Call for Pilot Project Proposals

Brenda R. Stevens

Call for Pilot Project Proposals

Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism and Meyer Cancer Center

Deadline 5pm Monday, July 31, 2017

The Cornell Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism (http://psoc.engineering.cornell.edu/) integrates engineering, advanced imaging, and cancer biology to interrogate the multiscale biophysical mechanisms regulating tumor metabolism and function as well as their consequences on clinical outcome.  The new insights that will be generated by our Center promise to inform a more integrated approach to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer.  By leveraging capabilities of five different institutions the Cornell Physical Sciences Oncology Center (PSOC) will interrogate the multiscale biological and physical (structural, mechanical, and solute transport) mechanisms regulating tumor metabolism and function, as well as the consequences on tumor development, metastatic progression, and therapy response.

The PSOC and the Meyer Cancer Center (MCC) are soliciting requests for research proposals to encourage collaborative cancer research between physical scientists, biologists, and clinicians that are consistent with the overall goals of the PSOC, MCC, and NCI.  The primary goals of this call for pilot projects are to stimulate the development of collaborative research that advances the mission of the PSOC, stimulate intercampus collaborative research, and ultimately lead to competitive externally funded grant applications. We encourage prior discussion of any proposal ideas with colleagues in the PSOC and MCC, especially the PSOC program, project, and core leaders, to ensure fit with the PSOC’s mission.

Award Mechanism:

  • Support for proposals from two or more investigators focused on physical sciences collaborations related to the PSOC and MCC Research Programs
  • Objective: advance research mission of the PSOC and generate sufficient preliminary data and/or evidence of publication to transition to cancer-focused R01-type grant applications
  • While triple negative breast cancer is the primary research focus of the PSOC, other cancer types and subtypes will be considered
  • Two awards of up to $100K for one year will be funded with the potential for additional funding if a competitive (scored) proposal is submitted within 2 years to the NIH, NCI or other approved national funding organization.

Eligibility:

  • Proposals must address critical questions in cancer biology and therapeutics either from a physical sciences perspective or using novel physical sciences-based approaches or tools
  • Proposals must include at least one faculty member from each campus meeting the following criteria:
    • Have a full-time academic appointment at Cornell (main campus)
    • Have a full-time academic appointment at Weill Cornell Medicine, with current cancer-relevant, peer-reviewed funding from the NIH/NCI or other approved national funding organization.
  • Proposals from investigators that are not currently members of the PSOC are encouraged

Proposals must be submitted to Brenda Stevens (brs42@cornell.edu) by 5pm on Monday, July 31, 2017.  Application components (all application components should adhere to the NIH formatting requirements):

  • Cover Page
  • Research Proposal (3 page limit): Abstract, Aims, Significance, Innovation, and Approach; preliminary data should be included if available
  • References (not included in page limit)
  • External Funding Plan (not included in page limit): a brief (max. half page) description of plans for continued, extramural support; funding agency, grant type, and projected date of submission must be indicated
  • Budget
  • Budget Justification
  • Biosketch for each PI including Other Support
  • 12-month project budgets should be up to $100,000 (direct costs).

Grant Guidelines:

  • All publications resulting from research supported by this grant should contain the following acknowledgement: “The work described was supported by the Center on the Physics of Cancer Metabolism through Award Number 1U54CA210184 from the National Cancer Institute and the Meyer Cancer Center. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or the National Institutes of Health”.
  • Progress reports, including financial status, are required and must be provided by the specified deadlines. Grantees will be notified at least one month prior to the deadlines. (written report to be included in yearly PSOC Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) (three pages), oral presentation during NCI site visit, final report (three pages). Annual NCI RPPR is due June 1st each year.  Requests for reports will be sent mid-April for mid-May due date.
  • After the submission of progress reports, any additional publications or grants resulting from the grant must be promptly reported.

Funding qualifying as “peer-reviewed” per NCI Guidelines:

  • Research grants, cooperative agreements and research contracts from the NCI including all awards with the following prefixes: R00, R01, R03, R15, R18, R21, R24, R25, R33, R35, R41, R42, R55, R56, P01 and P50 sub-projects, P20, SC1, SC2, U01, U10, U19, U54, U56, UG1, UG3, UH2, UH3, UM1, UM2, N01 research contracts and peer-reviewed, funded subcontracts of Center members participating in collaborative research. (Note: Shared Resources of multi-component grants are not eligible.)
  • Components of NCI National Clinical Trials Networks (e.g., U10s, U19s)
  • Individual research studies involving protocols approved by the NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program (CTEP) and funded by NCI
  • Individual research studies involving prevention and control protocols approved by the NCI Cancer Control Protocol Review Committee and funded by NCI
  • Awarded cancer-related research grants, cooperative agreements, and research contracts from other institutes of the NIH (same prefixes as above)
  • Research grants, cooperative agreements and research contracts from the following agencies:
  1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
  2. Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF)
  3. American Association of Cancer Research (AACR)
  4. American Cancer Society (ACS), (national office only)
  5. American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR)
  6. American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR)
  7. California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM)
  8. Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)
  9. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
  10. Central Office of the Veterans Administration (VA) (excluding local/regional and “block” grants)
  11. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
  12. The Flight Attendant Medical Research Institute (FAMRI)
  13. Florida Biomedical Research Program (FBRP)
  14. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  15. Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)
  16. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS)
  17. Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA)
  18. Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF)
  19. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  20. National Science Foundation (NSF)
  21. New York State Department of Health Wadsworth Center/New York State Stem Cell Science Program (NYSTEM)
  22. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
  23. Prevent Cancer Foundation (PCF)
  24. Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)
  25. Susan G. Komen for the Cure
  26. The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP)
  27. The California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP)
  28. S. Army (DOD) special research programs *

*Note: Grants funded through the U.S. Army’s, (DOD) special research programs in ovarian, breast and prostate cancer may also be listed in the category of peer reviewed funded grants

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