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Pancreatic Cancer

NEWS RELEASE

Released: April 12, 2021

Defense Health Program
Department of Defense Pancreatic Cancer Research Program
Anticipated Funding Opportunities for Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21)

The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act is anticipated to provide funding to the Department of Defense Pancreatic Cancer Research Program (PCARP) to support research of exceptional scientific merit and innovation with high impact that focuses on pancreatic cancer. 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).

The PCARP 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 PCARP 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.

Applications submitted to the FY21 PCARP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

  • Early detection research for pancreatic cancer, including studies of individuals with pre-diabetes and diabetes and/or those in underserved ethnic and minority communities
  • Supportive care and patient-reported outcomes, quality of life, and perspectives during treatment and survivorship
  • Understanding the relationship between metabolic disruptions in pancreatic cancer and their systemic effects, including diabetes and cachexia
  • Understanding precursors, origins, and early progression of pancreatic cancer
  • Understanding the events that promote pancreatic cancer metastasis
  • Understanding the relationship between oncogenic signaling and the tumor microenvironment that drives drug resistance and therapeutic response
  • New drug development targeted toward cancer sensitivity and resistance mechanisms including immune mechanisms of resistance

Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Idea Development Award Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent)

or

Early-Career Investigator Partnering Principal Investigator (PI) Option:

Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor (or equivalent) may collaborate on a single application with an early-career investigator that meets the following criteria at the application submission deadline date:
  • Must have instructor-level (or equivalent) faculty appointment or above
  • Is no more than 10 years from the receipt of a terminal degree
  • Must commit at least 50% time to the project
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports new ideas that represent innovative, high-risk/high-gain approaches to pancreatic cancer research and have the potential to make an important contribution to one or more of the FY21 PCARP Focus Areas.
  • Emphasis is equally placed on Innovation and Impact.
  • Preliminary data are encouraged, but not required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Must address at least one of the FY21 PCARP Focus Areas.

Early-Career Investigator Partnering PI Option supports applicants early in their faculty appointments or in the process of developing independent research careers.
  • Maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.

Early-Career Investigator Partnering PI Option:

  • Maximum funding of $650,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Translational Research Partnership Award PIs must be at or above the level of Assistant Professor or equivalent.

Clinicians must be an M.D., M.D./Ph.D., or equivalent with clinical duties and/or responsibilities.
  • Preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports partnerships between clinicians and laboratory scientists that accelerate ideas in pancreatic cancer into clinical applications.
  • Multi-institutional and multi-discipline partnerships are strongly encouraged.
  • Must address at least one of the FY21 PCARP Focus Areas.
  • Supports translational correlative studies.
  • Preliminary data required.
  • Retrospective tissue analysis, correlative studies, or small pilot clinical studies are permitted.
  • Maximum funding of $750,000 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 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 PCARP 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


Last updated Thursday, May 26, 2022