DoD Rare Cancers, Resource and Community Development Award

Description

The FY22 RCRP Resource and Community Development Award supports the development of resources that advance the field of rare cancers research and ultimately improve outcomes for individuals with rare cancers. Major gaps in patient care of rare cancers include lack of communication and dissemination strategies for rare cancer research and clinical findings within communities; lack of therapeutics and mechanistic studies to inform treatment development; lack of research and clinical resources, including patient tissues, cell, and tumor models; and lack of infrastructure for sharing data and other resources. The intent of this funding opportunity is to develop platforms that can share resources and knowledge pertaining to available models, molecular pathways, and therapeutic approaches to facilitate collaboration and information sharing among stakeholders such as researchers, patients, caregivers, clinicians, and other members of the rare cancers community. Examples of platforms include, but are not limited to the following: • Building and sharing rare tumor biospecimen repository with clinical annotation • Databases/banks for centralizing and sharing data for patient registries that can be accessed globally • Centralizing and sharing research models and molecular data related to genomics/ transcriptomics/immune profiling/proteomics/metabolomics/methylomics/bioinformatics • Generating a data/reagent/model exchange program where researchers can list resources that they are willing to share and are tagged with indications that may be relevant • Platform to enable or leverage longitudinal studies of disease natural history and treatment response • Development of novel methods and systems for collection, sharing, and analysis of data or biospecimens Applicants should include a well-formulated project design based on a strong scientific rationale and clearly articulate how the proposed resource-platform or community development addresses an unmet need in rare cancer research. Applicants should explain the advantage of their approach to developing resources or community versus standard methodologies, techniques, or scopes. A clear plan for collaboration and data sharing needs to be demonstrated. It is critical to demonstrate how the outcome of the proposed project can benefit multiple rare cancers.

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