Core Objective: Encourage revision applications from currently funded National Cancer Institute (NCI) P50 specialized centers to integrate novel NCI-supported technology to expand existing research or accelerate progress in cancer research.
Target Recipient Type and Size: Primarily research institutions and organizations already receiving NCI P50 specialized center grants; these are typically well-established entities.
SECTOR-SPECIFIC: Focused on 'HEALTHCARE' and 'TECHNOLOGY' (specifically cancer research and molecular/cellular analysis technologies).
Geographic Scope: Global, including U.S. and non-U.S. entities.
Key Filtering Criteria:
Must be a currently funded NCI P50 specialized center.
Must propose incorporating a new technical approach or device developed through the NCI Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program.
The proposed technology must not be commercially available.
The proposed technology must not have been developed by a Principal Investigator (PI) on the parent P50 award.
The parent P50 award must have at least one year remaining at the estimated time of the revision award (excluding no-cost extension).
Grant Frequency and Program Context: This is a reissue of a previous funding opportunity (RFA-CA-24-014), indicating it is a recurring program to promote interdisciplinary collaboration in developing innovative tools for cancer research.
Financial Structure
Total funding: $700,000 for fiscal year 2026, intended for an estimate of 3 awards.
Maximum award amount: Direct costs are limited to $150,000 per year.
Project period: Up to 2 years, not exceeding the remaining number of years on the parent P50 grant.
Maximum potential award per project: $300,000 (calculated as 2 years x $150,000/year).
Currency: USD.
Cost sharing: Not required by this funding opportunity.
Budget type: Modular budgets are generally expected, unless the application is submitted by a foreign organization.
Pre-award costs: Allowable only as described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 7.9.1.
Financial reporting: Recipients must submit annual Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPR) and financial statements. A final RPPR, invention statement, and the expenditure data portion of the Federal Financial Report are required for closeout.
Eligibility Requirements
Organizational Type & Status
Must be a currently funded NCI P50 specialized center.
The parent P50 award must be active when the application is submitted.
Must have at least one year remaining on the parent P50 award at the estimated time of the revision award (periods of no-cost extension are excluded).
Eligible organization types include:
Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
Private Institutions of Higher Education
Nonprofits with 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
Nonprofits without 501(c)(3) IRS Status (Other than Institutions of Higher Education)
Small Businesses
For-Profit Organizations (Other than Small Businesses)
State Governments
County Governments
City or Township Governments
Special District Governments
Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Federally Recognized)
Indian/Native American Tribal Governments (Other than Federally Recognized)
Eligible Agencies of the Federal Government
U.S. Territory or Possession
Independent School Districts
Public Housing Authorities/Indian Housing Authorities
Native American Tribal Organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments)
Faith-based or Community-based Organizations
Regional Organizations
Non-domestic (non-U.S.) Entities (Foreign Organizations) including foreign components of U.S. organizations.
Technical Requirements
The project must incorporate a new technical approach or device that was developed through the NCI Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program.
The proposed technology must not be commercially available to the general research community.
The proposed technology must not have been developed by a Principal Investigator (PI) on the parent P50 award.
Registration & Compliance
Applicant organizations must complete and maintain active registrations in:
System for Award Management (SAM) (requires annual renewal).
NATO Commercial and Government Entity (NCAGE) Code (for foreign organizations, in lieu of a CAGE code).
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) (issued via SAM.gov).
eRA Commons (organization, Signing Official, and Program Director/Principal Investigator accounts).
All registrations must be completed prior to application submission (can take 6+ weeks).
All PD(s)/PI(s) and component Project Leads must have an eRA Commons account and include their ID in the Senior/Key Person Profile form.
Exclusion Criteria
Applications seeking support during a period of no-cost extension of the parent P50 grant are not eligible.
Applications proposing commercially available technology platforms will be considered non-responsive.
Applications proposing technologies not developed through the NCI IMAT program will be considered non-responsive.
Applications proposing technologies developed by a PI on the parent P50 will be considered non-responsive.
Duplicate or highly overlapping applications are not permitted.
Application Process
Application Submission
Application Due Dates:
April 04, 2025 (for July 2025 Scientific Merit Review)
October 03, 2025 (for February 2026 Scientific Merit Review)
All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of the applicant organization.
No late applications will be accepted.
Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow time for error correction.
Applications must be submitted electronically through Grants.gov using the NIH ASSIST system or an institutional system-to-system (S2S) solution.
Applicants must track their application status in the eRA Commons.
