The National Cancer Institute (NCI) solicits grant applications from small business concerns (SBCs) proposing exploratory/developmental research projects focused on (i) the inception and early stage development of highly innovative cancer-relevant technologies and/or (ii) the evaluation of the performance of emerging molecular analysis technologies and development of applications for an appropriate cancer-relevant biological system.
The emphasis is on molecular analysis tools with the potential to add a new quality to the investigations of the molecular basis of cancer (e.g., by facilitating the detection of cancer-related characteristics/alterations at the molecular and cellular levels of organization and function). These technologies may be intended for molecular analyses
in vitro,
in situ, and/or
in vivo. Responsive “technologies” encompass relevant methods, techniques, tools, instrumentation, and devices (but not software or informatics solutions).
The proposed development of molecular analysis tools must reflect the intent to ultimately commercialize these technologies. This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is part of a broader NCI-sponsored Innovative Molecular Analysis Technologies (IMAT) Program.
Several IMAT FOAs of identical or closely related scientific scope using various funding mechanisms are available. To facilitate selection, a separate Notice in the
NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts provides brief cross-comparison and links to all the IMAT FOAs. See NOT-CA-08-003.
