DoD Prostate Cancer Impact Award
The PCRP Impact Award mechanism was first offered in FY10. Since then, 42 Impact Award applications have been received, and 5 have been recommended for funding. The FY15 PCRP Impact Award encourages applications that support the full spectrum of research projects or ideas that specifically focus on scientific and clinical prostate cancer issues, which, if successfully addressed, have the potential to make a major impact in eliminating death from prostate cancer and enhancing the well-being of men experiencing the impact of the disease. The critical components of this award mechanism are: Impact: The Impact Award is intended to support research that demonstrates the potential to have a major impact on an area of paramount importance in prostate cancer. It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI) to clearly and explicitly describe the potential impact on prostate cancer and to convey its level of significance. Applicants are highly encouraged to address one of the PCRP overarching challenges, and are expected to address at least one of the PCRP focus areas. If the proposed project does not address any of the overarching challenges, the application should include a description to justify how the project will nevertheless address a critical need in the field of prostate cancer research and/or patient care. The Impact Award is intended to support the full spectrum of research ideas from basic to clinical research. Therefore, the potential impact of the proposed research may be near-term or long-term, but it must be significant and non-incremental. Applications must articulate the pathway to making a clinical impact for individuals with, or at risk for, prostate cancer, even if clinical impact is not an immediate outcome. To maximize the potential for impact, investigators are strongly encouraged to incorporate the following components into their study design where appropriate: authentication of proposed cell lines; statistical rigor of preclinical animal experiments; incorporation of experiments to assess clinical relevance and translatability of findings. As such, the PCRP-funded Prostate Cancer Biorepository Network (PCBN) (http://www.prostatebiorepository.org) and/or the North Carolina â₏“ Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP) (http://www.ncla-pcap.org) are important resources to consider if retrospectively collected human anatomical substances or correlated data are critical to the proposed studies. Studies utilizing data derived from large patient studies that include long-term health records, biospecimen repositories, and pre-existing research and that apply state-of-the art genomic and/or proteomic analysis, bioinformatics, and/or mathematical models to such data are also encouraged. Research Scope: The PCRP seeks applications from investigators from a wide spectrum of disciplines including, but not limited to, basic science, engineering, bioinformatics, population science, translational research, and clinical research, including clinical trials. Projects that incorporate population science-based approaches are particularly encouraged. Applications must include preliminary data to support feasibility of the study. Any unpublished, preliminary data provided should originate from the laboratory of the PI or a member(s) of the research team. Data- and Research Resource-Sharing Plan: It is the intent of the PCRP Impact Award that data and research resources generated by funded research activities be made available to the research community (which includes both scientific and consumer advocacy communities) and to the public at large. Each proposal should include a data- and/or research resource-sharing plan describing how unique and/or final research data will be shared, along with any resulting research resources. This information should be provided as the Data- and Research Resource-Sharing Plan as described in Section II.C., Application Submission Content and Form, of this Program Announcement/Funding Opportunity. Refer also to the General Application Instructions, Appendix 4, for more information. Partnering PI Option: The FY15 Impact Award is offering a Partnering PI Option with a higher level of funding to support synergistic partnerships. The Partnering PI Option is structured to accommodate up to a total of three PIs. One PI will be identified as the Initiating PI and will be responsible for the majority of the administrative tasks associated with application submission. The other PI(s) will be referred to as the Partnering PI(s). Initiating and Partnering PIs each have different submission requirements as described in Section II; however, all PIs should contribute significantly to the development of the proposed research project. The PIs may have expertise in similar or disparate scientific disciplines. It is the responsibility of the collaborating investigators to describe how their combined expertise will combine and synergize to maximize the projectâ₏™s outcomes. If recommended for funding, each PI will receive his or her own award. To justify the higher funding level, the research project must be supported by the unique expertise, experience, and abilities of each PI, and the application must clearly define the synergistic components that will facilitate and accelerate progress in a way that could not be accomplished through independent efforts. Multidisciplinary projects are encouraged, and multi-institutional projects are allowed. Each proposed study must include clearly stated plans for interactions among all PIs and organizations involved. The plans must include communication, coordination of research progress and results, and data transfer. Additionally, multi-institutional applications must provide an intellectual property plan to resolve potential intellectual and material property issues and to remove institutional barriers that might interfere with achieving high levels of cooperation to ensure the successful completion of this award.
Office: U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity
301-682-5507
