DOD Lung Cancer, Translational Research Award | HT9425 23 LCRP TRA

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT9425 23 LCRP TRA

The Department of Defense Lung Cancer Research Program (LCRP) Translational Research Award (FY23) is designed to push mature, lung cancer focused research closer to real-world clinical use. It targets advanced translational projects that actively connect laboratory science with clinical observations, with the expectation that the work will move a promising concept toward improving patient care. The program treats translational research as a two-way street rather than a simple "bench to bedside" pipeline, meaning projects can also start from clinical needs or patient-care observations and then cycle back into laboratory work ("bedside to bench") to refine or validate approaches that can later return to the clinic.

This opportunity supports studies that are beyond early discovery and basic mechanism hunting. In particular, it is not intended for initial mechanistic studies of a new target. Instead, the emphasis is on later-stage preclinical or early clinical efforts where there is already a credible foundation and the next logical step is to demonstrate feasibility, validate findings in human-relevant settings, develop clinically meaningful measures, or generate evidence that can support clinical translation. Applications that focus only on mesothelioma are explicitly not allowed, so proposals need to be clearly centered on lung cancer and its clinical management.

The award is structured around two funding levels that reflect different points along the translation pathway. Funding Level 1 is aimed at advanced preclinical and clinical-adjacent translational work. Examples include studies that take strong animal-model results and test or adapt them using human samples or cohorts, late-stage preclinical development that positions a therapy or technology for a clinical trial (including work that helps prepare for an Investigational New Drug application submission), and correlative studies tied to an open, ongoing, or completed clinical trial. Those correlative efforts typically rely on biospecimens and associated clinical data to answer practical questions that can improve clinical decision-making, identify biomarkers, clarify response patterns, or reveal new lines of investigation that emerge directly from trial experience. Funding Level 1 also includes projects that develop or refine endpoints for clinical trials, such as measures that could better capture therapeutic response, toxicity, minimal residual disease, or other outcomes that matter for lung cancer trials.

Funding Level 2 is intended for pilot clinical trials. These are small, early tests of a novel intervention where limited clinical evaluation is needed to decide what should happen next, such as whether a larger trial is justified, what dose or schedule is plausible, what signals of activity should be prioritized, or which patient subsets are most appropriate. Because the focus is on feasibility and informed next steps rather than definitive proof, the program still expects applicants to bring preliminary lung cancer relevant data that support both the central hypothesis and the proposed approach. In other words, the award supports early clinical translation, but not a first-ever idea with no grounding evidence.

Administratively, this is a discretionary Department of Defense opportunity managed through the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA). The funding instrument type allows for either a grant or a cooperative agreement, which means some projects may involve more active federal involvement depending on the award structure. Eligibility is broadly open, with the notice indicating unrestricted applicants (open to any type of entity), subject to any additional eligibility clarifications included in the full announcement. The opportunity is associated with CFDA number 12.420. For FY23, the posting indicates an expected total of about five awards, and it lists an award ceiling as "0," which typically signals that the upper limit may be defined elsewhere in the full funding announcement or may depend on the selected funding level and the final negotiated budget rather than a single fixed cap in the summary field. The opportunity was created on February 16, 2023, with an original closing date of August 3, 2023.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DOD Lung Cancer, Translational Research Award" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Feb 16, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Aug 03, 2023. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 5 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

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