DoD Offering the Melanoma Team Science Award

Key aspects of the TSA:

Multidisciplinary Collaboration:  The success of the project should depend on the unique skills and perspectives of each partner. The application must clearly define the synergistic components that will facilitate and accelerate progress in melanoma in a way that could not be accomplished through independent efforts. The plans for interactions among all PIs and institutions involved must be clearly articulated. Collectively, the members of the research team should represent the appropriate diversity of expertise necessary for addressing the proposed research question. Participating institutions must be willing to resolve potential intellectual and material property issues and remove institutional barriers to achieving high levels of cooperation. The following components of the proposed multidisciplinary collaboration are encouraged but not required:

·        It is strongly encouraged that the research team has a least one investigator, key personnel, or consultant who can provide input on the ultimate utility/applicability (short- or long-term) of the anticipated outcome(s) to the melanoma field and/or patient care. 

·        The inclusion of an early-career investigator is encouraged. An early-career investigator is defined as an independent, early-career researcher or physician-scientist within 7 years of receiving their first faculty appointment by the time of the full application deadline. Investigators in mentored positions, (e.g., postdoctoral fellows) are not eligible to be named as a PI on a TSA application.

·        The inclusion of a military and/or U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) investigator is encouraged. A military or VA investigator is defined as an investigator who is active-duty, active reserve, active duty detailed to agencies outside of the Department of Defense (DOD), civilian DOD investigators, or an investigator at a VA research facility. If included as PI on the research team, the military/VA investigator should have a substantial role in the research and should not be included only for access to active-duty military and/or VA populations.

Impact: The application must articulate the impact the proposed work, including basic research, will have on melanoma research and/or patient care. Outcomes from this award are expected to expedite the advancement of promising ideas toward clinical applications and/or improve the current state of the science/technology in the melanoma field. The proposed research must relate to at least one of the FY24 MRP Focus Areas in Section II.A.1.

Preliminary Data Required: Applications must include preliminary data to support feasibility of the study. However, these data do not necessarily need to be derived from melanoma studies. Any unpublished, preliminary data presented should originate from the laboratory of at least one of the PIs or other member(s) of the research team.