Pre-Application Requirements
Letter of Intent (LOI):
Not required, not binding, and does not influence the review process.
Due 30 days prior to the application due date.
Should include: descriptive title, PD(s)/PI(s) names, addresses, phone numbers, key personnel, participating institutions, and the funding opportunity number and title.
Email to: Kelly Crotty, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute (NCI).
Required Registrations (must be completed before submission):
System for Award Management (SAM) with annual renewal.
One-page Introduction to Application (for revision/resubmission).
One-page Specific Aims for the revision project.
Up to 6-page Research Strategy detailing the ongoing work and context for the revision.
Resource Sharing Plan and Data Management and Sharing Plan.
Appendix (limited items only).
PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information (if applicable).
PHS Assignment Request Form.
Revision Project Component requires:
SF424(R&R) Cover (partial fields).
PHS 398 Cover Page Supplement.
Research & Related Other Project Information (Human Subjects, Vertebrate Animals questions).
Project Narrative (DO NOT complete, enforced in Overall).
Project/Performance Site Location(s) (list all applicable sites).
Research & Related Senior/Key Person Profile (Project Role 'Other', Category 'Administrative Core Leader' for PI; other Senior/Key persons working in component).
Budget forms.
Research Plan, including:
Specific Aims for the proposed research project.
Up to 6-page Research Strategy, specifically identifying the IMAT-supported technology, its readiness for validation, how it enhances the parent P50, and nature of collaboration with developers if any. Includes standard subsections (Significance, Innovation, Approach).
Appendix (limited items only).
PHS Human Subjects and Clinical Trials Information (if applicable).
Post-Award Requirements & Reporting
Annual Research Performance Progress Report (RPPR) and financial statements are required.
A final RPPR, invention statement, and expenditure data are required for award closeout.
Compliance with the 2023 NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing is required.
If the award involves clinical trials, registration and results reporting on ClinicalTrials.gov are expected.
Grantee institutions must ensure all protocols involving human subjects are reviewed by their Institutional Review Board (IRB) or Independent Ethics Committee (IEC).
Adherence to NIH policy for data and safety monitoring for human biomedical and behavioral intervention studies.
Compliance with Investigational New Drug (IND) or Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) requirements for clinical research projects.
Application Support
eRA Service Desk: For questions on ASSIST, eRA Commons, application errors, and system problems.
General Grants Information: For questions on application instructions and processes.
Grants.gov Customer Support: For registration and Workspace inquiries.
Scientific/Research Contact (Kelly Crotty, Ph.D., NCI): For assistance with research aims, technology platforms, and other scientific inquiries related to the NOFO.
Evaluation Criteria
Overall Impact
Reviewers will assess the likelihood of the project to exert a sustained, powerful influence on the relevant research field(s).
Scored Review Criteria
Significance:
Addresses an important problem or critical barrier in the field.
Rigor of prior research supporting the project.
How scientific knowledge, technical capability, or clinical practice will be improved.
How successful completion will change concepts, methods, technologies, or interventions.
Specific to this NOFO: How incorporating the IMAT-supported technology advances/accelerates the parent project.
Specific to this NOFO: How the project independently validates the new technology's usefulness for the cancer research community.
(For clinical trials) Scientific rationale, necessity of the trial for testing intervention or advancing understanding.
Investigator(s):
Suitability of PD(s)/PI(s), collaborators, and other researchers.
Appropriate experience and training (especially for Early Stage Investigators).
Demonstrated accomplishments for established investigators.
(For collaborative/multi-PD/PI) Complementary expertise, appropriate leadership, governance, and organizational structure.
(For clinical trials) Expertise to organize, manage, implement, and meet milestones, including study coordination, data management, and statistics.
Innovation:
Challenges and seeks to shift current paradigms using novel concepts, approaches, methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions.
Novelty within one field or in a broad sense.
Proposed refinement, improvement, or new application of theoretical concepts, approaches, methodologies, instrumentation, or interventions.
(For clinical trials) Innovative elements in design/research plan enhancing sensitivity, information potential, or advancing knowledge/practice.
Approach:
Reasonableness and appropriateness of overall strategy, methodology, and analyses.
Plans to address weaknesses in prior research rigor.
Strategies for a robust and unbiased approach.
Presentation of potential problems, alternative strategies, and benchmarks for success.
Feasibility establishment and risk management for early-stage projects.
Plans to address relevant biological variables (e.g., sex) in animal/human studies.
