DoD Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership Award | HT9425 23 KCRP TRPA

Opportunity Information: Apply for HT9425 23 KCRP TRPA

The DoD Kidney Cancer Research Program (KCRP) Translational Research Partnership Award (FY23) is designed to speed up progress in kidney cancer by funding true, two-way collaborations between a clinician and a research scientist. The core idea is that some of the most meaningful advances happen when patient-facing insight and lab-based innovation constantly inform each other, so this opportunity specifically supports projects where clinical observations shape laboratory work and laboratory findings, in turn, reshape what is studied in patients. The work is expected to push promising concepts closer to real-world clinical use for active-duty Service Members, Veterans, other military beneficiaries, and the broader public, but it is not meant to be a simple “bench to bedside” handoff. Reviewers are looking for a genuinely integrated partnership where both investigators have equal intellectual ownership of the question, the approach, and the interpretation of results.

A defining requirement is the structure of the team: the application must be led by two independent, faculty-level (or equivalent) investigators serving as co-Principal Investigators. One is designated the Initiating PI (who handles most submission and administrative duties), and the other is the Partnering PI. One PI must be a clinician and the other must be a research scientist, and it must be obvious that the project depends on the distinct expertise of each person rather than treating one partner as a service provider. In particular, proposals where the clinical partner mainly supplies patient access or tissue samples do not fit the intent of this mechanism. Multi-institutional teams are encouraged, and at least one partner must bring prior experience either in kidney cancer research or kidney cancer patient care. At the same time, the program explicitly welcomes collaborators from outside the kidney cancer field if their expertise could unlock new angles or methods.

The science focus is translational kidney cancer research with a clear line of sight to clinical relevance across the disease continuum, including prevention, diagnosis, detection, prognosis, treatment, and survivorship. The program allows translational activities such as correlative studies, the development or use of annotated biorepositories, and analyses that leverage clinical data to validate discoveries, explain outcomes, or explore unexpected findings. Importantly, clinical trials are not allowed under this award. The opportunity draws a bright line between observational or patient-oriented clinical research (which can be allowable) and a clinical trial (which is not). If human subjects are prospectively assigned to an intervention to evaluate its effects on health outcomes, that would be considered a clinical trial and would be excluded. However, studies using patient samples, observational cohorts, clinical data, diagnostic or detection work (like biomarkers or imaging validation), health disparities research, technology development, epidemiology, and outcomes or health services research can fit if they do not test an intervention’s safety or efficacy.

Feasibility is a major review theme, and preliminary data are required to show the idea and approach are realistic. Those supporting data do not have to come from kidney cancer specifically; the program recognizes that strong translational concepts may originate in adjacent cancers, platform technologies, or broader biological or population-based observations. What matters is that the application can credibly demonstrate the hypothesis is testable and the methods are likely to work. Access is also critical: applicants are expected to show they can obtain the necessary specimens, datasets, and other resources. For correlative studies tied to an ongoing or completed clinical trial, the proposal must document confirmed access to the relevant cohort specimens and/or data at the time of submission, typically supported by letters confirming access.

Because this mechanism emphasizes collaboration as much as the scientific plan, applications must spell out how the partnership will function in practice. That includes concrete plans for communication, coordination of research activities, sharing and transferring data, and jointly managing progress across sites. For multi-institutional collaborations, an intellectual property plan is required to anticipate and resolve potential IP and materials issues and to reduce institutional barriers that could derail cooperation. The program also strongly encourages partnerships that connect military or Veteran institutions with non-military organizations, highlighting the value of shared infrastructure and access to unique patient populations relevant to the Warfighter community.

On the funding and administrative side, awards are issued as federal assistance agreements, meaning they may be grants or cooperative agreements depending on how much involvement the Department of Defense anticipates during performance. If no substantial federal involvement is expected, the award is typically a grant; if substantial involvement is expected (for example, collaboration or participation by the funder in aspects of the work), it may be a cooperative agreement. For this FY23 opportunity, the anticipated direct costs for the entire performance period are capped at $750,000 per award. Program-wide, the DoD planned to allocate about $6.0 million total to fund roughly five awards. Awards were expected to be made by September 30, 2024, and FY23 funds associated with resulting awards were anticipated to remain available for use until September 30, 2029, reflecting the limited period during which those appropriated funds can be obligated and spent.

Regulatory and compliance requirements are emphasized, especially for work involving humans or animals. Any DoD-funded research involving human subjects, human data, anatomical substances, or cadavers must go through DoD-level administrative review and approval through the USAMRDC Office of Human and Animal Research Oversight, specifically the Office of Human Research Oversight, before research can begin. Local IRB approval is not required at the time of application, but it is required before the DoD review can be completed, and applicants are advised to plan for as much as three months for the DoD human research review after all complete documents are submitted. For multi-site, non-exempt human subjects research in the United States, a single IRB plan is required under the federal single IRB policy, and the application or negotiations must identify how the single IRB arrangement will work and which institution will lead key regulatory documents such as the master protocol and consent. If animals are involved, projects must also receive review and approval through ACURO in addition to local IACUC review, with a typical planning window of three to four months, and applicants are pointed toward rigorous design and reporting standards such as ARRIVE guidelines and core practices like randomization, blinding, and sample-size justification.

Overall, this opportunity is best understood as a targeted investment in team-based translational kidney cancer research where the “translation” is demonstrated not only by eventual clinical relevance, but by the day-to-day structure of the science itself: iterative feedback between patient-centered insights and mechanistic or technological investigation, backed by preliminary evidence, clear access to required resources, and a practical plan for cross-disciplinary execution without drifting into a prohibited clinical trial.

• 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 Kidney Cancer, Translational Research Partnership 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 Jun 05, 2023.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Oct 06, 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.

Apply for HT9425 23 KCRP TRPA

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