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Defense Health Program, Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program

Anticipated funding for 2017

Defense Health Program, Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program

Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2017

Due to the current Continuing Resolution, the Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17) Defense Appropriations bill has not been passed. Although funds have not been appropriated for the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP), the PRCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY17 funding opportunities.

FY17 PRCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in April 2017. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government, and funding of research projects received in response to these Program Announcements is contingent on the availability of Federal funds appropriated for the PRCRP.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Research and Development Directorate (J9) 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).

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas: To be considered for funding, applications for the FY17 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), kidney, or ovarian cancer will not be accepted.

As of the release date of this pre-announcement, the FY17 PRCRP Topic Areas have not been finalized. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government to include any of these topic areas or others in the FY17 PRCRP. The potential FY17 PRCRP Topic Areas are:

· Bladder cancer

· Liver cancer

· Pancreatic cancer

· Brain cancer

· Lymphoma

· Pediatric brain tumors

· Colorectal cancer

· Melanoma and other skin cancers

· Stomach cancer

· Immunotherapy*

· Mesothelioma

· Cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults

· Listeria-based regimens for cancer

· Neuroblastoma

The FY17 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 FY17 PRCRP seeks to support studies that are responsive to at least one of 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

 

Career Development Award

· 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

  • New for FY17: Letter of Intent is required. An invitation to submit a full application is not required.
  • Supports independent, early-career investigators to conduct impactful research with the mentorship of an experienced cancer researcher.
  • Must address at least one of the FY17 PRCRP Topic Areas.
  • Must address at least one of the FY17 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.
  • Preliminary data are 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

· 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 relevant to Service members, their families, and other military beneficiaries.

· Emphasis on innovation and military relevance/impact.

  • Must address at least one of the FY17 PRCRP Topic Areas.
  • Must address at least one of the FY17 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.

· Preliminary data are 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

· 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 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 FY17 PRCRP Topic Areas.
  • Must address at least one of the FY17 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.

· Preliminary data are required.

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

· Maximum period of performance is 4 years

A pre-application (Letter of Intent or preproposal) 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 will be 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. For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage at https://eBRAP.org. For more information about the PRCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Public Affairs
301-619-9783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@mail.mil