DoD, Breast Cancer, Breakthrough Award Levels 1 and 2 | W81XWH 20 BCRP BTA12 2

Opportunity Information: Apply for W81XWH 20 BCRP BTA12 2

The Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program (BCRP) Breakthrough Award Levels 1 and 2 (Funding Opportunity Number W81XWH-20-BCRP-BTA12-2) is designed to back breast cancer research that has a real chance of producing major advances, not incremental improvements. The core expectation is impact: projects should be positioned to accelerate progress toward ending breast cancer by enabling a fundamentally better approach than what is already approved or currently moving through clinical development. Applicants are expected to be explicit about who benefits from the work, meaning the proposal should clearly identify the breast cancer patient population or at-risk group that would ultimately gain from the anticipated results, even if the payoff is longer-term.

This funding mechanism is part of a larger Breakthrough Award structure that includes four distinct funding levels, each tied to a particular stage on the path toward clinical application. A key point in this announcement is that the Principal Investigator must choose the funding level based on the scope and maturity of the proposed research, not based on the size of the desired budget. The government also notes it may decide to fund an application at a lower level than requested. This specific announcement covers only Levels 1 and 2; Levels 3 and 4 are offered through separate program announcements (W81XWH-20-BCRP-BTA3-2 and W81XWH-20-BCRP-BTA4-2). Applicants are encouraged to compare the scopes across levels before submitting, to avoid misalignment between the proposed work and the level selected.

Funding Level 1 is meant for innovative, high-risk/high-reward ideas that are still at an early stage, including concepts based on untested theories that tackle an important breast cancer problem. The program is intentionally structured to encourage bold thinking and new research directions, so preliminary data are not required at this level. The expected output is proof of concept, meaning the work should show that a new idea is plausible and worth pursuing, rather than delivering a fully validated preclinical package.

Funding Level 2 targets preclinical research that is more mature and already backed by substantial preliminary data and/or published evidence. At this stage, the program is looking for strong validation that the work is clinically translatable within a clearly defined breast cancer context. In other words, Level 2 proposals should be able to argue convincingly that the preclinical findings and approach are on a credible track toward clinical use, and the proposal should define where it fits in the breast cancer landscape (such as a subtype, setting, or specific clinical need).

Within Level 2, the announcement also highlights population science and prevention studies. While these projects may differ from classic bench-to-clinic preclinical work, they are recognized as potentially resource-intensive, especially when they involve human subjects and/or human biospecimens. With compelling justification, applicants pursuing population science or prevention under Level 2 may request a higher amount of funding and an additional year of performance, reflecting the added logistical, regulatory, and operational demands that come with human participation and specimen-based research.

The opportunity also offers a Partnering PI Option to support meaningful collaboration between two investigators. Under this structure, one investigator serves as the Initiating PI and handles most submission and administrative responsibilities, while the Partnering PI is expected to contribute substantially to the scientific development and execution of the project. The program is clear that this is not meant to be a nominal co-investigator arrangement: both PIs should bring distinct expertise, whether from similar fields or complementary disciplines, and the application should explain why the collaboration is necessary and stronger than separate parallel efforts. New collaborations are welcomed but not mandatory. To preserve the intent of genuine partnership, applicants are discouraged from listing the same person as a Partnering PI across multiple Level 1 or 2 applications unless the projects clearly address different research questions. The program also states that a mentor paired with their current postdoctoral fellow or junior investigator as Initiating and Partnering PIs does not align with the intent of this option. If funded, each PI is named on an individual award within the recipient organization, reflecting the shared leadership model.

Operationally, this is a discretionary federal funding opportunity run by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army, through USAMRAA. Awards may be made as either grants or cooperative agreements, and the activity category is research and development (CFDA 12.420). Eligibility is listed as unrestricted, meaning the opportunity is broadly open to many types of applicant organizations, subject to any additional eligibility language in the full announcement. The opportunity was created April 30, 2020, with an original closing date of September 22, 2020, and it anticipated making around 15 awards. Finally, the program emphasizes personnel strength: applications are expected to propose an appropriately resourced and capable team, with the combined breast cancer-relevant expertise needed to carry out the project successfully and to support the level of impact the mechanism is intended to fund.

• The Department of Defense, Dept. of the Army -- USAMRAA in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "DoD, Breast Cancer, Breakthrough Award Levels 1 and 2" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 12.420.
• This funding opportunity was created on Apr 30, 2020.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Sep 22, 2020. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 15 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Unrestricted (i.e., open to any type of entity above), subject to any clarification in text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility.

Apply for W81XWH 20 BCRP BTA12 2

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