IMAT Funding Opportunities

The following funding opportunities support early-stage development and advanced development of technologies using the R61 and R33 grant mechanisms, respectively. These projects should be proposing to develop new or improved capabilities for targeting, probing, or assessing the molecular and cellular features of cancer biology or improved handling and quality control of biospecimens.

• RFA-CA-27-001: Early-Stage Innovative Technology Development for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R61 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)
• RFA-CA-27-002: Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)

Funded Projects

Read about IMAT projects focused on the development of novel technologies for cancer research.

Check out this RePORTER query for a list of projects that have been supported recently through IMAT funding opportunities.

All applications submitted in response to the R61 and R33 funding opportunities must be focused on the development of technologies with new or improved technical capabilities. Early-stage projects proposing proof-of-concept experiments are supported through the R61 grant mechanism and have a limit of $150k direct costs per year for up to 3 years. Advanced development and validation of emerging technologies are supported through the R33 grant mechanism and have a limit of $300k direct costs per year for up to 3 years. Applications proposing to use a novel technology in hypothesis-driven research are outside the scope of these opportunities entirely and should consider alternative opportunities. Note that every funding opportunity describes specific non-responsive criteria for these opportunities.

Projects that have sufficient preliminary data to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology are considered too far along for the R61 mechanism and should consider applying to the R33 opportunity. For more details about the R61 grant mechanism, you may watch a recording from a 2022 webinar introducing the R61 and answering questions about the scientific scope and application details of these funding opportunities.

All R61 and R33 applications must include performance measures within the Research Strategy. Performance measures are an objective and quantitative measure of the technical capabilities the applicant seeks to achieve over the course of the proposed aims and must include the numerically described target of performance. Applications without quantitative performance measures will be withdrawn from consideration.

Each funding opportunity includes NOFO-specific review criteria to focus the review panel’s evaluation around the new capabilities of the proposed technology and their usefulness for cancer research. This includes specific questions within the Importance of Research as well as additional questions to evaluate the proposed performance measures. Potential applicants are encouraged to consider the review criteria specific to the funding opportunity they are applying to as they prepare their proposal.

NCI drives innovation and the translation of emerging tools into laboratory and clinical use through several diverse technology-focused grant programs. For projects that are beyond the early stages of development that the IMAT program supports, or for technologies that are outside the scope of molecular/cellular analysis tools, explore the many other programs and resources listed on the Technology Development for Cancer Research page.