Funding Opportunities for Cancer Technologies
| Program/Initiative Name | Funding Opportunities | Stage of Support | Eligible Organizations | Type of Technology |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program | IMAT funding opportunities (R61 and R33) | Early-stage Advanced development | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Novel physical technologies, platforms, methods, or approaches for any field of cancer research |
| Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) Program | ITCR funding opportunities (R21, U01, and U24) | Early-stage Advanced development Sustainment | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Bioinformatics or statistical techniques, tools, software, or resources |
| Bioengineering Research Grants | PAR-25-321 (R21) PAR-25-346 (R21) | Early-stage Advanced development Translation Clinical validation Application of novel technology | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Interdisciplinary research teams proposing engineering solutions to specific problems in basic or clinical cancer research |
| Academic Industrial Partnerships for Translation of Technologies | PAR-25-337 (R01) PAR-25-338 (R01) PAR-24-325 (U01) PAR-25-079 (R01) | Translation | Partnership between academic and industrial investigators | Technologies for diagnosis and treatment Integrative, quantitative bioengineering approaches and technologies Imaging, data science, or spectroscopic technology |
| Nanotechnology and Cancer | PAR-25-106 (R01) PAR-25-336 (R01) | Advanced development Translation Application of novel technology | Academic Small Business | Nanotechnologies including nanomaterials, nanodevices, and delivery of nanoparticles to study cancer and improve cancer interventions |
| Assay Validation of High Quality Markers | PAR-25-074 (UH2/UH3) PAR-25-075 (UH3) PAR-24-304 (R01 revisions) | Advanced development Translation Clinical validation | Academic or Small business | Assays for cancer treatment, control, or prevention or for clinically relevant pharmacodynamic markers |
| NCI Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Center | SBIR funding opportunities (R41, R42, R43, R44, contract) | Early stage Advanced development Translation Clinical validation | Small business | Therapeutics; in vitro and in vivo diagnostics; imaging technologies; devices for cancer therapy; agents and technologies for cancer prevention; technologies for cancer control; tools for cancer biology research; digital health tools and software platforms |
| AI in Cancer Research | AI-related funding opportunities | All stages of development | Academic Small business Foreign organization Current NCI grantees | Artificial intelligence tools and models as well as strategies for making data AI-ready |
| Developing and Enhancing Mammalian Models | PAR-24-306 (R01) | Advanced development Translation | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Cell lines, patient-derived xenografts, genetically engineered models, organoids or culture models |
| Digital Health Technology Derived Biomarkers | PAR-25-170 (UG3/UH3) | Advanced development Clinical validation | Academic Small business | Digital health technology-derived biomarkers or clinical outcome assessments for remote monitoring |
| Integrating Biospecimen Science Approaches into Clinical Assay Development | PAR-25-325 (U01) | Advanced development Translation Clinical validation | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Improved approaches for collecting, processing, and storing cancer-relevant biospecimens |
Beyond NCI: Other Opportunities at NIH
| Program Name | Stage of Support | Eligible Organizations | Type of Technology |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIGMS Technology Development Program |
Early-stage Advanced development Translation |
Academic Small business |
Laboratory instruments, algorithms and software, chemical reagents, and biological molecules or systems that could benefit a broad spectrum of biomedical research |
| NHGRI Genome Technology Program |
Early-stage Advanced development |
Academic Small business Foreign organization |
Methods, technologies, and systems that achieve orders-of-magnitude improvements in genomic technologies |
| NIBIB Biomedical Technology Resource Center |
Advanced development Translation |
Academic Small business |
Technologies driven by the needs of basic, translational, and/or clinical researchers that could be broadly useful |
|
NCATS Awards Supporting Cutting-Edge Technologies for Translational Science |
Early stage |
Academic Small business |
Technologies to address barriers, limitations, or bottlenecks in translational science, particularly for therapeutic development |
|
Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN Initiative) |
Early stage Advanced development Clinical validation |
Academic Small business Foreign organization |
Tools to probe processes in the brain; devices and instrumentation for studying the nervous system; sensor technologies to quantify brain behavior; computational models, etc. |
|
Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL Initiative) |
Advanced development Translation |
Academic Small business Foreign organization |
Technologies for enhanced pain management; devices for safe, effective, and non-addictive diagnosis and treatment of pain or opioid use disorder |
NCI Resources and Non-grant Programs for Technology Development
| Program Name | Type of Support | Eligible Organizations | Type of Technology | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PREVENT Cancer Preclinical Drug Development Program | Guidance and contract resources to bring interventions and biomarkers for cancer prevention towards clinical implementation | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Methods for immunoprevention, chemoprevention, and detection of clinically translatable biomarkers | PREVENT mailbox |
| NCI Peer Learning And Networking (PLAN) webinar series | Best practices for product development, commercialization, and applying for funding from standout SBIR-supported companies | Academics interested in entrepreneurship Small business | Tools with significant commercial potential | William Bozza |
| Research Evaluation and Commercialization Hubs (REACH) | Education on business strategy; funding for technology development; personalized expert feedback | Academic in geographic area supported by one of the REACH hubs | Technologies with potential to impact medicine and have commercial viability | Hub list |
| NExT NCI Experimental Therapeutics Program | Resources for the development and implementation of new clinically-relevant methods with potential to benefit patients | Academic Small business Foreign organization | Therapeutic approaches, imaging, and theragnostic agents | NExT mailbox |
| Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory | Characterization and evaluation of new nanomedicine platforms | Academic Small business | Nanomedicine, nanoparticles, nanomaterials, and other nanotechnology-based tools for cancer therapeutics and diagnostics | NCL mailbox |
| NCI Cooperative Human Tissue Network | Provides human specimens from routine procedures to investigators who use samples in their research | Academic | Methods that need human biospecimens for validation | CHTN contact |
Scientific Contacts
Dana Wolff-Hughes, Ph.D. - Digital health technologies, computational models of cancer risk factors
Jennifer Couch, Ph.D. - Technology for molecular applications, biophysical biology, computational methods for basic cancer research
Kelly Crotty, Ph.D. - Early-stage technology development for basic, translational, or clinical cancer research
Not sure where to start? You can reach out to Tony Dickherber, Ph.D. with a description of your technology-focused project and he'll direct you to the right program director or funding opportunity.
Definitions
Early stage: Method still requires proof-of-concept experiments; generally no requirement for preliminary data.
Advanced development: Preliminary data demonstrate feasibility; focus on improvements, optimization, analytical validation.
Translation: Transitioning technologies from a demonstration of possibility to a status ready for use by end users in biomedical research.
Clinical validation: Analyze technical performance of an assay or tool using human specimens to confirm relevance to clinical outcomes; bringing the method to the point of being ready to integrate into clinical workflows.
Sustainment: Maintaining an established tool for continued use by the research community.
Application of novel technology: Integrate a new, emerging tool into hypothesis-driven research to drive discoveries and validate the method in a biologically relevant context.