DEVELOPMENTAL FUNDS ABSTRACT In the current grant period, CCSG Developmental Funds have been used in combination with philanthropic funds to promote the strategic priorities of the UNM Cancer Center by supporting pilot projects. The UNMCC pilot grant program was designed to; enhance collaborative multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary cancer research; promote the use of Cancer Center Shared Resources to generate preliminary data for extramural grant applications; support early phase, investigator-initiated clinical trials; provide matching support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. All UNMCC members at New Mexico Universities, as well as at our consortium partners (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory) were eligible to apply. All funding decisions were made by the CCSG senior leadership after a formal, rigorous peer review process organized by Dr. Tomkinson, Associate Director for Basic Research, with support from the Cancer Center Research Administration. Outcomes (publications, grants, patents, clinical trials) from the pilot grants are tracked by requesting annual progress reports for 5 years after the award has terminated. Since 2010, 40 pilot grants involving more than 50 UNMCC members have been awarded. This investment of $500,441 from CCSG Developmental funds and $200,388 from Cancer Center philanthropic funds resulted in twenty seven publications in peer-reviewed journals and the award of one NCI K22 grant to a postdoctoral fellow, six NIH R01 grants (including two multi-PI R01s), three NIH R21 grants and three grants from other national funding agencies (including a Department of Defense-funded early phase investigator-initiated clinical trial), a return of $8,848,872 million in direct costs ($13,013,384 total costs). In addition, funds from regional and national foundations national foundations including Cowboy's for Cancer Research, Gabrielle's Angel Foundation, and Oxnard Foundation and, more recently, Phi Beta Psi Charity Trust, and the Gillson-Longenbaugh and Anderson Foundations have been used primarily to support collaborative translational and clinically focused research projects. An American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant supports mentored pilot projects by new faculty establishing cancer-focused research careers, including careers in behavioral research. In the next grant period, we are proposing to use CCSG Developmental funds to; 1) fund pilot grants that promote collaborative multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research in laboratory-based cancer research, clinical cancer research, population-based cancer research, cancer health disparities and catchment area studies involving academic- community partnerships, and community engagement strategies; 2) support the development of a new Behavioral Measurement and Population Science Shared Resource that will catalyze and support cancer- relevant patient-centered and population science research; 3) support a Special Populations Staff Investigator, Dr. Cosette Wheeler, who will focus on strategic development of statewide, national, and global cancer prevention research initiatives.
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