Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) | RFA CA 24 009

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 24 009

The Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed) opportunity, RFA-CA-24-009, is a National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Cancer Institute (NCI) funding call aimed at pushing promising new cancer-relevant measurement and analysis technologies from early feasibility into a more mature, community-ready state. The emphasis is on technologies that can target, probe, or assess molecular and cellular features of cancer in ways that are meaningfully new or improved, with the end goal of strengthening both basic cancer biology studies and clinically oriented cancer research. This NOFO sits within NCI's Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program, which broadly supports next-generation tools that can change what researchers are able to measure, how accurately they can measure it, and how widely those capabilities can be adopted across the field.

This solicitation specifically uses the NIH R33 mechanism, which is designed for later-stage exploratory development where the biggest feasibility questions have largely been resolved. In practical terms, applicants are expected to come in with supportive preliminary data showing the core concept works and that major technical roadblocks have been addressed, but also to make a strong case that important work remains before the technology is truly reliable, validated, and ready for broader use. The NCI is looking for projects that focus on rigorous development and validation: improving performance, establishing robustness and reproducibility, defining operating parameters and limitations, benchmarking against appropriate standards or reference methods, and demonstrating that the tool can be adopted by other researchers rather than remaining a one-off bespoke system.

The types of impact the NCI wants to enable are broad across the cancer continuum. Proposed technologies should have clear potential to accelerate or improve research related to cancer biology, early detection and screening, clinical diagnosis, treatment, cancer control, and epidemiology, and they may also explicitly address challenges connected to cancer health disparities. While the technologies may ultimately be general-purpose, the work proposed under this NOFO must be anchored in improving molecular and/or cellular characterization of cancer. In other words, the center of gravity is the technology itself and the new analytical capability it brings to understanding cancer at molecular and cellular scales.

A key boundary in this opportunity is what it will not fund. Applications that mainly use existing technologies where the only novelty is the particular biological system, clinical cohort, or research question are considered out of scope. If the method is already established and the project is essentially a biology or clinical study that happens to use it, that is not a fit for this solicitation and the application will not be reviewed. The novelty needs to live in the technology or methodology: a new measurement modality, a substantially improved assay or platform, a new way to interrogate cellular or molecular features, or a major advance in validation and performance that would make an emerging approach broadly usable.

As stated in the title, clinical trials are not allowed under this R33 NOFO. The work can support basic and clinical cancer research in the sense of enabling tools for clinical investigation, diagnostics development, or translational studies, but it should not be structured as a clinical trial. Applicants should design validation plans accordingly, for example focusing on analytical validation, performance testing on appropriate biospecimens, reproducibility across sites or operators where relevant, and other non-trial study designs that strengthen credibility and adoption.

From an administrative standpoint, this is a discretionary grant opportunity with an activity category listed as Education and Health and a CFDA number of 93.394. The posted award ceiling is $300,000. The original closing date is 2024-10-01, and the opportunity was created on 2023-11-29. Eligibility is broad and includes many common applicant types: state, county, and local governments; special districts; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; other Native American tribal organizations; public housing and Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The NOFO also highlights additional eligible organizations such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, AANAPISI institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities (foreign organizations), faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and eligible federal agencies. This breadth is consistent with the program's interest in widely deployable technologies and in supporting work that may improve cancer research capacity and outcomes across diverse communities.

Overall, the opportunity is best viewed as funding for technology-focused teams that have already proven the basic concept and now need dedicated support to finish the hard engineering and validation work that determines whether an emerging molecular or cellular analysis method becomes something the broader cancer research community can trust, replicate, and routinely use. The strongest-fit projects are those where the proposed technology enables capabilities that are currently difficult or impossible, and where the application plan is centered on systematic development and validation rather than on answering a specific standalone biological or clinical question.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Advanced Development and Validation of Emerging Molecular and Cellular Analysis Technologies for Basic and Clinical Cancer Research (R33 Clinical Trial Not Allowed)" 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 2023-11-29.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-10-01. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• 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.

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