The FY23 Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award is designed to support collaborations and ideas that will transform the lives of individuals with, and/or at risk for, breast cancer and will significantly accelerate progress toward ending breast cancer. Applicants must bring together different perspectives to develop new paradigms that will solve fundamental yet overarching problems in breast cancer. This award requires a team-based approach by a consortium of exceptional researchers and advocates, whose collaborative efforts will make a transformative impact in breast cancer. The transformation intended by the consortium must be in people’s lives, and not in the healthcare or research system.
This funding opportunity is a separate mechanism from the Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Development Award which is new for FY23 and is intended to provide successful applicants the time and resources needed to bring investigators and breast cancer advocates together to establish a consortium framework and conduct preliminary research to support application to a future, full Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award (pending availability of funds). For FY23, investigators may be named as Consortium Director on an application submitted to either (but not both) of these mechanisms. It is not necessary to receive a development award in order to apply for the current funding opportunity or anticipated full consortium awards in the future. Detailed information on the FY23 Transformative Breast Cancer Development Consortium Award is available under a separate program announcement (HT945-23-BCRP-TBCCDA).
For the FY23 Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award, the consortium should have at least four, but no more than five, project teams, each investigating different projects under a central hypothesis. No more than two project teams may be based at one institution. Each team’s work must be integrated within the consortium so that every component is working toward the consortium’s central hypothesis. Note: This award is not intended to replace, supplement, duplicate, or compete with other collaborative research efforts, such as the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs), and it should not represent a collection of related Program Project grants or subprojects.
The proposed consortium’s overall work is expected to be innovative. In addition, the Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award will include funds for “seed projects” to pursue brand new, high-risk/high-reward concepts that arise from the work, during the award period.
Deadlines:
• Pre-Application Deadline: March 29, 2023
• Invitation to Submit an Application: May 2023
• Application Submission Deadline: June 28, 2023
Considering the current breast cancer landscape and the BCRP’s mission, all FY23 BCRP Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award applications must address at least one of the following overarching challenges unless adequate justification for exception is provided.* • Prevent breast cancer (primary prevention) • Identify determinants of breast cancer initiation, risk, or susceptibility • Distinguish deadly from non-deadly breast cancers • Conquer the problems of overdiagnosis and overtreatment • Identify what drives breast cancer growth; determine how to stop it • Identify why some breast cancers become metastatic • Determine why/how breast cancer cells lie dormant for years and then re-emerge; determine how to prevent lethal recurrence • Revolutionize treatment regimens by replacing them with ones that are more effective, less toxic, and impact survival • Eliminate the mortality associated with metastatic breast cancer
Independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent) are eligible to be named as a Consortium Director or Project Team PI on an application.
The Consortium Director is required to commit and maintain at least 25% level of time and effort during the award period to direct and manage the consortium and to lead their own project team.
An investigator may be named as Consortium Director on only one pre-application or full application under this funding opportunity. Investigators named as PI on a pre-application or full application submitted under funding opportunity HT945-23-BCRP-TBCCDA are not eligible to be named as Consortium Director under the current funding opportunity.
The anticipated direct costs budgeted for the entire period of performance for an FY23 BCRP Transformative Breast Cancer Consortium Award should not exceed $25M. Refer to Section II.D.5, Funding Restrictions, for detailed funding information.
