Through this Notice of Scientific Interest (NOSI), the National Cancer Institute intends to stimulate research on the role of RNA modifications in the area of cancer biology. Despite the recognition that RNA modifications and editing exert a substantial impact on gene expression and function, there is a lack of mechanistic insights into the dynamic regulation of RNA modifications and their de-regulation as drivers of cancer formation. A better understanding of the extent, diversity, and crosstalk between different types of RNA modification, and the elucidation of the molecular players that read and interpret the modification code are needed to reveal the mechanisms of RNA modifications that underly cancer formation and the cancer phenotype.
This notice applies to due dates on or after June 13, 2023, and subsequent receipt dates through January 8, 2026.
NOT-CA-23-060
Research areas of interest for this NOSI include but are not limited to:
- Novel methodologies and tools for the detection, mapping, and quantification of chemical modifications of RNA molecules in cancer, in vitro and in vivo
- Improvements to existing methodologies to study RNA modifications, such as validation studies, increase in throughput, sensitivity, or utility
- Studies that establish mechanistic links between RNA modifications and the cancer phenotype using existing clinical resources
- Investigating RNA modification-driven cancer formation in mammalian and non-mammalian Research Organisms
- Investigating the dynamics of one or multiple types of RNA modifications driving cancer formation
- Characterization of writers, erasers, and readers of modifications and their cancer-associated de-regulation
- Understanding crosstalk between two or more modes of RNA modification during cancer formation
- Identification of tumor cell vulnerabilities resulting from cancer-related changes in RNA modifications
- Identification of RNA modification signatures that can serve as potential biomarkers in cancer biology
- Mechanisms of how RNA modification becomes de-regulated in cancer