Revision Applications for Incorporation of Novel NCI-Supported Technology to Accelerate Cancer Research (U2C Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA CA 21 010

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 21 010

This funding opportunity, RFA-CA-21-010, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Cancer Institute (NCI) announcement that supports revision applications to existing awards, specifically for currently funded NCI U2C Resource-Related Multi-Component Projects and Centers. It is not designed for brand-new standalone projects. Instead, it targets active U2C cooperative agreement programs that want to make a substantial, justified expansion to the parent award by adding a new capability that was not part of the original plan.

The central goal is to speed up progress in ongoing cancer research by incorporating a novel technology or instrument that was developed with support from NCI's Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) program. In practical terms, applicants are expected to take an IMAT-supported tool or method and integrate it into their existing NCI U2C resource or center activities in a way that either directly expands the original research questions or materially accelerates the parent study's progress. A key emphasis is on independent validation, meaning the revision funding is intended to encourage real-world testing and demonstration of an emerging IMAT technology in an appropriate research setting, helping determine its readiness and usefulness for broader research communities.

The announcement is positioned as part of the IMAT ecosystem and reflects IMAT's broader mission of encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and advancing cutting-edge molecular analysis methods that can enable or transform cancer research. By tying the revision mechanism to IMAT-developed technologies, NCI is aiming to move promising tools out of early development and into credible, community-relevant use cases, where performance, reproducibility, and suitability can be assessed and refined.

The funding mechanism is a cooperative agreement (U2C), which generally indicates that NIH/NCI expects to have substantial involvement in the project beyond standard grants management. The activity area is health and education, and the listed CFDA number is 93.394. The opportunity is described as "Clinical Trial Optional," meaning that a clinical trial may be proposed if it is appropriate for the technology integration and the parent program's scope, but it is not required.

Eligibility is broad in terms of organizational types, but the most important constraint is that applicants must already hold an eligible, currently funded NCI U2C Resource-Related Multi-Component Project or Center award and must be applying as a revision to that parent award. Beyond that core requirement, the eligible applicant categories include many domestic entities such as state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; nonprofits (with or without 501(c)(3) status, other than institutions of higher education); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); small businesses; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; and Native American tribal governments (federally recognized) as well as other tribal organizations. The announcement also explicitly calls out categories such as Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), along with faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, eligible federal agencies, and U.S. territories or possessions.

There are important restrictions related to foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible to apply as applicants. At the same time, foreign components are allowed as defined in the NIH Grants Policy Statement, which typically means a U.S. applicant organization may include certain foreign elements if they are well-justified and compliant with NIH policy, but the applying institution itself must be domestic.

Key administrative details included in the source data are that the opportunity category is discretionary, the original closing date was September 29, 2021, and the FOA record was created on November 24, 2020. Award ceiling and expected number of awards are not specified in the provided listing, which often indicates that the actual budget and award volume depend on NCI priorities, available appropriations, and the scope and merit of submitted revisions.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as a targeted incentive for NCI-funded U2C centers and multi-component resources to adopt and independently validate promising IMAT-supported technologies, demonstrating that these tools can perform reliably and add clear value in real cancer research workflows. The intended outcome is faster scientific progress in the parent U2C programs and faster maturation and adoption of innovative NCI-supported technologies by the broader cancer research community.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Revision Applications for Incorporation of Novel NCI-Supported Technology to Accelerate Cancer Research (U2C Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.394.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-11-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2021-09-29. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA CA 21 010

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