Pilot Awards Program

The MCW Cancer Center (MCWCC) recognizes that investigator-initiated trials (IITs) represent the apex of academic cancer research innovation, as they help develop new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer and provide participating patients with access to the most advanced treatments. In line with this vision, the scope of this pilot program is to support the development of IITs that generate preliminary data that can then be taken to pharma or cooperative groups to fund the definitive trial. Innovative correlative studies that capitalize on an already funded trial are also eligible for funding.

Researchers proposing relevant projects from all areas of science are invited to apply to this RFA. Priority will be given to multi-disciplinary collaborations between clinical scientists, basic or translational scientists, and population science researchers who propose to study topics related to understanding or addressing cancer health disparities. Applications that propose correlative studies, especially those that utilize MCWCC Shared Resources, are encouraged.

Budget: Up to $150,000 for two years

• RFA Release: January 15, 2026
• IIT Concept Submission Form: February 15, 2026
• Application Due: If invited, 11:59 p.m. on April 15, 2026
• Notification of Award: After peer review and Director's Council approval, near the beginning of June 2026

View the Clinical Concept Award RFA for full details and instructions. (PDF)

Applications are now closed.

The purpose of this RFA is to stimulate the development of high-quality, innovative cancer research projects that will move forward to extramurally funded projects. Idea Awards provide early funding support for high-risk, high-payoff research for which external grants are difficult to obtain.

Faculty members with cancer relevant research from all areas of science are invited to apply to this RFA. Collaborations between basic/translational/clinical science and population science researchers who propose to study topics related to understanding or addressing cancer disparities will be given priority. Proposals that utilize MCW CC Shared Resources are encouraged.

Budget: $50,000 for one year without the option to renew

• RFA Release: July 15, 2025
• LOI Due: Aug.15, 2025
  • Applicants are highly encouraged to present their Specific Aims at the Cancer Research Forum on August 28, 2025
• Application Due: 11:59 p.m. on Oct. 1, 2025
• Award Begins: The start date will be on or after January 1, 2026, dependent on the status of any required human and animal studies protocol approvals, with the understanding that it will not take longer than three months post award notice.

View the Idea Award RFA for full details and instructions. (PDF)

Our Patient Project (OPP) is an important translational research element of the MCW Cancer Center (MCWCC)-led Precision Oncology high-impact initiative that is expected to drive discovery over the next three years.

The OPP has two goals:

1. To answer a significant unanswered question in the cancer research field or address a major challenge in clinical care by fully characterizing and analyzing samples from a discrete, clinically annotated cancer patient cohort;
2. To develop a rich experimental data set on patient samples annotated with high quality clinical data that can be leveraged by the Principal Investigator (PI), study team, and MCWCC members to foster new multi-disciplinary collaborative research projects funded through extramural sources (e.g., Multi-PI R01s, P-, U- or M-type grant awards, sponsored clinical trials) and that will lead to novel practice-changing cancer prevention and/or therapeutics.

Project Attributes:
Successful LOIs will address the following project attributes. Attributes 1 and 2 are the most important at the LOI stage. A detailed statistical analysis need not be presented in the LOI but data supporting that sufficient accrual can be achieved (or that sufficient high-quality data exists for retrospective analyses) is necessary.

• The project will answer a major scientific question.
• The study cohort will be clearly defined.
• The project will involve a multi-disciplinary team.
• The project will interrogate omic-scale molecular features of the cohort and integrate comprehensive analysis.

Budget
Maximum project budget is $650,000 total over a maximum of 4-5 years. LOI must include anticipated “best estimate” budget for the following categories: personnel (staff, trainees); supplies; sample retrieval, preparation and analysis; assay development and data analysis; data storage and distribution.

Deadlines:

• LOI Due: Quarterly by 5:00 pm on March 1, June 1, September 1, and December 1 of every year through 2026
• Award Begins: The start date for funding will be dependent on the status of any required human and animal studies protocol approvals, with the understanding that it will not take longer than six months post award notice. 

View the Our Patient Project RFA for full details and instructions. (PDF)

The MCW Cancer Center (MCWCC) invites basic, translational, and clinical scientists to nominate protein targets that have high-translational potential for structural studies. This program leverages advanced structural biology approaches to determine protein structures and dynamics that could inform development or optimization of anti-cancer drug development.

