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Rare Cancers

NEWS RELEASE

Released: April 20, 2021

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

The FY21 Defense Appropriations Act provides funding to the Department of Defense Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP) to support research of exceptional scientific merit in the area of rare cancers research. 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 RCRP 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 RCRP 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. 

Vision Statement
To greatly improve outcomes for people with rare cancer through discovery and community building, and expansion of knowledge across the cancer landscape.

Mission Statement
Elevate rare cancers research to enable clinically impactful discoveries for the benefit of Service Members, their families, Veterans, and the American public. 

Concept Award and Idea Development Award applications submitted to the FY21 RCRP must address one or more of the following Focus Areas:

  • Biology and Etiology: Identify disease-defining molecular pathways, cell context, and microenvironment.
  • Research Model: Develop and validate rare tumor-specific models that can support clinical trial readiness.
  • Therapy: Identify novel therapeutic strategies, including drug repurposing.

Resource and Community Development Award applications submitted to the FY21 RCRP must address the Focus Areas below:

  • Platform Development: Development of platforms (such as tumor tissue repository with clinical annotation, centralized databanks, patient registry with common data structure, research model and Omics database, longitudinal studies of natural history, and treatment response) for multiple rare cancers, to allow sharing of data, bio-specimens, and resources.
Award Mechanism Eligibility Key Mechanism Elements Funding
Concept Award Investigators at or above the level of postdoctoral fellow
  • Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development or an untested theory that addresses an important problem related to rare cancers. Proof-of-concept is the anticipated outcome.
  • Reviewers will be blinded to the identity of the Principal Investigator, collaborators, and their organization(s).
  • Submission must address at least one of the FY21 Focus Areas of Biology and Etiology, Research Model, and/or Therapy.
  • Preliminary data are not required.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $100,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 1 year.
Idea Development Award Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor
  • Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Supports innovative, high-risk/high-reward research with the potential to yield impactful data in the rare cancer field.
  • Preliminary data with disease-specific rationale (including correlatives in existing trials) to support the feasibility of the research hypotheses and research approaches are required.
  • Submission must address at least one of the FY21 Focus Areas of Biology and Etiology, Research Model, and/or Therapy.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $350,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs).
  • Maximum period of performance is 3 years.
Resource and Community Development Award Investigators at or above the level of Assistant Professor
  • Preproposal submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • Emphasis on research resources development to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among stakeholders such as researchers, patients, family members, caregivers, clinicians, and other members of the rare cancers community.
  • Supports platform development or infrastructure that can be applied to multiple rare cancers.
  • Preliminary data are not required but may be included (translational research and clinical studies may be included).
  • Submission must address the Platform Development Focus Area.
  • Clinical trials are not allowed.
  • Maximum funding of $600,000 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 RCRP 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