Innovative Biospecimen Science Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R61 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

The 'Innovative Biospecimen Science Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research' grant, excluding clinical trials, is a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) inviting grant applications for exploratory research projects. The focus lies in the early-stage development of avant-garde technologies that enhance the quality of specimens used in both cancer research and clinical care.

The initiative intends to tackle challenges associated with pre-analytical degradation of target analytes, which occur during the collection, processing, handling, and/or storage of cancer-relevant biospecimens. With this in mind, the necessity arises to develop breakthrough technologies that can either maximize or scrutinize the quality and practicality of biological samples for subsequent analyses.

This NOFO will financially back and foster the creation of tools, devices, instrumentation, and corresponding methods. The developed methods must be designed to safeguard sample integrity, set up verification criteria for quality evaluation/control, and establish rules on how to handle samples under various conditions.

These newly established technologies should expedite and/or augment research in several spheres of cancer treatment, such as cancer biology, early detection and screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment, epidemiology, and issues linked with health disparities in cancer. The overall aim is to reduce pre-analytical variations affecting the quality of the biospecimen sample.

This funding opportunity is part of the wider National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program.