DoD Breast Cancer Breakthrough Award Levels 3 and 4 – Department of Defense

Impact: Research supported by the Breakthrough Award will have the potential for a major impact and accelerate progress toward ending breast cancer. The impact may be near-term or long-term, but must be significant and move beyond an incremental advancement. Applications must articulate the pathway to making a clinical impact for individuals with, or at risk for, breast cancer, even if clinical impact is not an immediate outcome.

Research Scope: Research proposed under this award mechanism may be small- to large-scale projects, at different stages of idea and research development. Two different funding levels, based on the scope of the research, are available under this Program Announcement. Funding Levels 1 and 2 are available under a different Program Announcement (W81XWH-14-BCRP-BREAKTHROUGH2_FL12). It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI) to select the funding level that is most appropriate for the research proposed.
The following are general descriptions, although not all-inclusive, of the scope of research projects that would be appropriate to propose under each funding level:
• Funding Level 3: Advanced translational studies that have potential for near-term clinical investigation. Small-scale clinical trials may apply.
• Funding Level 4: Large-scale projects that will transform and revolutionize the clinical management and/or prevention of breast cancer. Near-term clinical impact is expected. PIs are expected to have experience in successfully leading large-scale projects.
Note: An invited oral presentation to the BCRP Integration Panel (IP) is a requirement for application review of Funding Level 4 projects, as described in Section II.C., Application Submission Content and Forms.
Partnering PI Option: The Breakthrough Award encourages applications that include meaningful and productive collaborations between investigators. The Partnering PI Option is structured to accommodate two PIs, called the Initiating PI and the Partnering PI, each of whom will each receive a separate award. The Initiating and Partnering PIs have different submission requirements; however, both PIs should contribute significantly to the development of the proposed research project including the Project Narrative, Statement of Work (SOW), and other required components. The PIs may have expertise in similar or disparate scientific disciplines, but each PI is expected to bring distinct contributions to the application. New collaborations are encouraged, but not required. It is the responsibility of the PIs to describe how their combined expertise will better address the research question and explain why the work should be done together rather than through separate efforts. To meet the intent of the Partnering PI Option, applicants are discouraged from submitting as a Partnering PI on multiple applications unless they are clearly addressing distinct research questions.