DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE - CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED MEDICAL RESEARCH PROGRAMS
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Prostate Cancer

NEWS RELEASE

Released: February 16, 2017

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program
Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2017 (FY17)

Due to the current Continuing Resolution, the FY17 Defense Appropriations bill has not been passed. Although funds have not been appropriated for the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program (PCRP), the PCRP is providing the information in this pre-announcement to allow investigators time to plan and develop ideas for submission to the anticipated FY17 funding opportunities.

FY17 PCRP Program Announcements and General Application Instructions for the following award mechanisms are anticipated to be posted on Grants.gov in April 2017. 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, and funding of research projects received in response to these Program Announcements is contingent on the availability of Federal funds appropriated for the PCRP.

As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency's Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program's Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation appropriation. The managing agent for the anticipated Program Announcements/funding opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

IMPORTANT: The PCRP's FY17 mission is to find and fund research that will lead to the elimination of death from prostate cancer and enhance the well-being of men experiencing the impact of the disease. As such, the PCRP seeks to focus applications and direct funding on four Overarching Challenges and seven Focus Areas to address critical needs in prostate cancer research and clinical management. Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit research that addresses one or more of the Overarching Challenges and Focus Areas.

Overarching Challenges: (1) Distinguish aggressive from indolent disease in men newly diagnosed with prostate cancer. (2) Develop strategies to prevent progression to lethal prostate cancer. (3) Develop effective treatments and address mechanisms of resistance for men with high-risk or metastatic prostate cancer. (4) Develop strategies to optimize the physical and mental health of men with prostate cancer.

Focus Areas: (1) Precision Medicine, Screening, and Surveillance; (2) Imaging and Targeted Radionuclide Therapy; (3) Therapy and Mechanisms of Resistance and Response; (4) Survivorship, Including Psychosocial Impact on the Patient and Family; (5) Tumor and Microenvironment Biology; (6) Data Science and Analytics; and (7) Population Science

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Clinical Consortium Award Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)
  • Supports the development of a consortium that will facilitate the rapid execution of collaborative Phase II or Phase I/II clinical trials that will bring to market high-impact, novel therapeutic interventions that will ultimately and significantly decrease the impact of prostate cancer.
  • Funds may not be used for research or development of clinical protocols.
  • Trials that incorporate investigations of biomarkers for risk assessment, early detection, prediction of aggressiveness, and/or progression of prostate cancer are encouraged.
  • One Coordinating Center and 2 Clinical Research Sites will be selected and will be jointly responsible for proposing, selecting, and conducting trials.
  • Sites must provide plans for accruing patients from populations disproportionately affected by prostate cancer.
  • The consortium is expected to achieve financial self-sufficiency, such that operations can continue after the award ends.
 Coordinating Center:
  • Maximum funding of $3.6 million (M) for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Clinical Sites:
  • Maximum funding of $600 thousand ($600K) for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Impact Award Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports high-impact, potentially high-risk studies (including clinical trials) that address a central question or problem in prostate cancer. As such, the primary emphasis of this mechanism is on impact.
  • The potential impact of the research is expected to be near-term and must be significant and go beyond an incremental advancement.
  • Proposed projects may include basic, translational, or clinical research, including clinical trials, but must demonstrate clinical relevance.
  • Preliminary data to support feasibility are required.
Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option:
  • Provides a higher level of funding to support synergistic partnerships between two or three independent investigators collaborating on a single application.
  • PIs are expected to demonstrate within the application the synergistic components that will significantly advance the project, such that the research outcomes could not otherwise be accomplished through the independent efforts of a single PI.
  • Allows individual awards to multiple sites (maximum of three sites in total), provided the combined direct costs for all sites do not exceed the $2M maximum.
 Individual PIs:
  • Maximum funding of $750K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Partnering PI Option:
  • Maximum funding of $2M for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Health Disparity Research 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 the freedom to pursue individual aims without formal mentorship
  • Have not previously received a PCRP Health Disparity Research Award and/or Idea Development Award
  • Have either completed at least 3 years of postdoctoral training or fellowship or are within 5 years of having begun first independent faculty position (or equivalent)
 Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports new ideas for prostate cancer research that have the potential to make an important contribution to reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in prostate cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality.
  • Preliminary data are encouraged, but not required.
  • New Investigator Option supports applicants early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research careers.
  • Qualified Collaborator Option supports a higher level of funding for PIs who include a collaborator that significantly contributes (provides 10% or greater level of effort, as well as both intellectual input and research resources) to the research project, such that it could not otherwise be accomplished.
  • Nested Young Investigator Option supports predoctoral and postdoctoral training, nested within the overall proposed project, for individuals committed to pursuing careers as independent investigators in prostate cancer health disparity research.
  • Maximum funding of $450K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • If applying for the Qualified Collaborator Option, maximum funding of $600K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
  • Additional funds can be requested if including the Nested Young Investigator Option
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 the freedom to pursue individual aims without formal mentorship
  • Have not previously received a PCRP Idea Development Award
  • Have either completed at least 3 years of postdoctoral training or fellowship or are within 5 years of having begun first independent faculty position (or equivalent)
 Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports new ideas that represent innovative, high-risk/high-gain approaches to prostate cancer research and have the potential to make an important contribution to eliminating death and enhancing the well-being of men with prostate cancer.
  • Emphasis is equally placed on Innovation and Impact.
  • Preliminary data are encouraged, but not required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • New Investigator Option supports applicants early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research careers.
  • Partnering PI Option:
    • Provides a higher level of funding to support synergistic partnerships between two or three independent Established Investigators collaborating on a single application.
    • PIs are expected to demonstrate within the application the synergistic components that will significantly advance the project, such that the research outcomes could not otherwise be accomplished through the independent efforts of a single PI.
    • Allows individual awards to multiple sites (maximum of three sites in total), provided the combined direct costs for all sites do not exceed the $1M maximum.
 Established PIs:
  • Maximum funding of $600K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
New Investigator Option:
  • Maximum funding of $375K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
Partnering PI Option:
  • Maximum funding of $1M for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years
Physician Research Award At the time of application submission, the PI must be either:
  • In the last year of an accredited medical residency or medical fellowship program;

