Department of Defense (DoD) Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program Funding Opportunities

The FY16 Defense Appropriations Act provides $50 million (M) to the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) to support innovative, high-impact cancer research.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development, and Acquisition (DHA RDA) Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation.  The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/ Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

FY16 PRCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website. 

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas:  To be considered for funding, applications for the FY16 PRCRP must address at least one of the Topic Areas as directed by Congress.  Research applications in the areas of breast, prostate, lung (excluding mesothelioma), or ovarian cancer will not be accepted. 

The FY16 PRCRP Topic Areas are listed below:

·         Bladder cancer (New for FY16)	·         Liver cancer	·         Pancreatic cancer
·         Colorectal cancer	·         Lymphoma (New for FY16)	·         Pediatric Brain Tumors (New for FY16)
·         Immunotherapy* (New for FY16)	·         Melanoma and other skin cancers	·         Stomach cancer
·         Kidney cancer	·         Mesothelioma
·         Listeria vaccine for cancer	·         Neuroblastoma

*As derived from the National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer terms¹: Immunotherapy is a type of biological therapy that uses substances to stimulate or suppress the immune system to help the body fight cancer.  Cancers studied under this topic area should be within the scope of the Congressional language and the intent of the Program Announcement(s).

The FY16 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas are listed below:

To address the cancer health needs of both deployed and non-deployed personnel, their dependents, retirees, and Veterans, the FY16 PRCRP seeks to support studies that are responsive to the Military Relevance Focus Areas listed below:

• Militarily relevant risk factors associated with cancer (e.g., ionizing radiation, chemicals, infectious agents, and environmental carcinogens)
• Gaps in cancer prevention, screening, early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and/or survivorship that may affect the general population but have a particularly profound impact on the health and well-being of military members, Veterans, and their beneficiaries

Applications that address exposures, conditions, or circumstances that are unique to the military, or disproportionately represented in a military beneficiary population, are the highest priority, though any applications that address the above focus areas will be considered.

http://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/prcrp.shtml

Career Development Award- Preproposal due 6/8/16

Principal Investigator (PI): Independent early-career investigator within 10 years after completion of his/her terminal degree (excluding time spent in residency or on family medical leave) by the time of the application submission deadline.

Designated Mentor: Investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent); must have a proven publication and funding record in cancer research. 

·         Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.

·         Supports independent, early-career investigators to conduct impactful research with the mentorship of an experienced cancer researcher

·         Must address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Topic Areas

·         Strongly encouraged to address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas

·         Preliminary data not required

Clinical trials are not allowed

·       Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $360,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)

·       Maximum period of performance is 3 years

Idea Award with Special Focus – Preproposal due 6/8/16

Independent investigator with a faculty-level appointment (or equivalent).

·         Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.

·         Supports innovative, untested, high-risk/potentially high-reward concepts, theories, paradigms, and/or methods in cancer research that are relevant to Service members, their families, and other military beneficiaries

·         Emphasis on innovation and military relevance/impact

·         Must address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Topic Areas

·         Must address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas

·         Preliminary data not required

Clinical trials are not allowed

·       Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $400,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)

·       Maximum period of performance is 2 years

Translational Team Science Award – Preproposal due 6/8/16

At least two and up to three PIs must partner in one overarching correlative or translational research study.

At least one of the PIs is encouraged to be a military or Department of Veterans Affairs investigator.

·         Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.

·         Supports translational correlative studies associated with an ongoing or completed clinical trial and/or translational study that can lead to a future clinical trial or clinical application in cancer research that is relevant to Service members, their families, and other military beneficiaries

·         Not intended to support high throughput screenings, sequencing, etc.

·         Must address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Topic Areas

·         Must address at least one of the FY16 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas

·         Preliminary data is required

Clinical trials are not allowed

·       Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $1,000,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)

·       Maximum period of performance is 3 years

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the CDMRP electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) website (https://eBRAP.org) prior to the pre-application deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcement(s) and General Application Instructions available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  Applications must be submitted through the federal government’s single-entry portal, Grants.gov.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on Grants.gov.  A listing of all USAMRMC funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Requests for email notification of the Program Announcement(s) release may be sent to help@eBRAP.org.  Email notifications of funding opportunities are sent as a courtesy and should not be used as a sole source of notification; applicants should monitor Grants.gov for official postings of funding opportunities.

For more information about the PRCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:
CDMRP Help Desk

help@eBrap.org