DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award | W81XWH 17 KCRP TRPA

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 17 KCRP TRPA

The DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award (FY17 KCRP TRPA; Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH-17-KCRP-TRPA) is a Department of Defense funding mechanism designed to speed up the translation of promising kidney cancer research ideas into real-world clinical applications. Run through the Department of Defense, Department of the Army (USAMRAA), the program is centered on the idea that meaningful progress in kidney cancer often happens faster when laboratory science and clinical insight are intentionally integrated, rather than developed in parallel.

At its core, this opportunity funds a true two-person partnership between two independent investigators at the faculty level (or equivalent): one must be a research scientist and the other must be a clinician. The emphasis is on an equal, intellectually balanced collaboration where both partners have comparable influence on the project design, decisions, and overall scientific direction. The funding is meant to support work that tackles a central kidney cancer problem or question in a way that would be difficult to achieve if each investigator pursued separate projects. Multi-institutional partnerships are encouraged, and teams may also include experts from outside the kidney cancer field if their knowledge strengthens the translational pathway.

The program is explicit about what does and does not count as a partnership. It is not sufficient for the clinician to play a minor service role, such as only providing patient access or supplying tissue samples. The intended model is a synergistic relationship between clinic and laboratory in which ideas and information move back and forth. While translational research is often described as going from bench to bedside, this award stresses that translation should be reciprocal: clinical observations should shape lab experiments, and lab findings should be refined and tested with clinical realities in mind. Potential starting points for a project can include laboratory discoveries, population-based research findings, or a clinician's direct experience with patients (including anecdotal patterns that suggest a testable hypothesis). Regardless of the origin, the goal is to move the concept forward toward clinical application in a way that matters for active duty Service members, Veterans, other military beneficiaries, and the broader public.

Because the award is structured around collaboration, applicants must provide clear, practical plans for how the partnership will function during the project. This includes how the Principal Investigators will communicate, coordinate progress, share results, and transfer data. If the application involves multiple institutions, it must also include an intellectual property plan that anticipates and resolves potential intellectual and material property issues. The intent is to remove institutional barriers that can slow or derail cooperative work and to ensure the team can operate at a high level of integration throughout the project period.

Administratively, the award accommodates two PIs with distinct roles: an Initiating PI and a Partnering PI. Each PI receives a separate award, and while the two roles have different submission requirements, both investigators are expected to contribute substantially to the development of the application, including the Project Narrative and Statement of Work. A key expectation is that the team clearly explains why the research question is best addressed together and how the combined expertise improves the likelihood of successful translation compared to separate efforts.

From a scientific readiness standpoint, preliminary data are required to support feasibility of the hypothesis and approach, but those data do not have to come specifically from kidney cancer studies. This allows teams to leverage strong proof-of-concept evidence from adjacent fields or related biological systems, as long as the proposed work is clearly positioned to advance kidney cancer translation.

In terms of funding, the anticipated combined direct costs for the entire period of performance may not exceed $600,000. The opportunity was listed as discretionary, using grant and cooperative agreement instruments, under CFDA 12.420. Eligibility is described as unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional eligibility clarifications in the full announcement. The opportunity was created on October 25, 2017, had an original closing date of January 4, 2018, and anticipated making two awards.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Oct 25, 2017.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Jan 04, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 2 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 17 KCRP TRPA

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