Notice of Intent to Publish a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment Consortia for the Clinical Proteomic Technologies Initiative

Notice Number: NOT-CA-05-029

Key Dates
Release Date: September 27, 2005

Issued by
National Cancer Institute (NCI), (http://www.cancer.gov)

The purpose of this Notice is to announce the NCI's intention to issue a funding opportunity (i.e., a Request for Applications or RFA) in the late Fall of 2005 as part of the NCI Clinical Proteomic Technologies Initiative (CPTI). The CPTI is an integrated approach to develop and enhance proteomic technology capabilities to support the reliable discovery and measurement of cancer-associated proteins from readily accessible biological fluids. The CPTI will support the development of standards, resources, and clinical proteomic platforms for cancer research by harnessing efforts to establish standard references, quality control measures, and informatics platforms capable of aggregating and comparing data. The funding opportunity described here will be open to domestic (U.S.) academic, non-profit, and for-profit institutions. Foreign institutions may be invited by eligible applicants to participate as subcontractors.

This funding opportunity will support the creation of multiple 5-year awards to establish the Clinical Proteomic Technology Assessment Consortia (CPTACs) through use of the NIH U24 cooperative agreement funding mechanism. The goal of the consortia will be to optimize and standardize proteomic technology platforms, with an emphasis on mass spectrometry (MS)-based and affinity capture-based approaches. Multidisciplinary teams will be required to address technology engineering, statistical design, and quantitative pathological assessments as applied to furthering our understanding of basic and clinical mechanisms of cancer. A key component of the consortia will be the development of interlaboratory protocols and analysis of biological samples from both mouse models and clinical specimens. Performance capabilities will be assessed based on the sample acquisition, fractionation, detection, measurement, identification, quantification, and validation of proteins/peptides of relevance to cancer from complex biological mixtures. The CPTAC programs will support two overarching aims, which are: 1) to develop and refine MS-based and affinity capture-based proteomic platforms to improve key factors such as experimental reproducibility, specificity, and mass accuracy, dynamic range, peptide/protein identification, individual peptide/protein quantification, sample throughput, and per sample/unit cost; and 2) to develop a systematic assessment of the procedures and methodologies to minimize variability in MS and affinity capture-based measurements and data analyses. Through standardizations and improvements, the CPTACs should aim to collectively identify and validate at least 1000 reproducible features of interest in cancer biospecimens by the end of the 5-year program and, at the same time, identify technologically-superior platforms for MS-based and affininity capture-based proteomic analyses. These consortia will also serve as critical sources of protocol development, education, and training to support standardized proteomic research platforms across the cancer research enterprise.

APPLICATIONS ARE NOT BEING REQUESTED AT THIS TIME.

Inquiries

Gregory J. Downing, D.O., Ph.D.
Director, Office of Technology and Industrial Relations
Office of the Director
National Cancer Institute
Building 31, Room 10A52, MSC 2580
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892-2580
Telephone: (301) 496-1550
FAX: (301) 496-7807
Email: downingg@mail.nih.gov


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