The NCI Board of Scientific Advisors met November 29, 2017, and the slide decks were recently released. The slides provide a snapshot of the direction of the NCI, and include funding opportunities and access to NCI resources that are useful for many investigators across the Case CCC.
Please review the slide deck of new NCI Director, Ned Sharpless, and note the following:
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The new genomic data commons portal is now operational and easy to use. Try it for your favorite gene!
- The NCI has discontinued the K23 career development mentored award for clinical investigation; it will now be under the K08. Greater salary support is possible, though the competition for awards will likely be considerable. But, all junior investigators who can develop a research training program are urged to discuss this with their mentoring team.
- Moonshot: Funding in 2018 will continue and the RFAs are identified in the slide deck. A number of us have submitted applications. Please keep these in mind since funding rates are higher (See slide 20)
- Clinical investigators should note slides 24-26 - Partnership to Accelerate Cancer Therapy (PACT). This describes lab support for immune monitoring, PK and PD, and an extensive list of Pharma linked in to the NCI support. This should facilitate collaborative support for IIT trials with NCI CTEP.
- NCI MATCH update (slide 28) as of November. 689 of 6396 patients accrued to MATCH enrolled on a treatment trial - around 11%. This continues to be an option, and should frame your next IIT biomarker/genomic-based clinical trial.