Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (U24) | RFA CA 17 005

Opportunity Information: Apply for RFA CA 17 005

The Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (CIMACs) (U24) opportunity, funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) under the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is a cooperative agreement designed to build a coordinated national infrastructure for immune monitoring and correlative science tied directly to cancer immunotherapy clinical trials. The central aim is to fund two to three multidisciplinary CIMACs that function as the primary laboratory and analysis hubs for standardized correlative studies, meaning they generate and interpret immune-related data from patient samples collected in trials. These centers are intended to support consistent, high-quality immune profiling across multiple studies so that investigators can compare results, identify biomarkers, understand mechanisms of response or resistance, and generally accelerate progress in immuno-oncology.

A key feature of the program is that the CIMACs do not operate in isolation. They are part of a broader CIMACs-CIDC Network that combines the CIMAC laboratories with a single Cancer Immunologic Data Commons (CIDC), funded separately through a companion funding announcement (RFA-CA-17-006). In practice, the Network structure is meant to connect standardized sample testing and analytic workflows (handled by CIMACs) with centralized data management, integration, and sharing capabilities (handled by the CIDC). This design reflects an emphasis on end-to-end coordination: clinical trials generate specimens and clinical metadata, CIMACs process and analyze them using harmonized approaches, and the CIDC serves as the data backbone that enables aggregation, accessibility, and cross-trial analyses.

Administratively, this funding opportunity is a discretionary grant using a cooperative agreement mechanism (U24). Cooperative agreements typically indicate substantial NIH program involvement compared with standard research grants, which aligns with the Network concept and the need for cross-site coordination, shared standards, and unified operating procedures. The FOA is categorized under education and health activities and is associated with CFDA numbers 93.394 and 93.395. The original closing date listed for applications was March 17, 2017, and the opportunity was created on December 16, 2016. The award ceiling is listed as $1,400,000, indicating the upper bound expected for an individual award under this announcement.

Eligibility is broad across U.S.-based organizational types, reflecting an intention to draw on a wide range of institutional capabilities in immunology, oncology, clinical laboratory operations, and data analysis. Eligible applicants include state, county, city, township, and special district governments; independent school districts; public and state-controlled institutions of higher education; private institutions of higher education; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations (including those other than federally recognized tribal governments); public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofits with and without 501(c)(3) status (as long as they are not institutions of higher education when specified in those categories); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and other types of entities. The FOA also explicitly highlights additional eligible applicant categories such as Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institutions (AANAPISISs), Hispanic-serving Institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs), faith-based or community-based organizations, eligible federal agencies, regional organizations, and U.S. territories or possessions.

At the same time, the announcement draws a firm boundary around foreign involvement. Non-domestic (non-U.S.) entities and foreign institutions are not eligible to apply, and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are also not eligible. In addition, foreign components as defined by the NIH Grants Policy Statement are not allowed. Taken together, those restrictions mean that while the program may ultimately support research with broad global relevance, the funded operational centers and the work supported under this specific FOA must be fully domestic in terms of applicant organization and project components.

Overall, the opportunity is best understood as an effort to professionalize and scale immune monitoring in cancer immunotherapy trials by creating a small number of highly capable, networked centers operating under shared expectations, with a parallel data commons to ensure that results are organized, interoperable, and useful beyond any single study. The expected outcome is a stronger national capacity to generate reliable correlative datasets and translate them into actionable biological and clinical insights that can inform future immunotherapy development and patient care.

• The National Institutes of Health in the education, health sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Cancer Immune Monitoring and Analysis Centers (U24)" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.394, 93.395.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2016-12-16.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2017-03-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,400,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for RFA CA 17 005

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