DoD Peer Reveiwed Cancer Reserach Program Funding Opportunity

The FY15 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 and executes the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation.  The executing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

FY15 PRCRP Program Announcement and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanism are posted on the Grants.gov website. 

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas:  To be considered for funding, applications for the FY15 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 FY15 PRCRP Topic Areas are listed below:

• Colorectal cancer

• Genetic cancer

• Kidney cancer

• Listeria vaccine for cancer

• Liver cancer (New for FY15)

• Melanoma and other skin cancers

• Mesothelioma

• Myeloproliferative disorders

• Neuroblastoma

• Pancreatic cancer

• Stomach cancer (New for FY15)

• 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.

• Letter of Intent is required

• Supports junior level scientists to conduct impactful research with the mentorship of an experienced cancer researcher (i.e., Mentor)

• Challenges junior scientists to develop and implement research in the cancer field

• Emphasis on discovery

• Must address at least one of the FY15 PRCRP Topic Areas

• Encouraged to address at least one of the FY15 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas

• Preliminary data are not required

• Clinical trials are not allowed

• Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $75,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)

• Maximum period of performance is 1 year

To address the cancer health needs of both deployed and non-deployed personnel, their dependents, retirees, and Veterans, the FY15 PRCRP encourages studies that are responsive to the FY15 Military Relevance Focus Areas listed below:

Horizon Award – Letter of Intent due August 11, 2015

PI:  Both predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral fellows are eligible.

Mentor:  The Mentor must be an experienced cancer researcher as demonstrated by a strong record of funding and publications.  In addition, the Mentor must demonstrate a commitment to advancing the PI’s career in cancer research.

The PI and the Mentor must be at the same organization

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

Applications must be submitted through the federal government’s single-entry portal, Grants.gov.  Submission deadlines are not available until the Program Announcements are released.  Requests for email notification of the Program Announcements release may be sent to help@ebrap.org.  For more information about the PRCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

For further information and queries, please contact the MRO Research Grants and Contracts Team (

adm-researchgrants.contracts@monash.edu