Developmental Research Program

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The MSCP SPORE Developmental Research Program (DRP) provides seed funding to explore promising novel research in melanoma and other skin cancers, particularly by investigators not currently engaged in research in this area. The DRP solicits proposals twice a year and to use a peer-reviewed scoring system to prioritize proposals for funding. The DRP Directors and Executive Committee, Internal Advisory Board and External Advisory Board participate in the review process, together with the Patient Advocates and any additional experts who may be called upon if special reviewer expertise is necessary. During the past grant period, the MSCP SPORE funded 9 DRP projects in basic, translational, and clinical research. The DRP Directors track the progress of the successful applications and assign mentors to funded investigators to ensure that they obtain any needed services from the MSCP SPORE Cores (Administrative Core A, Biospecimen Core B, Biostatistics Core C, and Informatics Core D) and that they are effectively integrated into the SPORE program. Awardees present their research results to the SPORE investigators after one year of funding to be eligible for a second year of support. Progress toward translation as well as impact and innovation will determine whether DRP projects are found to merit promotion to full SPORE projects; in the past funding period, productive and innovative research funded by DRP awards to Drs. Hassane Zarour and Soldano Ferrone has been promoted to a full project. Project 3, in this renewal application. Awardees are also advised as appropriate in the preparation of grant applications for funding outside the SPORE mechanism and given access to SPORE Core resources to aid in this endeavor. DRP-supported research has led to 3 NCI awards (R01CA154728, R01CA157467, R01CA169118) and a pilot award funded by the University of Pittsburgh Clinical Translational Science Institute Basic to Clinical Collaborative Research Pilot Program. There are also several grant applications submitted or planned based on DRP results from the previous grant period, including an R21 and two additional R01 applications.