The FY19 Defense Appropriation provides $10 million (M) to the Department of Defense (DoD) Melanoma Research Program (MRP)to support innovative, high-impact melanoma 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).

FY19 MRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the Grants.gov website.

The FY19 MRP Focus Areas are listed below:

• Precursor Lesions, Melanomagenesis, Host Factors, and the Tumor Microenvironment (e.g., melanoma instigators, ultraviolet [UV] exposure, other instigators)
• Melanoma Primary Tumor Evolution (e.g., dormancy, heterogeneity, metabolism, epigenetic dysregulation, cell death)
• Therapeutic Prevention
• Minimal Residual Disease
• Rare Melanomas (e.g., uveal, acral, leptomeningeal disease, pediatric, adolescent and young adult [AYA], mucosal)

The MRP challenges the research community to redefine the concept of prevention and has issued a FY19 MRP Challenge Statement that should be considered when responding to the FY19 MRP Focus Areas and funding opportunities.

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

Idea Award – Preproposal due July 26, 2019

Independent investigators with a faculty-level appointment (or equivalent)

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

·      Supports new ideas that represent innovative, high-risk/high-gain approaches to melanoma research.

·      Emphasis on Innovation and Impact

·      Preliminary data are not required.

·      Clinical trials are not allowed.

·      The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $300,000 for direct costs

·      Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement

·      Maximum period of performance is 3 years

Team Science Award – Preproposal due July 26, 2019

At least two and up to three investigators must partner in one overarching multidisciplinary research study.

Initiating Principal Investigator (PI):

Independent investigators at or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent).

Partnering PI: Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).

Post-doctoral fellows are not eligible to be partnering PIs.

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

·     Supports new or existing partnerships between two or three independent investigators focusing research across the whole research spectrum.

·     Investigators are expected to demonstrate within the application, the synergistic components (i.e., leveraging disciplines, expertise or critical resources) that will significantly advance the project such that the research outcomes as a whole will be realized rapidly and efficiently and could not otherwise be accomplished through independent efforts of a single investigator.

·     Emphasis on Synergy, Multi-disciplinary research, and Impact

·     Inclusion of an independent early career investigator is encouraged.

·     Inclusion of at least one military or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) investigator is encouraged.

·     Preliminary data are required.

·     Clinical trials are not allowed.

·      The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $700,000 for direct costs

·      Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement

·      Maximum period of performance is 3 years

Translational Research Award – Preproposal is due July 26, 2019

Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)

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

·     Supports studies aiming to leverage existing biobanks, biorepositories, ongoing or completed clinical trials to address a translational question or problem in melanoma.

·     Emphasis on Translation and Impact.

·     Inclusion of DoD or VA participation is encouraged.

·     Preliminary data is required.

·     Clinical trials are not allowed.

·     The maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $600,000 for direct costs

·     Indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement

·     Maximum period of performance is 3 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 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. 

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 MRP 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