This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) encourages research project applications under the cooperative agreement (UG3/UH3) mechanism to address the development, optimization and validation of quantitative imaging (QI) software tools and methods for prediction and/or measurement of response to cancer therapies or for planning and validating radiation therapy treatment strategies in clinical trials.
The scientific scope of this FOA includes:
Development and optimization of QI tools and/or methods for treatment planning, predicting or measuring response to therapy as open source tools that will translate into clinical trial decision support;
Validation of the optimized tools in clinical settings to demonstrate their value for decision support in ongoing single-site or multi-site clinical trials.
A phased approach that emphasizes each of these activities must be proposed. Investigators must apply for both the UG3 and UH3 phases together in the single application. The UG3 effort is to be used for the development and optimization of QI tools and methods chosen for study by the investigating team, while the UH3 phase is for the validation of the tools/methods developed in the UG3 phase. The UG3 phase can be no more than 2 years in duration, and the total project cannot exceed 5 years. At completion, UG3 projects will be reviewed by program staff. Those that have met their milestones may be administratively considered by NCI program staff for transition to the UH3 validation phase.
Research teams currently funded as a part of the Quantitative Imaging Network (PAR-14-116 [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-14-116.html] or PAR-11-150[http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/pa-files/PAR-11-150.html]) and interested in initiating a new research direction within the Quantitative Imaging Network may apply to this announcement with a combined UG3/UH3 application. If the existing QIN member is interested in continuing the current research effort with a competitive renewal the investigator(s) must apply through a companion announcement (PAR-18-249).
Deadlines:
PAR-18-248 Expiration Date: January 10, 2020
Application budgets need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project but must not exceed $300,000 in direct costs for each year of the UG3 phase and $500,000 (direct costs) for each year of the UH3 phase.
The proposed project period for the initial development phase (UG3) award may not exceed 2 years. The total UG3/UH3 period of performance may not to exceed 5 years.
