The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $90 million (M) to the U.S. 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 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 Materiel Command (USAMRMC).

The PRCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications.  FY19 PRCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in early April 2019.  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.

Congressionally Directed Topic Areas:  To be considered for funding, applications for the FY19 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, melanoma, or ovarian cancer will not be accepted.

The FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas are:

·         Bladder cancer ·         Blood cancers ·         Brain cancer ·         Cancer in children, adolescents, and young adults*

·         Colorectal cancer ·         Immunotherapy† ·         Listeria vaccine for cancer ·         Liver cancer ·         Lymphoma ·         Mesothelioma

·         Neuroblastoma ·         Pancreatic cancer ·         Pediatric brain tumors ·         Rare cancersǂ ·         Stomach cancer

*The definition of adolescents and young adults is derived from the National Cancer Institute (https://www.cancer.gov/types/aya) and can be considered to be people between 15 and 39 years of age.  Cancers studied under this Topic Area should be within the scope of the Congressional language and the intent of the Program Announcement(s). Research should be targeted toward children (ages 0-14 years), adolescents (ages 15-24 years), and/or young adults (ages 25-39 years).

^†As derived from the National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer terms (http://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms).  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).

^ǂRare cancer is defined by the National Cancer Institute as a cancer that occurs in fewer than 15 out of 100,000 people each year.  Cancers studied under this Topic Area should be within the scope of the Congressional language and the intent of the Program Announcement(s).

The FY19 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas are listed below:

It is central to the vision and mission of the PRCRP that applications address how the proposed research is related to military health and mission readiness of both deployed and non-deployed personnel, their dependents, retirees, and Veterans. The FY19 PRCRP requires all applications to respond 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, environmental carcinogens, and stress)
• Gaps in cancer prevention, early detection/diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, and/or survivorship that may impact mission readiness and the health and well-being of military members, Veterans, their beneficiaries, and the general public

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.

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

·         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 FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 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.

 

Horizon Award

Principal Investigator (PI):

Predoctoral candidate within 2 years of completion of required coursework/laboratory rotations, successfully passed qualifying examinations, and is working in his/her Mentor’s laboratory application submission deadline.

Or

Postdoctoral fellow within 3 years of completion of terminal degree and is working in his/her Mentor’s laboratory at application submission deadline.

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

PI and Mentor must be at the same organization.

·         Letter of Intent is required.  An invitation to submit a full application is not required.

·         Supports junior-level scientists in conducting impactful research with the mentorship of an experienced cancer researcher (i.e., Mentor).

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.

·         Preliminary data are not required.

·         Clinical trials are not allowed.

·       Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $150,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).

·       Maximum period of performance is 2 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 FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 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.

 

Impact Award

Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) are eligible to submit an application.

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

·         Supports hypothesis-driven, high impact research.

·         Encourages applications that support research projects or ideas that specifically focus on critical scientific and clinical cancer issues, which, if successfully addressed, have the potential to make a major impact on one of the FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.

·         Preliminary data are required.

·         Clinical Trials are 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.

 

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 US Department of Veterans Affairs investigator.

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

·         Emphasizes multi-PI, multidisciplinary collaborations.

·         Supports translational studies associated with an ongoing or completed clinical trial 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 FY19 PRCRP Topic Areas.

·         Must address at least one of the FY19 PRCRP Military Relevance Focus Areas.

·         Preliminary data are required.

·         Clinical Trials are allowed.

·       Maximum funding for the entire period of performance is $1,500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).

·       Maximum period of performance is 4 years.

 

A pre-application (letter of intent or pre-proposal) 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 and other USAMRMC extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420. 

 

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 (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

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