    • or

  • Within 3 years of having initiated an appointment as Instructor, Assistant Professor, or equivalent
  • Supports mentored research experience to prepare physicians with clinical duties for careers in prostate cancer research.
  • PIs must demonstrate a commitment to a career at the forefront of prostate cancer research and clinical practice.
  • PIs must have a designated mentor with an established research program in prostate cancer.
  • Institutions must provide at least 40% protection of PI's time for research.
  • Projects that focus on basic research are highly encouraged.
  • Maximum funding of $520K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 4 years
Early Investigator Research Award By March 31, 2018,

Postdoctoral Ph.D. or M.D. PIs:
  • Must have successfully defended a doctoral thesis or possess an M.D. degree, and
  • Have 3 years or less of postdoctoral fellowship
  • Supports research opportunities focused on prostate cancer for individuals in the early stages of their careers.
  • PIs must have a designated mentor who is an experienced prostate cancer researcher.
  • Maximum of $200K for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 2 years
Prostate Cancer Pathology Resource Network Award Independent investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) with access to the appropriate facilities
  • Provides infrastructure support for the development and maintenance of a prostate cancer biorepository through a collaborative network across multiple institutions that will facilitate the collection, processing, annotation, storage, and distribution of high-quality human prostate cancer biospecimens.
  • Major emphasis for biospecimen collection must be placed on the acquisition and distribution of biospecimens in limited supply in the prostate cancer research community.
  • Each application must include one Coordinating Center and three to five Pathology Resource Sites (including one at the Coordinating Center), all of which will be jointly responsible for development of the biospecimen repository.
  • Sites must provide plans for quality assurance, bioinformatics and data management, and ethical and regulatory issues
  • Encourages submissions from investigators with enhanced skills in human biospecimen procurement, human tissue repositories, distribution, and working within a collaborative consortium-type network of multiple institutions.
  • Maximum funding of $3.6M for direct costs (plus indirect costs)
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 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. 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 PCRP 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


Last updated Monday, December 16, 2024