DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award | W81XWH 18 KCRP TRPA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 18 KCRP TRPA

The DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award (FY18 KCRP TRPA; W81XWH-18-KCRP-TRPA) is a Department of Defense funding opportunity designed to push promising kidney cancer discoveries closer to real-world clinical use by requiring a true, co-led partnership between a clinician and a research scientist. The program is built around the idea that many important advances stall in the gap between laboratory research and patient care, so it funds projects where basic and clinical expertise are intentionally woven together to answer a central kidney cancer question in a way that neither investigator could accomplish as effectively alone. While the ultimate objective is to move concepts toward clinical application, the program emphasizes that translation should not be treated as a one-direction pipeline from bench to bedside; instead, it expects a two-way exchange where clinical insight shapes the science and scientific findings feed back into clinically meaningful directions.

A key requirement is that the application be led by two independent, faculty-level (or equivalent) investigators with clearly equal intellectual ownership of the project. One partner must be a clinician and the other a research scientist, and the submission must make it obvious that both contributed substantially to the project design, strategy, and execution plan. The award is structured to support two Principal Investigators, an Initiating PI and a Partnering PI, and each receives a separate award even though the work is proposed as a single collaborative project. Because the award is specifically meant to fund integrated translational teamwork, it will not support arrangements where the clinician plays a minor role such as only providing patient access or tissue samples; the clinical partner is expected to be actively engaged in shaping hypotheses, interpreting findings, and guiding how results could matter for patients.

The opportunity encourages multi-institutional partnerships and also welcomes participation by experts from outside the kidney cancer field when their skills can help solve an important problem in kidney cancer. At the same time, the team must include relevant kidney cancer expertise: at least one member of the partnership must have experience in kidney cancer research or kidney cancer patient care. Projects can be sparked by many sources, including laboratory discoveries, population-based research, or direct clinical observation and patient-centered insights, including anecdotal patterns that can be systematically tested. Regardless of the origin, the proposal must describe a translational pathway that connects the work to practical clinical relevance.

Applications are expected to demonstrate a concrete plan for how the partners will work together day-to-day and across institutions, including how they will communicate, coordinate progress, share results, and transfer data. For multi-institutional teams, an intellectual property plan is required to address potential ownership and material-transfer issues upfront and reduce institutional barriers that can derail collaboration. The review emphasis is on whether the project genuinely depends on the distinct strengths of both partners and whether the collaboration is structured to produce synergy rather than parallel, loosely connected work.

In terms of scope, the program supports translational research activities that can include correlative studies, development or use of annotated biorepositories, and other approaches that connect clinical information and biological or mechanistic investigation. The application should explain how clinical data and context will be used to close knowledge gaps, validate key findings, build on potentially transformative results, or explore novel observations with a clear line of sight toward improved prevention, diagnosis, detection, prognosis, treatment, and/or survivorship in kidney cancer. The proposed work must be relevant to active duty Service members, Veterans, other military beneficiaries, and/or the broader American public. Clinical trials are explicitly not allowed under this mechanism, so the focus is on translational studies that position an idea for future clinical use rather than testing an intervention in a formal trial.

Feasibility must be supported with preliminary data. Importantly, the preliminary evidence does not have to come directly from kidney cancer studies, but it must credibly support the project hypothesis and the proposed research approach. Funding is provided through grants and cooperative agreements under the Department of Defense (USAMRAA). Eligibility is listed as unrestricted (open to any type of entity, subject to any additional eligibility language in the full announcement). For FY18, anticipated direct costs for the entire period of performance are capped at $600,000 total for the partnership effort, and the program expected to make around three awards. The original posting dates indicate the opportunity was created June 8, 2018, with an original closing date of September 26, 2018.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jun 08, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 26, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 3 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 18 KCRP TRPA

[Watch] Creating a grant proposal using the step-by-step wizard inside the applicant portal: