DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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NEWS RELEASE

Released: March 2, 2015

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2015 (FY15)

The FY15 Defense Appropriations Act provides $10.5 million (M) to the Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) to support innovative, high-impact lung cancer research. As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, Research, Development, and Acquisition (DHA RDA) Directorate manages and executes the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation. The executing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The LCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop applications. FY15 LCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on the Grants.gov website in April 2015. 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.

Applications submitted to the FY15 LCRP must address at least one of the following Areas of Emphasis:

  • Identification or development of noninvasive or minimally invasive tools to improve the detection of the initial stages of lung cancer.
  • Identification, development, and/or building upon already existing tools for screening or early detection of lung cancer. Screening may include, but is not limited to, imaging modalities, biomarkers, genetics / genomics / proteomics / metabolomics / transcriptomics, and assessment of risk factors.
  • Understanding the molecular mechanisms of progression to clinically significant lung cancer.
  • Understanding the molecular mechanisms that lead to various subtypes of lung cancer.
  • Identification of innovative strategies for prevention and treatment of early and/or localized lung cancer.
  • Understanding predictive and prognostic markers to identify responders and nonresponders.
  • Understanding susceptibility or resistance to treatment.

Military Relevance: The FY15 LCRP strongly encourages research projects that are relevant to the health care needs of military Service Members, Veterans, and their families. Investigators are encouraged to consider the following characteristics as examples of how a project may demonstrate military relevance:

  • Use of military or Veteran populations or data in the proposed research
  • Collaboration with DoD or VA investigators
  • Involvement of military consultants (Army, Air Force) or specialty leaders (Navy, Marine Corps) to the Surgeons General in a relevant specialty area
  • Explanation of how the project addresses an aspect of lung cancer that has direct relevance to military Service Members, Veterans, their families, or other military health system beneficiaries.

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Concept Award Investigators at all academic levels
  • Supports highly innovative, untested, potentially groundbreaking concepts in lung cancer.
  • Emphasis on innovation
  • Clinical trials not allowed
  • Preliminary data discouraged
  • Military relevance strongly encouraged
  • Maximum funding of $100,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance should not exceed 1 year
Career Development Award
  • Principal Investigator: Independent investigators at the level of Assistant Professor, Instructor, or equivalent; must be within 5 years of first faculty appointment
  • Mentor: At or above the level of Associate Professor (or equivalent); have a proven publication and funding record in lung cancer research
  • Supports early-career, independent researchers to conduct research under mentorship of an experienced lung cancer researcher
  • Clinical trials not allowed
  • Preliminary data not required
  • Military relevance strongly encouraged
  • Maximum funding of $240,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance should not exceed 2 years
Clinical Exploration Award Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)
  • Clinical Trials: Supports rapid execution of hypothesis-driven, early-phase clinical trials to examine interventions that could have a major impact on lung cancer clinical management. It is anticipated that proposed studies will explore innovative and untested concepts to provide scientific rationale or initial proof-of-principle for larger clinical trials in lung cancer.
  • Correlative Studies: Supports innovative, hypothesis-based correlative studies that derive from ongoing or completed clinical trials that have the potential to significantly inform treatment strategies, identify subset of patients for treatment with specific therapies, provide increased understanding of biological changes resulting from the intervention in lung cancer, or provide other insights that will significantly enhance clinical management of lung cancer.
  • The application must include documentation of an existing Investigational New Drug (IND) or Investigational Device Exemption (IDE), if applicable.
  • The proposed study is expected to begin no later than 12 months after the award date.
  • Military relevance strongly encouraged.

Clinical Trials:

  • Maximum funding of $450,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance should not exceed 3 years

Correlative Studies:

  • Maximum funding of $250,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance should not exceed 2 years
Idea Development Award Established Investigators: Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent); or

New Investigators: Investigators that meet the following criteria at the application submission deadline date:
  • Have not previously received a LCRP Idea Development Award or Early Investigator Synergistic Idea Award
  • Be within 10 years of first faculty appointment (or equivalent)
  • Supports new ideas in the early stages of development representing innovative, high-risk/high-gain research
  • Emphasis on innovation and impact
  • New Investigator Category supports applicants early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research careers
  • Clinical trials not allowed
  • Preliminary data required, but may be from outside of lung cancer
  • Military relevance strongly encouraged
  • Maximum funding of $350,000 in direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Period of performance should not exceed 2 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 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. Requests for email notification of the Program Announcements release may be sent to help@eBRAP.org. For more information about the LCRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (https://CDMRP.HEALTH.MIL).

Point of Contact:

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