Notice Number: NOT-CA-18-076

Key Dates
Release Date: June 8, 2018

Issued by
National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Purpose

NCI announces opportunities for investigators with active NCI-supported research grants to request one year of supplemental funding in FY2018. NCI is interested in supplements that propose the acquisition of tumor tissues from racial/ethnic minority cancer patients that can be used to develop models for the Human Cancer Model Initiative (HCMI). It is the expectation that these efforts will increase the racial/ethnic diversity within the HCMI model repository to help ensure that the models will adequately reflect the cancer patient community and serve as a reliable tool to promote equitable cancer precision medicine efforts.

The HCMI is an international consortium that is generating novel “next-generation” in vitro cancer models from patient tissue that will be available to the research community through a third-party distributor. The NCI is contributing to this international consortium by providing funding and support to two Cancer Model Development Centers (CMDCs). The expectation of the HCMI in its current phase is to generate approximately 1,000 models, such as organoids and conditionally reprogrammed cells, with a requirement that each model have associated patient clinical and short-term outcome data. In addition, the parent tumor, tumor-derived model, and normal tissue will be sequenced. Molecular data and clinical data will be made available to researchers as a community resource.

All applicants must have demonstrated access to cancer patients from diverse racial/ethnic populations and commit to procurement of a minimum of 25 tissues during the funding period. At least 80% of the tissues should be from racial/ethnic minority populations including American Indian/Alaska Natives, Asians, African Americans, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders, and Hispanic/Latinos. An adequate quantity of originating tumor (=50 mg) is required so that its genome and transcriptome can be sequenced with standard protocols and a model can be developed. Case-matched normal tissue (e.g. blood or buccal cells or an alternative source of high-quality (>2kb) germline DNA, 5 ml of blood is preferred) must be included with the tumor tissue. The proposed administrative supplements will provide funds to cover the cost associated with patient accrual (e.g. use of the CMDC-specific consent document), tissue collection, clinical data collection, and shipping of tissues to the NCI-sponsored CMDCs where the cancer models will be developed. Established models will then be sequenced by NCI-funded Genome Characterization Centers (GCCs) and molecular and clinical data will be made available through the NCI Genomic Data Commons (GDC). Awardees will have access to one frozen vial of each model developed from the tissues submitted and it is encouraged that proposals describe how the in vitro cancer models will support/enhance/align with the goals of the parent grant.

As an administrative supplement, the research proposedmust be within the scope of the research described within the parent award.

All applicants are encouraged to contact the NCI contact listed below to receive additional information relevant to this supplement opportunity including; HCMI protocols and requirements, draft informed consent template, and examples of required clinical and demographic data elements for patients.

Budget
Supplement budgets are limited to one year and may not exceed $30,000 in direct costs.

Submitting an Application
All supplement requests should be submitted via PA-18-591 "Administrative Supplements to Existing NIH Grants and Cooperative Agreements (Parent Admin Supp Clinical Trial Optional)" and must follow all guidance provided in the FOA. Applications should reference this Notice of Funding (NOT-CA-18-076).

To be considered for FY2018 funding, all requests must be received by July 25, 2018, 5 pm local time of the applicant organization.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to discuss potential requests with the NCI contact(s) listed below, as well as the NCI program officer of their parent award.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Tiffany Wallace, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-5114
Email: [email protected]

Daniela S. Gerhard, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-781-3280
Email: [email protected].