The Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Defense Appropriations Bill has not been signed into law. Although FY21 funds have not been appropriated for the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program (OCRP), the OCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY21 funding opportunities. This pre-announcement should not be construed as an obligation by the Government.
The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act is anticipated to provide funding to the Department of Defense OCRP to support patient-centered research to prevent, detect, treat, and cure ovarian cancer to enhance the health and well-being of Service members, Veterans, retirees, their family members, and all women impacted by this disease. 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).
Subject to the FY21 Congressional appropriation for OCRP funding, FY21 OCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms will be posted on the Grants.gov website. Pre-application and application deadlines will be available when the Program Announcements are released.
https://cdmrp.army.mil/pubs/press/2021/21ocrppreann
Investigator-Initiated Research Award
Must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).
Partnering PI Option:
Up to two investigators may collaborate on a single application, each of whom will be recognized as a Principal Investigator (PI) and receive a separate award.
· Supports meritorious basic and clinically oriented research in ovarian cancer.
· Impact is an important review criterion.
· Preliminary data are required.
· Clinical trials are not allowed.
Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
· Maximum funding of $600,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
- Maximum funding of $800,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs) for Partnering PI Option.
- Maximum period of performance is 4 years.
Ovarian Cancer Academy Award – Early-Career Investigator
NEW! Must be within 5 years of their last postdoctoral research position (Ph.D.) or clinical fellowship (M.D.), or equivalent as of the full application submission deadline. A letter attesting to eligibility is required.
· Supports the addition of new Early-Career Investigators (ECIs) to the unique, interactive virtual academy that provides intensive mentoring, national networking, collaborations, and a peer group for junior faculty.
· ECIs whose ability to commit to conducting ovarian cancer research is limited by lack of resources or other overwhelming obstacles are encouraged to apply.
· A Designated Mentor who is an experienced ovarian cancer researcher with ovarian cancer funding is required.
· A Designated Mentor may only mentor one ECI.
· The Designated Mentor is not required to be at the same institution as the ECI.
· Preliminary data are required.
· Clinical trials are allowed.
· Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
· Maximum funding of $725,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
· Maximum period of performance is 4 years.
Pilot Award
Investigators at or above the postdoctoral level (or equivalent).
· Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could ultimately lead to critical discoveries or major advancements that will drive the field of ovarian cancer research forward.
· Innovation and Impact are important review criteria.
· Goal is to develop preliminary data; thus, preliminary data are not required, but are allowed.
· Clinical trials are not allowed.
· Pre-application is required and blinded; application submission is by invitation only.
· Maximum funding of $250,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
· Maximum period of performance is 2 years.
Clinical Translational Research Award
Must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).
· Supports translational research addressing high-impact or unmet needs in ovarian cancer.
· Supports research projects related to or associated with planned, ongoing, or completed clinical trials supported by other funding sources.
· Emphasis on the utilization of precision medicine and computational approaches that identify individual tumor characteristics and predictive biomarkers across diverse groups to optimize patient care and outcomes.
· Preliminary data are required.
· Clinical trials are not allowed.
· Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
- Maximum funding of $450,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
- Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Teal Expansion Award
Investigators of the following awards:
- OCRP FY14-FY17 Ovarian Cancer Academy – Early Career Investigator Award
- OCRP FY15-FY17 Investigator-Initiated Research Award
- OCRP FY15-FY18 Pilot Award
· Supports the expansion of the initial research idea or the generation of a new idea based on the original research project.
· Impact is an important review criterion.
· Preliminary data are required.
· Outcomes Statement is required.
· Clinical trials are allowed.
· Pre-application is required; application submission is by invitation only.
- Maximum funding of $450,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
- Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Proteogenomics Research Award
Must be at or above the level of postdoctoral fellow or clinical fellow (or equivalent).
· Supports the genomic and/or transcriptomic and/or proteomic analysis of currently available clinical specimens with a focus on answering biologic and pathophysiologic questions of clinical relevance in ovarian cancer.
· Innovation and impact are important review criteria.
· Analysis of clinical trial-derived specimens and/or large patient specimen cohorts is encouraged.
· Clinical trials are not allowed.
· Preliminary data are not required but are allowed.
· Submission of a Letter of Intent is required prior to full application submission.
- Maximum funding of $250,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
- Maximum period of performance is 2 years.
Omics Consortium Award
Must be an independent investigator at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent).
· Supports a multi-institutional research effort conducted by leading cancer researchers and advocates that focuses on the compilation of new and/or use of existing large datasets to study the origin of ovarian cancer, with an emphasis on early detection and screening.
Two options are available:
Omics Development Award Option:
· Funds support assembling consortium members and laying the groundwork for the research project, including proof of concept.
· Ovarian cancer advocate(s) are required on the research team.
· Funded applicants will be eligible to compete for the consortium award, which will support the execution of the full research project and is anticipated to be offered in FY23, pending availability of funds.
Omics Consortium Award Option:
· The research effort will provide immediate benefits for ovarian cancer patients in initial diagnosis and therapy and the end result will lead to improvements in early detection and screening detection of ovarian cancer.
· Consortium should maximize the use of resources and minimize unnecessary duplication among consortium members by sharing resources among all consortium members.
· Ovarian cancer advocate(s) are required on the research team.
· Submission of a Letter of Intent is required prior to full application submission.
Omics Development Award Option:
- Maximum funding of $400,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
- Maximum period of performance is 2 years.
Omics Consortium Award Option:
- Maximum funding of $2.5 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs) from FY21 and future appropriations.
- Maximum period of performance is 4 years.
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 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 USAMRDC 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 OCRP 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