The Structural Biology Shared Resources (SBSR) core facility, part of the MCWCC, is eager to partner with scientists passionate about making a difference in cancer research. The goal of this opportunity is to delve deeper into the structure and dynamics of a protein that shows promise to play a critical role in cancer development, progression, or resistance. SBSR scientists will express and purify nominated protein targets, with the goal of determining the protein’s 3D structure, potentially revolutionizing our understanding of cancer and providing new strategies to prevent and/or treat cancer.

This program's purpose is to defray or partially defray the initial SBSR personnel and instrument time costs associated with investigating (producing, purifying, and solving) the structure of nominated targets.

Budget: Up to $25,000 for one year for expression, purification, sample vitrification, and structure evaluation utilizing cryoEM

Deadlines:

• Program Announcement: September 16, 2025
• Submissions: Until January 1, 2026, with targets selected on a rolling basis prior to the final deadline
• Notifications of Award: Made after peer review and Translational Council approval

View the Structural Biology Discovery Program Award RFA for full details and instructions. (PDF)

The purpose of the Team Science Award is to stimulate the development of high-quality, multi-investigator (minimum of three) program project grants that will move forward to extramurally funded grant awards. Projects with translational potential are encouraged, but not mandatory. Inter-programmatic and inter-institutional teams are also highly encouraged.

Cancer-relevant research from all areas of science are invited to apply to this RFA. Collaborations between researchers who propose to study topics related to understanding or addressing cancer health disparities, breast cancer or prostate cancer, will be prioritized, though proposals involving all cancer types are eligible. Proposals that utilize MCW Cancer Center (MCWCC) Shared Resources are encouraged.

Budget: Up to $150,000 per year up to two years

• RFA Release: January 15, 2026
• LOI Due: February 15, 2026
  • Applicants are highly encouraged to present their Specific Aims at the Cancer Research Forum on February 26, 2026.
• Application Due: If invited, 11:59 p.m. on April 1, 2026
• Notification of Award: After peer review and Director's Council approval, near the beginning of June 2026. The start date will be on or after July 1, 2026.

View the Team Science Award RFA for full details and instructions (PDF)

• New Trial Submission Form (PDF)
• Budget Template (XLSX)
• Form B Non Supplanting Attestation (DOCX)
• Form C ACS Pilot Research Grant Certification (PDF)
• Form D Return on Investment for Previous Pilot Awardees (DOCX)

For proposals that require or highly recommend a consultation with the Biostatistics Shared Resource prior to submission, please schedule the consultation by making an iLab request. The consultation should occur at least two weeks, preferably six weeks, in advance of the application deadline.

Submit a Biostatistics iLab request.

Support for faculty developing clinical studies is available through the Investigator-Initiated Trials Steering Committee that advises on concepts and protocols prior to review by the Scientific Review Committee.

Learn about the IITSC.

ACS-IRG Award

• Antje Schaefer, PhD: Elucidating the RHOA-R5 mutant therapeutic vulnerabilities for novel gastric cancer therapies
• Yongwoo (David) Seo, MD: AI-Driven Integration of Transcriptomic and Clinical Data for Improved Pancreatic Cancer Prognostication
• Yongxia Wu; MD, PhD: Fli-1 differentially regulates T-cell-mediated GVH versus GVL responses

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Sarah Rumler, DO and Jennifer Connelly, MD: GABRIEL: A Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Gallium Maltolate for Pediatric Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Pediatric High-Grade Glioma (rHGG) and Atypical Teratoid/Rhabdoid Tumor (rATRT)

ACS-IRG Award

• Fumou Sun, PhD: Development of CAR-T Therapy for Lysing Tumor Cells and Suppressing Breast Cancer Bone Metastasis
• Tongjun Gu, PhD: Enhancing Acute Myeloid Leukemia Subtyping through Integrated Epigenetic Analysis and Deep Learning

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Xue-Zhong Yu, MD: Correlation of IL-39 and clinical outcomes of patients after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation
  

Idea Award

• Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH: Predictors of Cervical Cancer Knowledge and Screening among Female Sex Workers in Uganda
  

Our Patient Project Award

• Heather Himburg, PhD, Musaddiq Awan, MD, Tyce Kearl, MD, PhD, Angela Mathison, PhD, Joseph Zenga, MD: Precision Immunotherapy Targeting IL1R2+ Tregs in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

