The purpose of this Notice is to inform potential applicants of the special interest of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in encouraging the submission of applications to either PAR-20-089 Biomedical Data Repository ( U24-Clinical Trial Not Allowed) or PAR-20-097 Biomedical Knowledgebase ( U24-Clinical Trial Not Allowed) FOAs, focused on the establishment of new, or continued development of established cancer data resources that use state-of-the-art and cost-effective technologies and approaches, and that are of high value to the broad cancer research community. This NOSI applies to applications for both data repositories and knowledgebases.

Research Objectives

For the purpose of this Notice, we use the term resource to encompass both data repositories and knowledgebases. Through this NOSI, NCI will support the development of resources that are clearly linked to broad use cases in cancer research. This NOSI seeks applications that focus on establishment of new or continued development of established cancer data resources that use state-of-the-art and cost-effective technologies and approaches.

Resources relevant to this NOSI should address cancer research topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Fundamental biological process related to cancer such as cell growth, transformation, and metastasis;
• Population-level determinants of cancer occurrence and outcomes;
• Cancer care delivery and implementation science;
• Cancer prevention, early detection, and screening;
• Cancer diagnosis, prognosis, treatment response, and patient management;
• Assessment of new anticancer agents, radiation treatments, surgical methods; and
• Cancer health disparities.
  

Application and Submission Information

Data repository and knowledgebase resources for cancer research proposed in response to this NOSI should build on and be compatible with the emerging Cancer Research Data Commons (CRDC), a virtual, expandable infrastructure that provides secure access to many different data types across scientific domains. The Data Commons Framework provides a common approach to functions that are required for compatibility with the CRDC. Data resources in the CRDC currently include a Genomic Data Commons, Proteomics Data Commons, and a Canine Data Commons. An Imaging Data Commons and Clinical Trial Data Commons are currently under development.

The NCI Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program also supports activities related to data resources. When considering which funding opportunity is best suited for the proposed work, please use the following guidance:

• Applications with primary focus on cancer data collection, curation, maintenance, integration, and distribution and linking of growing bodies of information related to core datasets should apply through this NOSI using either PAR-20-089 (data repositories) or PAR-20-097 (knowledgebase).
• Applications with primary focus on infrastructure and tool development related to the data resources such as i) data visualization and analysis tools and ii) application programming interfaces for data access should apply through one of the ITCR RFAs, which are outside the purview of this NOSI.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to thoroughly review PAR-20-089 and/or PAR-20-097 and to consult the NCI Scientific/Research Contact listed in this NOSI regarding the appropriateness of the planned resource to the NCI’s mission, scientific areas of interests, and programmatic priorities, as well as the approach to compatibility with the CRDC. NCI-defined programmatic needs will play a large part in determining which resources are supported, as well as the long-term funding needs and sustainability plans of proposed resource.

Submit applications for this initiative using one of the following FOAs or any reissues of these announcements through the expiration date of this Notice.

This Notice applies to due dates on or after September 25, 2020 of the FOAs listed above, and subsequent receipt dates through May 9, 2023.

All instructions in the SF424 (R&R) Application Guide and the funding opportunity announcement used for submission must be followed, with the following additions:

• For funding consideration, applicants must include NOT-CA-20-045 (without quotation marks) in the Agency Routing Identifier field (box 4b) of the SF424 R&R form. Applications without this information in box 4b will not be considered for this initiative.

Scientific/Research Contact(s)

Juli Klemm, Ph.D.
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 301-480-5778
Email: juli.klemm@nih.gov