Early-Stage Development of Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management (U01 Clinical Trial Optional) | RFA CA 20 008

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 20 008

The Early-Stage Development of Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management funding opportunity (RFA-CA-20-008) is a National Institutes of Health (NIH) cooperative agreement (U01) that supports the early development of informatics tools intended to strengthen how cancer-related data and knowledge are collected, organized, analyzed, and shared across the full cancer research continuum. The program sits within the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Informatics Technology for Cancer Research (ITCR) initiative, which is designed to move research-driven software and data technologies from concept to usable products that meet real, high-priority needs in cancer research and, where relevant, cancer care and population health.

At its core, the FOA is looking for projects that build "enabling" informatics technologies, meaning practical tools or platforms that make cancer research and management more effective by improving data acquisition (capturing data from experiments, clinical settings, sensors, registries, and other sources), data management (cleaning, harmonizing, integrating, storing, and governing data), data analysis (including statistical methods, machine learning, visualization, and computational pipelines), and dissemination (sharing datasets, models, workflows, annotations, and other knowledge products in ways that others can actually reuse). The scope is intentionally broad and can cover cancer biology, diagnosis and treatment, early detection, risk assessment and prevention, cancer control and epidemiology, and cancer health disparities. In other words, proposals can target basic science through population-level cancer outcomes, as long as the informatics contribution is clear and the resulting technology advances the field.

This announcement is specifically aimed at early-stage development, described here as work that ranges from prototyping through "hardening" and adaptation. In practical terms, that typically means creating an initial usable version of a tool, or taking an existing tool and making a significant modification so it can serve a new purpose or new user community. The emphasis is not just on inventing something novel, but on producing software or technology that is on a credible path to being used by cancer researchers, clinicians, or public health stakeholders. Hardening and adaptation generally implies improving robustness, usability, documentation, performance, interoperability, or portability so the tool can function reliably outside the original developer environment and can be adopted by additional groups.

Because this is a U01 cooperative agreement, awardees should expect substantial programmatic involvement from NIH/NCI compared to a standard grant mechanism. The FOA also makes it clear that successful projects need a strong, explicit rationale: applicants must explain why the proposed technology is needed, what priority gap it addresses, and how it will benefit the cancer research field. A key expectation is that tool development should not happen in isolation; projects must include concrete mechanisms to obtain feedback from users and collaborators throughout the development process. That typically translates into activities like user-centered design, advisory groups, pilot users, iterative testing cycles, community engagement, or partnerships with labs, clinical groups, or consortia that can validate that the tool solves a real problem and can be integrated into real workflows.

The opportunity is categorized as discretionary funding in the education and health activity area (CFDA 93.393). The listed award ceiling is $300,000 (as provided in the source data). The original closing date for this specific posting was November 18, 2020, and the funding opportunity was created on January 23, 2020.

Eligibility is broad and includes many types of organizations that could reasonably develop and deploy informatics technologies. Eligible applicants include state, county, and local governments; special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations that are not federally recognized; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status (excluding institutions of higher education in those nonprofit categories); for-profit organizations (other than small businesses); and small businesses. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISIs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), eligible federal agencies, faith-based or community-based organizations, regional organizations, U.S. territories or possessions, and even non-U.S. entities (foreign organizations). This broad eligibility aligns with the idea that impactful cancer informatics tools can come from academic teams, healthcare or public health groups, nonprofits, and commercial or mixed collaborations, especially when they are closely tied to real users and real data.

Overall, this FOA is best understood as support for building practical, community-relevant cancer informatics technologies at an early stage, with a clear need statement, a feasible development plan, and an embedded strategy for ongoing user input so the resulting tool is not just technically interesting, but genuinely adoptable and useful to the wider cancer research ecosystem.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Early-Stage Development of Informatics Technologies for Cancer Research and Management (U01 Clinical Trial Optional)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.393.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2020-01-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2020-11-18. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $300,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA CA 20 008

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