DoD Rare Cancers Research Program Funding Opportunities

The FY20 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP) to support for research of exceptional scientific merit in the area of rare cancers research.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency J9, Research and Development 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) at the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command (USAMRDC).

The FY20 RCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.

Vision Statement

To greatly improve outcomes for people with rare cancer through discovery and community building, and expansion of knowledge across the cancer landscape

Mission Statement

Elevate rare cancers research to enable clinically impactful discoveries for the benefit of Service members, their families, Veterans, and the American public

Applications for the Concept Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

• Biology and Etiology: Identify disease-defining molecular pathways, cell context, and microenvironment.
• Research Model: Develop and validate rare tumor-specific models that can support clinical trial readiness.
• Platform Development: Development of platforms (such as, tumor tissue repository with clinical annotation; centralized databanks; patient registry with common data structure; research model and Omics database; longitudinal studies of natural history and treatment response), for multiple rare cancers, to allow sharing data, bio-specimens and resources.
• Therapy: Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing.

Applications for the Idea Development Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

• Biology and Etiology: Identify disease-defining molecular pathways, cell context, and microenvironment.
• Research Model: Develop and validate rare tumor-specific models that can support clinical trial readiness.
• Therapy: Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing.

Applications for the Resource and Community Development Award submitted to the FY20 RCRP must address the Focus Areas below:

• Platform Development: Development of platforms (such as, tumor tissue repository with clinical annotation; centralized databanks; patient registry with common data structure; research model and Omics database; longitudinal studies of natural history and treatment response), for multiple rare cancers, to allow sharing data, bio-specimens and resources.

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/rcrp

Concept Award – Letter of Intent due November 12, 2020

Investigators at or above the level of postdoctoral fellow

• Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development or an untested theory that addresses an important problem related to rare cancers.  Proof-of-concept is the anticipated outcome.
  • Submission should address at least one of the FY20 Focus Areas.
  • Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator (PI), collaborators, and their organization(s).
    • Preliminary data are not required.
    • Clinical trials are not allowed.
    • Maximum funding of $100,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs) 
    • Maximum period of performance is 1 year

Idea Development Award – Letter of Intent due November 12, 2020

Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor

• Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research with the potential to yield impactful data in the rare cancer field.
• Preliminary data with disease specific rationale (including correlatives in existing trials) to support the feasibility of the research hypotheses and research approaches are required.
• Submission should address at least one of the FY20 Focus Areas.
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• Maximum funding of $350,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)  
• Maximum period of performance is 3 years

Resource and Community Development Award – Letter of Intent due November 12, 2020

Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor

• Emphasis on research resources development and information sharing among stakeholders, such as researchers, caregivers, clinicians, and other members of the rare cancers community.
• Supports platform development or infrastructure that can be applied to multiple rare cancers.
• Submission should address the Platform Development Focus Area.
• Preliminary data are not required but may be included (Translational research and clinical studies may be included).
• Clinical trials are not allowed.
• Maximum funding of $600,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs) 
• Maximum period of performance is 3 years

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) at https://eBRAP.org prior to the LOI deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions 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 and other USAMRDC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

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 RCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk
301-682-5507
help@eBrap.org