Dear Colleagues:
I am pleased to announce grant opportunities designed to provide developmental funds for the initiation of promising new cancer-related projects leading to peer-reviewed funding and/or high-impact publications. Developmental funds support basic, translational, clinical, and population science research as well as the Center’s Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) and Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination (CRTEC) activities by providing opportunities to investigate innovative research with an emphasis on strategic priorities for multi-PI collaboration across the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center (LCCC) consortium. Proposals are due by Monday, June 6, 2022. Projects must begin no later than September 1, 2022 and be completed by August 31, 2023.
Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) Developmental Funds Awards (1 year award at $10,000-50,000), funded through the LCCC’s CCSG, which is funded by NCI. Developmental funds are available to all LCCC members with a cancer relevant research focus, including basic, clinical, translational, or population sciences with the exception that investigators who have received developmental funds twice within the last 5 years will not be eligible for additional funds. Projects related to grant applications that scored well (i.e. 20th percentile or lower) but need further preliminary data for resubmission and intend to resubmit by December 2022 will be given the highest priority. Funding is not renewable and the below priorities based on the LCCC 2021-2026 strategic plan will be considered.
a. MPI with LCCC DC and NJ campus collaborations
b. Projects that aim to achieve Cancer Center strategic objectives and focus on one or more of the following areas of research:
- Cancer-related health disparities and issues within the LCCC catchment area and/or underrepresented minorities
- Cancer and aging
- Survivorship research
- Correlative science associated with an investigator-initiated clinical trial derived from cancer center science
- Global oncology
- Advancement of a target/biomarker along the translational pipeline (from bench to bedside or vice versa)
- Intersection of Cancer and Infection
c. Projects must be completed on time. If your project is tied to a clinical trial, the trial should have IRB approval, FDA approval and funding (except for the correlative science you are requesting funding for).
Application Procedure
Application Deadline: June 6, 2022
Format Specifications
a. Arial font and no smaller than 11 point
b. Margins at least 0.5 inches (sides, top and bottom)
c. Single-spaced lines
d. Consecutively numbered pages
e. Submit as a single pdf document
Application Components
a. Title Page
b. Project Summary/Abstract (30 lines of text)
c. Specific Aims (1-page limit)
d. Research Strategy (3-page limit)
- Significance
- Innovation
- Approach
- Future Plans
e. References/citations
f. Budget and Budget Justification
g. NIH Biographical Sketch for all Key Personnel
Review Criteria and Process
a. Each proposal is:
- Reviewed based on scientific impact and scored according to the system used by NIH study sections
- Assigned a primary and secondary reviewer.
b. All committee members will score each proposal after discussion.
c. All funded investigators will be asked to submit progress reports every 6 months with one annual (12 month) report/presentation to the Executive Committee.
Selection
a. Each submission will be reviewed and scored based on current NCI review processes by a peer-review committee.
- Committee is chaired by the Deputy Director for Translational Applications and members will be chosen based on areas of expertise (dependent on proposals submitted) and avoidance of conflicts of interest (i.e., an applicant may be on the committee but will be recused during discussion of his/her grant and cannot vote on his/her application).
b. All scores will be submitted to the Senior Leadership Committee (SLC) for review and discussion. The SLC will submit recommendations to the LCCC Director for review and final decision on funding.
c. Director has discretion to fund projects from other sources of developmental funds.
d. Final decisions will be reviewed and approved by the Executive Committee while the Director has ultimate authority.
e. Top scored projects will be funded.
All applications are due Monday June 6, 2022 to Sharon Levy (sgl5@georgetown.edu). Note that all applications must be submitted electronically as a single, low-resolution PDF file. Incomplete and non-electronic applications will be returned without scientific review. Notifications are anticipated to go out by July 15th.
Questions and requests for additional information should be directed to Sharon Levy (sgl5@georgetown.edu).
Sincerely,
Louis M. Weiner, MD
Director
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center
