Academic-Industrial Partnerships (AIP) to Translate and Validate In Vivo Imaging Systems (R01 Clinical Trial Optional) (PAR-23-259)

Through this Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) intends to stimulate translation of scientific discoveries and engineering developments in imaging, data science and/or spectroscopic technologies into methods or tools that address contemporary problems in understanding the fundamental biology, potential risk of development, diagnosis, or treatment of cancer.

A distinguishing feature of each application to this NOFO will be formation of an academic-industrial partnership: a strategic alliance of academic and industrial investigators who work together as partners to identify and translate a technological solution for mitigation of a cancer (or other disease-related) problem. In this sense, the NOFO acts more as a funding mechanism for driving translational research in imaging than for a specific scientific or clinical research area. These partnerships are expected to solidify pre-existing collaborations or establish new ones that would drive the field of imaging, as a whole, further than if they had not been formed.

This NOFO defines innovation as the likelihood to deliver a new capability to end users. This funding announcement will support clinical trials that test functionality or validate performance in the chosen setting. However, this NOFO is not intended to support commercial production, basic research projects, or clinical trials that lack translation as the primary motivation.