Grants can be assigned 100, 75, 50, 25% cancer relevance based on the criteria defined below. Grants that do not meet any of the criteria below are not cancer relevant.
100% Cancer Relevant
- Funded by NCI or other cancer-focused funding agency, or
- a cancer-focused theme is evident in the grant title and/or abstract, regardless of the funding source.
All other grants will be assigned a % cancer relevance score based on the highest percentage level for which the grant is able to satisfy at least one of the level’s criteria.
75% Cancer Relevant
- Studies that explore molecular and/or cellular mechanisms for which there is evidence of a role in cancer development, progression, or metastasis. E.g. genomic instability, cell division, DNA repair, recombination, cancer gene function, epigenetics, stem cell biology, circadian rhythm etc., or
- Studies that explore basic biological systems/processes relevant to cancer development and/or treatment response e.g. immunology, aging, germline genetics, microbiome-host interactions, sarcopenia/cachexia etc., or
- Projects that develop new methods, computational tools, quantitative approaches, and/or research resources (e.g. models, databases) and/or education/training programs that are immediately applicable to basic and/or translational cancer research.
50% Cancer Relevant
- Studies that focus on diseases and behaviors that are associated with the risk of developing cancer (e.g. obesity, diabetes, substance abuse), and/or share mechanistic pathways with cancer (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease etc.), or
- Studies that focus on diseases/conditions associated with the risk of adverse events due to cancer treatment. e.g. Type 1 diabetes, myocarditis, colitis, peripheral neuropathy, hearing loss, infertility etc., or
- Projects that will develop new methods, computational tools, quantitative approaches, and/or research resources (e.g. models, databases) and/or education/training programs that are readily adapted to basic and/or translational cancer research.
25% Cancer Relevant
- Studies that focus on non-cancerous disease or tissue to define new biology with the potential to inform cancer research., or
- Projects that will develop new methods, computational tools, quantitative approaches, and/or research resources (e.g. models, databases) and/or education/training programs that may potentially be modified for use in basic and/or translational cancer research.
Procedure for Assignment of Cancer Relevance
- Grant titles and abstracts are obtained by the Associate Director (AD), Research Administration (RA), who then performs an initial assessment of cancer relevance. The ADRA will solicit input from the grant PI as necessary to support this assessment.
- These assignments are then reviewed by the Deputy Director and at least one Research Program co-leader to make a final recommendation on cancer relevance to the Director.
- The Director provides final approval of the cancer relevance assignment.