DoD Rare Cancers, Concept Award | HT942524RCRPCA

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT942524RCRPCA

The DoD Rare Cancers Research Program (RCRP) Concept Award (FY24) is a Department of Defense grant mechanism designed to spark bold, high-risk research ideas in rare cancers, especially ideas that are genuinely new and not yet proven. The central goal is to fund highly innovative, untested concepts that could open up entirely new lines of investigation, rather than extending or incrementally advancing an established project. Applicants are encouraged to build proposals around novel hypotheses or even unexpected, serendipitous observations. Because this mechanism is meant to help researchers explore early-stage concepts, preliminary data are not required, and a successful project is expected to generate insights or initial evidence that could support a larger future research application.

A key expectation is that the application clearly explains how the proposed concept will meaningfully expand what is known about rare cancers or create a distinctly innovative direction for the field. The program explicitly emphasizes the value of potentially groundbreaking approaches, even when the work is high-risk, as long as the idea is compelling and could lead to major advances. At the same time, applicants are expected to use rigorous study design and transparent reporting practices to support reproducibility and translational relevance. The opportunity points investigators to widely recognized standards for rigor in preclinical research, including principles like randomization, blinding, sample-size estimation, and clear data handling practices.

Peer review for this award is set up as a blinded process, meaning reviewers will not know the identity of the Principal Investigator, collaborators, or their institutions. This structure is intended to focus evaluation on the strength of the concept and the proposed approach rather than reputation or organizational affiliation. Applicants therefore need to ensure the narrative stands on its own and communicates novelty, rationale, feasibility, and potential impact without relying on name recognition.

The funding announcement also connects this opportunity to broader national priorities around metastatic and recurrent cancer. It notes recommendations from a congressionally mandated Metastatic Cancer Task Force and encourages applicants to align ideas with those recommendations when appropriate, as long as the proposal remains within the scope and priorities of the FY24 RCRP. In addition, the program highlights interest in innovative nuclear medicine and related technologies that could improve early diagnosis, treatment precision, and outcomes, with particular relevance to active-duty Service Members and their Families. This includes noninvasive diagnostic approaches, precision imaging, and targeted therapy concepts that could strengthen diagnostic and treatment capabilities.

Another emphasized area is research that addresses health conditions affecting women uniquely, disproportionately, or differently than men. Applicants are encouraged to incorporate sex as a biological variable when relevant and to connect anticipated findings to improvements in womens health outcomes or to closing knowledge gaps affecting women. The opportunity also strongly encourages applications from military investigators and multidisciplinary partnerships that bring together academia, industry, the military services, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal agencies. These collaborations are viewed as a way to leverage specialized expertise, infrastructure, and access to unique clinical populations, ultimately increasing the likelihood that discoveries will matter for Service Members, Veterans, and their Families. If a project depends on special resources or databases, the application must document access at the time of submission and include a plan to maintain access throughout the project.

Clinical trials are not permitted under this award. The announcement uses the federal regulatory definition of a clinical trial (45 CFR 46.102), emphasizing that studies where human subjects are prospectively assigned to interventions to evaluate biomedical or behavioral outcomes are not allowed. However, studies involving humans that do not evaluate the safety, effectiveness, or efficacy of an intervention are not considered clinical trials under this definition, which leaves room for certain kinds of non-trial human subjects research when appropriate.

Administrative details from the listing include: the opportunity is run by the Department of the Army through USAMRAA; it is a discretionary grant under CFDA 12.420; eligibility is listed as unrestricted; the funding opportunity number is HT942524RCRPCA; the original closing date was 2024-08-26; and the program anticipated making about 18 awards. The award ceiling is not specified in the provided text.

• The Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Rare Cancers, Concept 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 2024-04-19.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-26. (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 18 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted.

Apply for HT942524RCRPCA

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