ACS-IRG Award

• Hui-Zi Chen, MD, PhD: Unraveling the Role of E2F7-Regulated Gene Networks in Small Cell Lung Cancer Development
• Navonil De Sarkar, PhD: Exploiting Synthetic Lethality: Inducing 'BRCAness' in Non-BRCA2 Deficient Cancers to Enhance PARP Inhibitor Responses
• Matthew Kudek, MD: Dissecting the Role of Innate Lymphoid Cells in the Pathogenesis of Graft Versus Host Disease

ACS-IRG Award

• Kelly Rentscher, PhD: Socioenvironmental Disparities and Accelerated Aging in CAR T Cell Therapy Recipients 

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Guru Subramanian Guru Murthy, MD, MS: Phase I Study of Iadademstat with Azacitidine in Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome

Idea Award

• Pradeep Chaluvally-Raghavan, PhD: RBMS1-mediated Lineage Transition in Breast Cancer
• Chun Liu, PhD: Elucidating the Mechanisms of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor-Induced Cardiotoxicity through Heart Organoids
• Daochun Sun, PhD: Targeting NF1-associated Tumor Microenvironment by Lipid Nanoparticles

ACS-IRG Award

• Nikki Lytle, PhD: The Role of Therapy-induced Cell Plasticity in Second Primary Breast Cancers
• Mochamad Nataliansyah, MD, MPH, PhD: Estimating Care Attrition Risk and Outcomes of Patients with Pancreatic Cancer using CMS-SEER Data Linkage 

Idea Award

• Cecilia Hillard, PhD: Studies of Kynurenine Metabolites as a Link between Socioenvironmental Disparities and Poor Outcomes in CAR T Therapy
• Yongxia Wu, MD, PhD: Fli-1 Regulates CD8 T-Cell Response for Controlling Hematological Malignancies

ACS-IRG Award

• Whitney Morelli, PhD: Development of a Patient-Centered, Personalized Physical Activity Program to Reduce Fatigue in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Patients Taking Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Jonathan Thompson, MD: Utilizing Radiotherapy to Delay Resistance to Targeted Therapies for Metastatic, Driver-mutated Non-small Cell Lung Cancer
• Joseph Zenga, MD: Hypofractionated Pre-operative Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer (HyPR-HN)

Idea Award

• Jong-In Park, PhD: Biochemical Modifications of ISCU Regulated ERK1/2

ACS-IRG Award

• Rachel Cusatis, PhD: Pilot Study of the VitalPRO: A Remote Monitoring System of Patient Reported Outcomes and Vital Signs in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell Outpatient Care
• Jing Dong, PhD: Landscape of Pathogenic Germline Variants in Multiple Myeloma and Its Precursor in African Americans
• Thomas McFall, PhD: Quantitative Systems Approach to Overcoming Innate Resistance to KRAS G1C Inhibitors in Colorectal and Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Liliana Pezzin, PhD, JD: Understanding Real World Effects of Breast Cancer and its Treatment on Cognitive Functioning: a Longitudinal, Nationally Representative Study
• Wael Saber, MD, MS: Soluble Urokinase-type plasminogen activator as a biomarker of Stage 3 Acute Kidney Injury in patients undergoing Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT)
• Nirav Shah, MD: Triple CAR
• Joseph Zenga, MD: Investigating the SDF-1/CXCR4 Pathway in Clinical Head and Neck Cancer and Humanized Patient-Derived Xenografts

Idea Award

• Pradeep Chaluvally-Raghavan, PhD: Role of Oncogenic Adaptations
• Vera Tarakanova, PhD: The Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde Role of Interferon Regulatory Factor 3 During Cancer-associated Virus Infection

Team Science Award

• Siegfried Janz, MD: Leveraging the Biology of Cancer Health Disparities to Improve Outcomes in Multiple Myeloma

ACS-IRG

• Sunila Pradeep, PhD: Harnessing PD-L1 Expression in Ovarian Cancer
• John Pulikkan, PhD: SMARCA4 as a Novel Target in Acute Myeloid Leukemia with CEBPA Mutations

Clinical Trial Concept Award

• Jennifer Connelly, MD: A Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Oral Gallium Maltolate for the Treatment of Relapsed or Refractory Glioblastoma