal toolsin active pilot
S
Signal
Research intelligence

A research-intelligence platform that watches the literature, grants, and news — then curates the signals that actually matter for our investigators.

  • Monitors publications, grants, awards & news
  • Author-level deduplication across preprints & journals
  • Editorial summaries staged for human review
Internal pilotv0.4 · 4 institutes
signal · live feedstreaming
NEW NOFO
NIDDK · K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research
2m
AWARD
Bakar ImmunoX faculty · R01 awarded
11m
PUBLICATION
Cell · Single-cell atlas, IGHS collab
1h
FOUNDATION
Helmsley · T1D moonshot RFP open
3h
PREPRINT
bioRxiv · merged 2 duplicates for J. Lee
5h
prospera · opportunity pipeline14 active matches
Discovered6
Matched5
In dev3
Illustrative preview · not live data
P
Prospera
Funding matchmaking

AI-assisted funding discovery and matchmaking. Aggregates federal, foundation, and internal opportunities — then matches them to investigator profiles with a structured pipeline.

  • Aggregates federal, foundation & internal opportunities
  • Matches NOFOs to PI profile, methods, and prior work
  • Tracks outreach through a structured pipeline
Beta · partner institutesv0.2
Workflow innovation

Small automations.
Compounding hours back.

Beyond Signal and Prospera, we ship internal tools that automate the high-frequency, low-judgement work — and free our team to do the work only humans can.

  • Aims-to-LOI drafter

    Turns approved Specific Aims into a tailored Letter of Intent in minutes.
    Shipped · Q1 26

  • Biosketch refresh

    Pulls recent publications and rebuilds NIH biosketches at the click of a button.
    Shipped · Q4 25

  • NOFO summarizer

    Reads a full FOA and returns review criteria, scored fit, and key dates.
    Shipped · Q4 25

  • Collaborator finder

    Suggests UCSF collaborators by topic, complementary methods, and prior co-authorship.
    In dev · Q2 26

  • Submission checklist bot

    Tracks every artifact required for a submission, by sponsor and mechanism.
    In dev · Q2 26

  • Meeting recap drafter

    Generates structured notes and action items from PI consults.
    Beta
Principles

How we build with AI.

01

Humans in the loop

Every output is staged for review. We never auto-send to PIs or sponsors.

02

Private by default

Models run against UCSF data inside approved environments. No prompts leak.

03

Open about limits

We log accuracy, surface uncertainty, and retire tools that don't earn their keep.

04

Built with users

Every tool starts with a PI or staff complaint. We ship, measure, iterate, repeat.

The five arms

One office. Five ways to support your research.

Most projects draw on more than one arm. Start with one, and the others are a conversation away.

01

Research development

Funding strategy, matchmaking & proposal development

Explore
02

Project management & clinical coordination

Study startup, CRCs & operations

Explore
03

Data management & sharing

Databases, metadata & DMS plans

Explore
05

Community management

Retreats, seminars & outreach

Explore
Get early access

Want Signal or Prospera
in your lab?

We're onboarding new partner institutes through 2026. Tell us what you'd want it to do, and we'll find a pilot that fits.

Email us
ocr@ucsf.edu
Request a pilot →Partner with OCR