DoD Breast Cancer Breakthrough Award

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The intent of the BCRP Breakthrough Award is to support promising research that has the potential to lead to or make breakthroughs in breast cancer. The critical components of this award mechanism are: 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 an impact for breast cancer patients, even if clinical impact is not an immediate outcome. Research Scope: Research proposed under this award mechanism may be at different stages of idea and research development. Two different funding levels, based on the scope of the research, are available for this solicitation of the Breakthrough Award. 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 1: Innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that is in the earliest stages of idea development. Research with potential to yield new avenues of investigation. Proof of concept. No preliminary data required.  Funding Level 2: Research that is already supported by preliminary data and has potential to make significant advancements toward translation from the laboratory to the clinic. Demonstration of efficacy in in vivo models or clinical research studies, as applicable. Implementation Plan: Applications must be supported by a detailed plan that identifies critical milestones and outlines the knowledge, resources, and technical innovations that will be utilized to achieve the milestones. A robust statistical plan and statistical expertise should be included where applicable. 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, each of whom will receive a separate award. One partner is identified as the Initiating PI, and the other partner is identified as the Partnering PI. The Initiating and Partnering PIs have different submission requirements; however, both PIs should contribute to the preparation of a single application. The collaborative partners may have expertise in similar or disparate scientific disciplines, but each partner is expected to bring different strengths to the application. New collaborations are encouraged, but not required. It is the responsibility of the collaborating investigators to describe how their combined expertise in the collaboration will better address the research question and explain why the work should be performed together rather than through separate efforts.

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