This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is associated with the Beau Biden Cancer MoonshotSMInitiative that is intended to accelerate cancer research. Specifically, this FOA falls under a scientific priority designated by the Blue Ribbon Panel (BRP) as Recommendation A "Establish a Network for Direct Patient Engagement".

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to support the Participant Engagement and Cancer Genome Sequencing (PE-CGS) Network, which will include:

Several U2C Research Centers (to be supported under companion RFA-CA-19-045); and

One U24 Coordinating Center (to be supported under this FOA).

The overall purpose of the PE-CGS Network is twofold:

To promote and support research on direct engagement of cancer patients and post-treatment cancer survivors as participants in cancer research; and

To use such approaches for rigorous cancer genome sequencing projects addressing important knowledge gaps in the genomic characterizations of tumors in areas such as, but not limited to:

• Rare cancers or rare cancer subsets;
• Highly lethal cancers;
• Cancers with an early age of onset;
• Cancers with high disparities in incidence and/or mortality; or
• Cancers in understudied populations.

PE-CGS U2C Research Centers, together with the PE-CGS U24 Coordinating Center, will form a collaborative Network.

The PE-CGS U24 Coordinating Center will have three major areas of responsibility: (1) Network Coordination; (2) Network Outreach and Promotion; and (3) Network Best Practices. 

Deadlines:

• Letter of Intent Due Date(s): 30 days prior to the application due date
• Application Due Date(s): October 30, 2019; July 30, 2020

RFA-CA-19-046 Expiration Date July 31, 2020