Developmental Funds

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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 recruitment of 3 new faculty and a Special Populations Staff Investigator, Cosette Wheeler, PhD. 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 partner (Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute) were eligible to apply. All funding decisions were made by the CCSG senior leadership after a formal, rigorous peer review process organized by Alan Tomkinson, PhD, 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 2015, 107 pilot grants involving more than 50 UNMCC members have been awarded. This investment of $719,625 from CCSG Developmental funds and $2,096,148 from Cancer Center philanthropic funds resulted in 44 publications in peer-reviewed journals and the award of one NCI K07 grant to a junior faculty, 11 NIH R01 grants, two NIH R21 grants, one NIH P01 grant, and 16 grants from other national funding agencies, a return of $26,027,334 million in direct costs ($44,829,820 total costs). In addition, 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) faculty recruitment in research areas identified by UNMCCC senior leadership; 2) 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; 3) support a Special Populations Staff Investigator, Cosette Wheeler, PhD, who will focus on strategic development of statewide, national, and global cancer prevention research initiatives; and 4) support a Clinical Staff Investigator and an Early Stage Clinical Investigator who will in play key roles in the development and implementation of the Center’s clinical activity, expanding a portfolio of clinical trials that are matched to the patient population served by the UNMCCC and increasing clinical trial accrual.