(For human subjects/clinical research) Plans for human subjects protection and inclusion/exclusion (sex, race, ethnicity, age).
(For clinical trials) Justified study design, appropriate power, efficient research, justified populations/interventions, ethical issues, recruitment/retention, data management, statistical analysis.
Environment:
Scientific environment's contribution to success.
Adequacy of institutional support, equipment, and physical resources.
Benefit from unique features (scientific environment, subject populations, collaborative arrangements).
(For clinical trials) Appropriateness of administrative, data coordinating, enrollment, and laboratory/testing centers; capability of sites, complexity of international sites.
Additional Review Criteria (Not scored, but considered for overall impact)
Study Timeline (for clinical trials): Detailed, feasible, justified timeline.
Protections for Human Subjects: Justification for involvement, adequacy of protection, benefits, importance of knowledge, data/safety monitoring.
Inclusion of Women, Minorities, and Individuals Across the Lifespan: Proposed plans for inclusion/exclusion.
Vertebrate Animals: Description of procedures, justification for species, pain/distress mitigation.
Biohazards: Assessment of hazards and proposed protection.
Resubmissions: Evaluation of responses to prior review comments and project changes.
Revisions: Appropriateness of proposed expansion of project scope.
Additional Review Considerations (Not scored, but considered for overall impact)
Applications from Foreign Organizations: Special opportunities (talent, resources, populations, environmental conditions) unique to other countries.
Select Agent Research: Plans for monitoring possession, use, transfer, biosafety, biocontainment, and security.
Resource Sharing Plans: Reasonableness of plan or rationale for not sharing.
Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources: Plans for identifying and ensuring validity.
Budget and Period of Support: Justification and reasonableness in relation to proposed research.
Compliance & Special Requirements
Regulatory Compliance
All awards are subject to the terms and conditions, cost principles, and other considerations described in the NIH Grants Policy Statement.
Compliance with 2 CFR Part 200, Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards.
Recipients must comply with all applicable nondiscrimination laws and submit an Assurance of Compliance (HHS-690).
Mandatory disclosure of any information related to violations of federal criminal law involving fraud, bribery, or gratuity potentially affecting the federal award (2 CFR 200.113 and NIH Grants Policy Statement Section 4.1.35).
Adherence to the 2023 NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing; recipients must implement the approved Data Management and Sharing Plan.
If the award involves implementing, acquiring, or upgrading health IT, recipients must use health IT that meets standards and implementation specifications adopted in 45 CFR part 170, Subpart B, or certified under the ONC Health IT Certification Program if applicable.
Recipients must develop plans and procedures modeled after the NIST Cybersecurity framework to protect HHS systems and data, especially when handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI).
If clinical trials are involved, compliance with IRB/IEC approval, Data and Safety Monitoring Requirements, and IND/IDE Requirements is essential.
Project-Specific Requirements
The core purpose is to expand upon or accelerate original research questions from currently funded NCI P50 specialized centers.
The proposed project must incorporate a new technical approach or device developed through the NCI Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program.
The incorporated technology must not be commercially available to the research community.
The incorporated technology must not have been developed by a PI on the parent P50 grant.
The project is expected to incentivize independent validation and accelerate the suitability of these emerging technologies for broader research communities.
Proposed activities should offer corroborative data to enhance the rigor of new findings and enable further advances in cancer research.
Clinical trials are optional, indicating flexibility in research design.
Resource Sharing Plans are required and should be provided in the Overall Component of the application.
Authentication of Key Biological and/or Chemical Resources plans must be provided.
Projects involving human subjects and/or vertebrate animals must adhere to specific protection, inclusion, and care guidelines outlined in the review criteria.
Unique Aspects / Strategic Alignment
This grant uniquely targets existing NCI P50 specialized centers, fostering a strategic integration of novel, government-supported technologies into ongoing, established cancer research.
It promotes the translation and validation of cutting-edge IMAT program technologies within active research environments.
Aims to promote interdisciplinary collaboration between technology developers and cancer researchers.
Provides an opportunity to significantly enhance the impact of existing cancer research projects by overcoming current technical limitations.
Grant Details
cancer research
biotechnology
medical technology
oncology
nih
nci
p50 grant
imat program
molecular analysis
biospecimen science
diagnostics
treatment
prevention
clinical trials
research funding
us government grant
public health
health innovation
academic research
non-profit research
Revision Applications for Incorporation of Novel NCI-Supported Technology to Accelerate Cancer Research (P50 Clinical Trial Optional)
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