DoD Offering Grant for Rare Melanoma Focused Program Award

The key aspects of this award are:

Overarching Question:  FPA-RM applications must describe a unifying, overarching question that will be investigated by a set of research projects to address a critical unmet need relevant to rare melanoma research and/or patient care. The question may focus on one specific rare melanoma, or the question may be designed to address a critical unmet need that is relevant to multiple rare melanomas.

Research Team: The overall effort will be led by a Principal Investigator (PI) with demonstrated success in leading large, focused projects. The PI is required to devote a minimum of 10% effort to this award. The PI will be the lead for one of the proposed research projects and is expected to create an environment that fosters and supports collaboration and innovation in a way that engages all members of the team. The research team assembled by the PI should be highly qualified and multidisciplinary, with an identified Project Leader(s) for the complementary and synergistic research project(s). The resources and expertise brought to the team by the Project Leader(s) should combine to create a robust collaboration. The PI and the Project Leader(s) do not have to be at the same organization.

Research Projects: Applications should include multiple, distinct research projects that are each led by individual Project Leaders and address complementary aspects of the overarching question. Individual research projects may range from exploratory, hypothesis-developing studies through clinical trials. While individual projects should be capable of standing on their own high scientific merits, they should also be interrelated and synergistic to advance a solution beyond what would be possible through individual efforts. Each project, including hypothesis-developing studies, should propose a unique approach to addressing the overarching question and be capable of producing research findings with potential to advance the rare melanoma field and/or patient care. There should be a clear intent to progress toward translational/clinical work over the course of the effort. This award mechanism is not intended to support a series of research projects that are dependent on the success of the other project(s). All research projects must be based on a strong scientific rationale and preliminary data, as appropriate, that supports the feasibility of the proposed approach(es).  Clinical trials are allowed; a research project proposing a clinical trial must include preliminary data. 

Implementation Plan: The research strategy to address the overarching question should be supported by an implementation plan that identifies critical milestones and outlines the knowledge, resources, and/or technical innovations that will be utilized to achieve the milestones. A plan for assessing individual project performance and progress toward addressing the overarching question should be included in the implementation plan. For multi-institutional collaborations, the application should discuss plans for communication and data transfer among the collaborating institutions, as well as how data, specimens, and/or products obtained during the study will be handled. Participating organizations should formalize an intellectual and material property plan.

Milestone Meeting: The PI will be required to present an update on progress toward accomplishing the goals of the award at a Milestone Meeting to be held either virtually or in person in the National Capital Area after the conclusion of year 2 of the period of performance. The intent of the Milestone Meeting is to assess research progress, address problems, and define future directions.  Research milestones to be accomplished by the end of year 2 must be clearly defined in the Statement of Work (SOW) and will be finalized during award negotiations. Up to two additional members of the research team may be invited to the meeting. If the research team includes rare melanoma consumer collaborators (see below), they should also be invited to attend the Milestone Meeting. The Milestone Meeting will be attended by members of the MRP Programmatic Panel, CDMRP staff, the USAMRAA Grants Officer, and other Department of Defense (DOD) stakeholders. Continued funding may be contingent upon the successful completion of specific research milestones and goals.